Freedom from fear.

Fear seems to have become the biggest stress factor. Fear lies in the subconscious and surfaces when we anticipate imminent loss of life, property, loved ones or prestige, for example. The greatest fear of all is that of death.

The fear of death, it is said, is worse than death itself. What people fear most is untimely death, and this fear is growing because of the increasing uncertainties of life today. Our increasing tendency to violence has created conditions in which death is just a careless moment away.

Medical science has not yet found a cure for fear. It calls for a spiritual solution. First of all, it requires an attitudinal change. Fear paralyses the mind. Take on any situation calmly and with courage.

Another change needed is in the way we look at adversity. All the tests that we face in life, regardless of whether we pass them or not, make us stronger and equip us to face better similar tests in future.

Fear of death stems from a wrong identification of the eternal Self with the perishable body. It can be overcome by the realisation that we are souls and the soul is immortal, as the Gita says. What we call death is nothing but the departure of the soul from the body after its role in the present body is over.

Living in soul-consciousness over a long period empowers us to overcome the fear of mortality. While attitudinal change can help us overcome fear to some extent, complete freedom from it requires attention on our karma.