Acharya Mahaprajna
Deccan Herald
We need a religion which is not based on fear. Bhagvan Mahavira exhorted us to shed fear. That is the starting point of the religion he advocated. Ahimsa (non-injury), truth and non-covetousness are subsidiary things. The central thing is freedom from fear. Mahavira exhorted us not to be afraid of old age, death and enemies. Fear produces various deformities. The adrenal gland is the most affected by fear.
It is fear which compels man to commit violence and theft, to tell lies and to accumulate riches. It is fear which has resulted in the invention and stock-piling of all kinds of weapons. Nations are afraid of each other, and, therefore, they seek protection in armaments. Fear causes more fear. From the weapons made of stone we have come to atomic weapons capable of devastating the entire world. We cause injury to others and kill them out of fear.
We tell lies because we are afraid of telling the truth. It is fear which is the root-cause of all kinds of malpractices in trade and commerce. It is fear which makes us accumulate riches and wealth. It is the cause of all kinds of evils. Freedom from fear means freedom from all kinds of evils.
We should not be afraid that we will go to hell if we relinquished religion. If one adopts religion for the fear of hell, he is not a truly religious man. Like fear, temptations are another cause of deforming religion. People have forgotten the essence of religion and have begun to look for returns from it like the heaven where they will be lovingly received and garlanded by handsome fairies and wealth and comfort in this world.
Mothers create a sense of fear in the minds of their children by threatening them that if they did this or that, they will go to hell. This develops complexes in the minds of the children and they become cowards. It creates a sense of inferiority in our minds. As a matter of fact religion has nothing to do with fear. It begins where fear ends. The sole aim of religion is nirjara or a state in which there is no fear and in which all the effects of the past have been controlled and eradicated. It is through religion that we can attain pure consciousness.
The main question before us is how to affect a complete transformation of our personalities. This can be done by making the subconscious conscious or in other words to arouse the soul. Let us consider the method of arousing the soul or of making the subconscious mind conscious.