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practice of austerity and self-restraint. He is unable to shoulder any important responsibility and becomes incompetent to tread the path of righteousness."
Pain and fear can limit one's ability to enjoy a normal life. Pain and fear can dominate every waking moment, curtail activity and numb the mind. The rise of passion, obscure the capacity of abstention from immoral and sinful activities and bodily gratification. Fear dulls the mind and heart, blunting thinking. It would be futile to expect a fear-ridden brain to function normally. A fearful person may lose his ability to process information and to exert cognitive control over his behaviour. Such a brain cannot think constructively. Thinking born of fear is negative and destructive. In fact, fear is the outcome of wrong thinking.
Happiness depends upon being master of one's mental attitude. A man's individuality is determined by his thoughts. One becomes fearful because one accepts certain ideas and beliefs. Two-thirds of ailing and diseases are the fruit of human imagination and fear. Destroy the latter and give another bent to the former, and nature will do the rest. The mind is never free of fear – fear of disease, fear of old age, fear of death and separation, fear of loss, etc. Fear is the creator of evil spirits. It takes the form of a ghost or demon. In the very moment of fear, the ghost begins to take shape before the eyes. It is the projection of a fear-afflicted mind. Is such a mind capable of any knowledge?
Freedom from fear means freedom from all kinds of evils. Fear is the cause of all kinds of evils. It is fear which compels man to commit violence and theft, to tell lies and to accumulate riches. One tells lies because one is afraid of telling the truth. It is fear which
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