Abhaya-caranaravinda re

[Guest guest]

"In accordance with the particular nature one has acquired in conditioned

life, whatever one does with body, words, mind, senses, intelligence or

purified consciousness one should offer to the Supreme, thinking, 'This is

for the pleasure of Lord Narayana.'

 

"Fear arises when a living entity misidentifies himself as the material

body because of absorption in the external, illusory energy of the Lord.

When the living entity thus turns away from the Supreme Lord, he also

forgets his own constitutional position as a servant of the Lord. This

bewildering, fearful condition is effected by the potency for illusion,

called maya. Therefore, an intelligent person should engage unflinchingly

in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord, under the guidance of a

bona fide spiritual master, whom he should accept as his worshipable deity

and as his very life and soul.

 

"Although the duality of the material world does not ultimately exist, the

conditioned soul experiences it as real under the influence of his own

conditioned intelligence. This imaginary experience of a world separate

from Krsna can be compared to the acts of dreaming and desiring. When the

conditioned soul dreams at night of something desirable or horrible, or

when he daydreams of what he would like to have or avoid, he creates a

reality that has no existence beyond his own imagination. The tendency of

the mind is to accept and reject various activities based on sense

gratification. Therefore an intelligent person should control the mind,

restricting it from the illusion of seeing things separate from Krsna, and

when the mind is thus controlled he will experience actual fearlessness.

 

"An intelligent person who has controlled his mind and conquered fear

should give up all attachment to material objects such as wife, family and

nation and should wander freely without embarrassment, hearing and

chanting the holy names of the Lord, the bearer of the chariot wheel. The

holy names of Krsna are all-auspicious because they describe His

transcendental birth and activities, which He performs within this world

for the salvation of the conditioned souls. Thus the holy names of the

Lord are sung throughout the world.

 

"By chanting the holy name of the Supreme Lord, one comes to the stage of

love of Godhead. Then the devotee is fixed in his vow as an eternal

servant of the Lord, and he gradually becomes very much attached to a

particular name and form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As his

heart melts with ecstatic love, he laughs very loudly or cries or shouts.

Sometimes he sings and dances like a madman, for he is indifferent to

public opinion."

 

-- Srimad Bhagavatam, 11.2.36-40