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IMAGINARY FEARS

Every man has some imaginary fear of one kind or another. Maya will never allow
anybody to rest peacefully. Man is already agitated by lust, anger, greed, jealousy, pride and
hatred. Now fear fans the worldly flame. It pours Ghee to the flame of the three Taapaas. Man
jumps now and dances like a monkey. He has no rest even for a second.
The percentage of normal fear will be only five. Imaginary fears will come to ninety per
cent.
Imaginary fears cause diseases, deplete all energies in man and produce all sorts of
feverish excitement, low vitality, uneasiness, discomfort, disharmony, etc. When there is an
epidemic or cholera, or typhoid, fear is the predisposing cause. Man is terribly afraid of cholera,
worries himself and imagines that the germs have entered his body. Imagination does serious
havoc. He becomes a victim to the actual disease itself!
A student prepares himself day and night for the ensuing examination. He has passed
creditably in all the class examinations. But he develops a kind of imaginary fear “examination
fear”, as soon as he enters the examination hall, becomes nervous and gets confused. His hands
tremble. He is not able to write. He fails in the examination.
I asked a clever lawyer, an M.A., LL.B., who can argue well in the courts to deliver a
lecture on “Necessity of Religion”. He ascended the platform. There was a big audience. He
developed “stage fear” and got bewildered. His voice was choked. He began to perspire. He
stammered something, cut a poor figure on the platform and got down within five minutes.
Ramakrishna was a healthy man. He developed a cough on account of exposure to chill
draught of air. It was a case of simple bronchitis or cold in the chest. But it persisted for some
weeks. He consulted an assistant surgeon. The doctor said, “It may be a case of T.B.; have
sanatorium treatments.”
“It may be a case of T.B.” wrought much havoc in Ramakrishna. It was a wrong
suggestion. It produced an imaginary fear in him. He began to worry himself from that moment.
His health was pulled down gradually. He actually contracted T.B. or pulmonary tuberculosis.
All sorts of germs, viz., pneumoniacus, etc., are in this body. They cannot do any mischief when
one is in possession of good health and high vitality. When the vitality comes to a low ebb, they
gain the upper hand. Man easily succumbs to their ravages or attacks.
Sri R.S. Bannerjee was sleeping in a room in his friend’s house at Dehra Dun. He and his
friends were talking on that night about the mischievous actions done by evil spirits. These
thoughts went deep into his subconscious mind. He dreamt that the room in which he was

sleeping was a haunted room and some evil spirit had done some mischief on him. From that day
he began to lose his health gradually. This was due to some kind of imaginary fear.
Sri Joshi was a friend of Sri Gupta. Gupta came to the house of Joshi one evening, did
not talk to him and suddenly left his house as he had to meet his friend that day at the Railway
Station. Joshi thought that Gupta was very much annoyed towards him. Joshi saw Gupta talking
seriously with Rajkrishna who was inimical towards him. Joshi now concluded that Gupta had
become his enemy. He developed a sort of imaginary fear for Gupta, and thought that he would
divulge all his secrets to Rajkrishna.
Some develop imaginary fear that they will lose their job. Some imagine and think,
“what will become of my fate if my wife dies now? I have to took after nine children.” Some
have imaginary fear “What can I do if my business fails?” What will become of Hinduism if
whole of India becomes Pakistan; if communism pervades whole of India? There is no end to
such imaginary fears.
Sit for a while. Reflect well. Introspect. All imaginary fears will take to their heels.
They will dwindle into an airy nothing. Mind deceives you through imaginary fears. Learn to
discriminate, cogitate, reflect and meditate. Cultivate courage. Be a silent witness of the mind’s
menagerie. The mind will lurk like a thief. You will feel now that you were duped all these
years by this mischievous mind and that fear is a non-entity, a big zero.