IS IT LUST OR LOVE? (Part 11)

AUDIENCE: Fear.

JAGAD GURU: Yes. We're like a child in a closet and there are robbers in the house. We're inside the closet and we've locked the door. We're holding a gun in one hand and a knife in the other hand.

As long as you're in a situation where you're trying to protect yourself, you see your limitations in being able to protect yourself. You realize how dangerous it is. You've experienced suffering before, so you are afraid that you won't be able to protect yourself. In other words, you're always fearful that your defenses from one angle or another are not going to work. The reality is that you can't protect yourself completely.

We are afraid of love because we know that when we love, our defenses I will come down and then we'll be vulnerable. If we love, we don't have defenses.

AUDIENCE: Someone may think, "If my defense is dropped, then someone might get me! Someone's going to exploit me. Someone's going to hurt me. I don't want to be hurt. If I don't protect myself, who's going to do it?"

JAGAD GURU: Basically, one must understand, "The Supreme Person is the One to Whom I can completely surrender. He will protect me and take care of me completely. I can give my heart, my mind, my body, my possessions, my entire being to Him, I can give everything to the Supreme. With Him, I have no need for defenses or false ego. I don't need to impress Him with my clever words. There's no need to impress Him with how good my memory is. There's no need to impress Him with how pretty or handsome I am. I do not need to buy His love for me. His love for me is unconditional. Due to His unconditional love, His desire and absolute ability to protect me, I can have full faith that by surrendering to Him, there is no longer any reason to fear anything. There is no need to fear. Fear is gone."

So, it is said that at the feet of the Lord, there is no fear. Fear is not there. There is no more fear because fear is based upon one's protecting oneself. As long as the person is protecting himself, then he's fearful because he knows the limitations of his own protective abilities.

You know you can't protect yourself. You know how vulnerable you are. You know your limitations. So automatically, you will experience fear. So when does the fear go away? The fear goes away when you give up trying to protect yourself and simply surrender unto to the Supreme Friend and take shelter in His protection. Fearfulness comes from a non-surrendered condition. When we are fearful that means we are not surrendered to the Lord.