Part 11 of 46
‘Abhayam hi vai Brahma
bhavati… ya evam veda’
"When fear evaporates completely, you touch the source of your self. This is the wisdom of the Veda".
Yagnavalkyas teaching to the young prince Janaka,
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
I will not separate you from your precious ambitions. I know that ambition is the fuel that flows in your veins. It ignites the fire that keeps you alive. You would rather die than part with them."
"I will not separate you from your fears either. It will rip your heart out if I do. I know how much you have entwined yourself into them. Your fears prod you when you slacken, keep you disciplined when you go weak. It is your chief weapon in the battle of life."
"I wont touch your fantasies too, for they power your dreams and even though you suspect they might never come true, it’s magical to be drunk in their heady fragrance."
"But give me your anger, give me your jealousy, give me the blood lust, hand over the hatred, shed the venom that sits in your throat, drop it this moment."
"I will take away the hatred, clean the bile of frustration that pours out everyday. I will cure your addictions, the craving for toxins that have burnt your brain, your opiates, your fortified wines, and the even deadlier poisons your body creates, the burn in the gut, the wild thumping in your chest, venoms that will wither you like a twig well before your time."
"I will heal you. I will repair those deep wounds in your heart. I will sharpen your sword and straighten the shield and when you are ready I will send you into the arena again."
"Not to get torn apart but to fight with a clean mind, fight with a song in your lips without a care in this world. You will laugh at a moment of defeat, shrug in a moment of victory with eyes full of compassion, heart quivering with joy, you will rise into each day as if it’s your last."
"Yet even in this exalted state you will still be blind. You will not know who you are, where you came from or where you will go when this life ends."
"Now I will return and ask for your fears. I will coax it out of every nerve ending. I will defeat your every logic, knock out every argument and make you see the futility of being afraid. With anger and hatred gone, jealousy stamped out, the wild fires have been extinguished. My task is easier. You will resist at first, then slowly you will shed them one by one till there isn’t a shred of fear left in you at all."
"I don’t need your ambitions. You may keep them. With your fears vanished, they are just cherished goals. You won’t waste a moment’s sleep if they don’t happen."
"What else? Oh the philosophies...where you came from and all that..."
"Behold the depths of your true self hiding in your heart. All is already here. It was always here, you didn’t have the peace to see it. You are already that. No more words are needed. The silence will be your teacher and the song your life. This beautiful silence and that heady song...it’s All."
"Ya evam veda. This is the wisdom of the Veda, prince Janaka. Rise into it."
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( Source: Mani Shankar/ Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad 22nd March 2009 )
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