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FREEDOM FROM FEAR
laws, is afflicted with fear. He is frightened of everything. A child fears many things which an adult does not, because the latter has come to know many laws. The more one knows, the less one fears.
The practice of meditation is a good way of knowing these laws. Through preksha meditation, we come to know the laws governing the body, the mind and consciousness.
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In this context, the achievements of modern scientists are highly significant. Through their research, many complex laws of the body and the mind have been adequately explained. The expositions found in ancient texts are not so full and detailed. Thanks to modern scientists, our concept of every part of the body today is clear and elaborate as never before.
I look at materialism and spiritualism from a different angle, the traditional view of these being highly inadequate and unjust. One is often asked whether one believes in the existence of the soul or God. I am not interested in asking or answering such questions. I instead ask if you recognize the body. Do you know your own body or not? Leave alone God or the soul! Attend to your body first. Know it fully. If you do not know the body, how will you ever come to know the soul? If you remain unacquainted with the body, how will you ever find God? We have certain well-established notions. We use words mechanically and thus get ourselves confused, besides confusing others. I wish to ask if you have any means of knowing the soul. Do you hope to get acquainted with the soul or with God with the help of the senses? Where are the means? We seem to be living in a fool's paradise. Man's condition is really very pitiablewith feeble means he wants to fly high. First of all we must procure suitable means. As it is, our feet are not strong enough to tread the ground and we want to conquer the Himalayas. Our senses through which we gather knowledge are too weak for the task. Whatever we know about God or the soul is either based on ancient books, or is the result of mutual discussion, of argumentation. There are only two means at our disposal-scriptures or rationalisation. Without enquiring deep into the meaning of ancient texts, how can we say what we read is the truth? There is no way to measure truth. Secondly, the ancient authors are not unanimous. One says there is God, the other says there is none. There is no accord; no unanimity. How can we say that a particular book contains the truth while the other does not? Is there a dependable criterion? Reason is man's only measuring rod. And what is the basis of reason? Knowledge accumulates through sensory experience and from that the brain generalises. Generalisation and sensory perception provide the foundation for conjecture and argument. So weak is the foundation that one argument cuts another. Often a man finds
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