(this article inspired by a discourse by one of my Gurus today)

In our life, we are afraid of many things.

More recently, we fear that we may contract COVID.

We fear the extremity of the seasons and weather.

We fear the repercussions of not being able to organize an event smoothly.

We fear that our travels will not be safe. 

We fear the results of an exam ; about not getting admission to our desired university ; we fear poor job performance. 

There is no end to fear in our lives. Even our last breath can be fearful. 

Our guru Swami Desikan has written an entire work called Abheetistavam dedicated to dealing with fear and how to eliminate it from our lives. It’s in praise of fearlessness. 

In it, he says that utmost faith in God (Lord Ranganatha in my tradition) is the only way to remove fear. He welcomes everyone with his eyes. He is waiting for us. He welcomes everyone. His vow (Sankalpam) is to make everyone lead a life without fear. 

If one sings in praise of Lord Ranganatha, one can become fearless.

If one says that one doesn’t know how to sing, one can just bow down to Him. That makes one fearless.

If one says, “I don’t reside in the same town, how can I go and bow down to Him?”, then one can just face his direction and utter His name. That makes one fearless.

Barring all this, one can do just Vakthi, which is just an impulse of saying God’s name. That’s enough to become fearless.

So, go ahead. Believe and trust in your God. You can become fearless.