2019.08.26 - SB 1.11.2. The fear (New York) - Bhakti Vijnana Goswami

Every living entity in the material world, being separated from the Lord from time immemorial, is practically dead. We have forgotten our spiritual source and therefore we have become matter, and matter is dead. Krisna consciousness is the process of reviving our true nature. The impetus for this revival is fear. And fear is one of the most prominent problems because this world is a very unpredictable place. Fear arises because of the misidentification. The very root of fear is dvitiya, abhinivesa. Abhinivesa means absorption, dvitiya means secondary. The very basis of creation is spirit, matter is secondary. But because we are so much absorbed in this material existence, in the existence of this body, fear arises. Absorption in matter is a secondary problem, the original problem is that we have turned away from the Lord. Because we have turned away from the Lord, our consciousness, although spiritual by nature, became absorbed in dead matter. As a result we have forgotten our real nature. When we turn away from God two aspects of maya start acting upon us: 1) avaranatmika-maya - consciousness of the spirit soul becomes covered by matter; 2) praksepatmika-maya – covered consciousness is being projected into matter, we begin to identify ourselves with matter. Soul is sat-cit-ananda by nature, but being absorbed in matter we become depressed. Nowadays almost everyone is depressed. But fear personified is fearful of the sound of Krisna. God created such a fearful place for us to come back to Him. If we do spiritual practice out of fear, we are practicing vaidhi-sadhana-bhakti, it is good, but it’s not the best. The fear should subside and the understanding that we are already under the shelter of Krisna should come. In fact, we are never separated from the Lord, only our consciousness covered with illusory energy separates us. Therefore if we chant the Holy name with the proper mood, the nature of our consciousness will be transformed, and the attraction towards the Lord will become spontaneous. The Holy name is sweet, but bitter for us, we should chant it again and again with the understanding that the Holy name is non-different from the Lord, then only we will be able to chant properly and spontaneous attraction will be developed.