Acharya Prashant explains that fear does not enter one's life as fear itself, because if it did, one would block it. Instead, fear enters disguised as something sacred and holy, such as godliness, responsibility, attachment, duty, or religiosity. He illustrates this by saying that if someone offered to implant fear, you would refuse, but if they offered to show you God and, in that name, gave you fear, the ruse would succeed. This is seen in the expression 'God-fearing,' where in the name of God, all that is given is fear. Fear is not intrinsic; it has been imposed upon the psyche. One can immediately rebel against this imposition and cast it off, refusing to be subjugated. Fear comes when commercials tell you that you must have life insurance, or when you are told you must have a life partner for a nice old age. It is present when you accept a job because of the career progression it offers or when you feel the need to legalize a relationship. In these instances, fear is coming disguised as love, security, career, and future. Fear never comes as fear. Whenever fear comes, it makes you uneasy, and this uneasiness is the hint to stop and pay attention. Attention is your friend and will expose all the mischief. Fear is always connected to thought and the future; it is a prospect, a possibility. If you are someone who must take care of the future and lives in hopes, you are also someone who lives in fear. Hope and fear are two ends of the same duality. You have been taught the virtues of hope, but if you never drop hope, you also never drop fear. Fear enters you through hope. If you hope that you will get something, you will parallelly have to be afraid that you may not get it. Those who promote this pretend to be your well-wishers, but you must first see if they have been able to help themselves. The speaker questions whether the wives and sons of such gurus are enlightened, despite being in constant touch with them. He advises to go for the facts, not just believe in the power of a guru's touch.
