How To Face Your Fears? Overcome Your Fears In Life Swami Vivekananda’s Way!

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How to face your fears? "Always say, 'I have no fear.' Tell this to everybody -'Have no fear'. Fear is death, fear is sin, fear is hell, fear is unrighteousness, fear is wrong life," says Swami Vivekananda. Let's explore a personal incident from Swami Vivekananda's life about facing fears and delve into his words to confront it.

A personal account of Swami Vivekananda's confrontation with fear

Before delving and digesting the words of Swami Vivekananda as to how to face your fears, let's look into an incident from his life, which helped him face fear squarely and conquer it. Once Swami Vivekananda travelled to Varanasi and made a visit to many temples there and met with many scholars.

One day while on his way to the Durga temple, he was chased by some monkeys. While he was about to flee out of fear as the monkeys were almost at his heels, an old sannyasin called out to him, "Stop always, face the brutes!" Hearing these words, Swami Vivekananda, turned around and looked at the monkeys defiantly only for them to vanish from sight.

What causes fear in oneself?

What is the cause for the rising of fear in an individual? It is the forgetfulness of one's true nature as the immortal self, says Swami Vivekananda. "And what causes fear? Ignorance of our own nature. Each of us is heir-apparent to the Emperor of emperors; are of the substance of God Himself. Nay, according to the Advaita, we are God Himself though we have forgotten our own nature in thinking of ourselves as little men."

How to face your fears as per Swami Vivekananda's words

Swami Vivekananda, years later in one of his lectures in New York, referred to the incident of the monkeys chasing him and said, "That is a lesson for all life - face the terrible, face it boldly. Like the monkeys, the hardships of life shall fall back when we cease to flee before them" (Source: The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Calcutta; Advaita Ashrama, 1970, Volume. 1. pp.338-339)

Swami Vivekanada further throws light on how to face your fears, "What fear is there? Always discriminate - your body, your house, these Jivas and the world are all absolutely unreal like a dream. Always think that this body is only an inert instrument. And the self - contained Purusha within is your real nature."

When one understands that one is beyond one's body and mind and when one establishes oneself firmly in the eternal state, which is one's true nature there is no reason to fear. Fear simply falls away of its own accord because the soul or the spirit has no death.
Swami Vivekananda further explains, "There is this oneness; this solidarity of the whole universe.

From the lowest worm that crawls under our feet to the highest beings that ever lived - all have various bodies, but are the one Soul. Through all mouths, you eat; through all hands, you work; through all eyes, you see. You enjoy health in millions of bodies, you are suffering from disease in millions of bodies. When this idea comes, and we realise it, see it, feel it, then will misery cease, and fear with it."

We should take it that the monkeys that pursued Swami Vivekananda in Varanasi are symbolic of our fears owing to the problems in life. The first step towards facing our problems is to be fearless. Swamiji says, "What fear! Whom to fear! Steel your hearts and set yourselves to work!" Let's thus face our fears by courageously facing the brutes (problems in life).