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The great fear that Love brings with it || Acharya Prashant, on Guru Granth Sahib (2019)
Scriptures and Saints
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2 years ago
Guru Granth Sahib
Love
Fear
Prakriti
Purush
Bhakti
Gyan
Adi Shankaracharya
Description

Acharya Prashant explains that the fear mentioned in the Guru Granth Sahib is the fear that arises from deep love. He clarifies that while love is often associated with fearlessness, it simultaneously carries a profound fear of not uniting with the beloved. This fear is not a mundane anxiety but a powerful energy that creates a sense of urgency and sleeplessness in the seeker. When the center of one's life shifts from the self to the Divine, there is a natural trembling because one's very heart is now in the hands of another. This creates a state of simultaneous infinite patience and infinite impatience, where the lover is willing to wait for centuries yet cannot bear a moment's separation. The speaker describes the relationship between Nature (Prakriti) and the Supreme Consciousness (Purush). He explains that Nature is in a constant state of flux and movement because it is rushing toward wisdom. This movement is what we perceive as time. Time exists only to allow the seeker to eventually enter the timeless. He asserts that life is only truly present when one is in an active search for the Truth; without this movement toward the beloved, one is effectively dead. The mind's constant activity is also a frantic search for its 'missing diamond,' which is why intellectual methods of meditation often fail while love succeeds. Finally, Acharya Prashant emphasizes that love precedes wisdom. He quotes the principle that devotion is the mother of knowledge. Even the physical body, which is part of Nature, can radiate supreme wisdom when it is filled with love, as seen in the lives of sages and prophets. He illustrates this with the story of Totka Acharya, a disciple of Adi Shankaracharya who lacked intellectual comprehension but attained supreme realization through his deep love and service to his teacher. The speaker concludes that if one has love, realization and wisdom will naturally follow.