How to overcome the fear of insects and fear of animals?

Most people have fear of insects such as cockroaches and spiders and fear of animals such as reptiles and mammals. If a lizard is crawling on the wall, there is always a fear of, “What if the lizard falls on me?” and “What if the cockroach flies and comes to me?” If one has to pass through a field or woods or has to go camping in the jungle, one has a fear of snakes or scorpions coming there. Some insects are poisonous, and if they bite, one dies, having such an understanding, feeling scared of them is natural. But many times, seeing a scorpion or snake on TV too makes one shiver. Similarly, everyone has a fear of wild animals like tigers and lions also. An understanding of how to get rid of such fear is given here.

Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan says that “those whom you despise, you will feel afraid of them. You have contempt for the snake, for the tiger, therefore you feel scared. Fretful with snakes, fretfulness for lizards. If there is fretfulness towards the lizard, then you will get scared, and if there is no fretfulness, you will not feel scared.”

Behind fear is hidden our irritation, hatred and contempt, we get to know this fundamental thing from Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan only. He gives us the reason for what really is working at the root behind  fear of insects and fear of animals.

Questioner: Everyone is very afraid of cockroaches.

Dadashri: Yes, not just afraid of cockroaches, there is fear of these tigers-lions and everyone. ‘They are harmful to me and are killers,’ such fear has set in, but there is no need to keep such fear.

The moment one believes someone is bad, from then, fear ushers in. Many people yell, ‘Hey, lizard’s come, lizard has come,’ it is fear crept inside him/her. Hence, wherever s/he goes, s/he can see lizards only. Hey, what was wrong with the lizard? That lizard was nice. Of what use is such unnecessary fear? One person did not go to the toilet for half an hour. I asked, ‘Why have you been sitting here?’ Then, he went to the toilet and came back; so, I asked him, to which he replied, “There is a lizard inside, and it’s not moving.” Now, I have dealt with all of this. I have dealt with all these fears and moved forward. 

The reason for fear is fretfulness and contempt. When the reason itself is resolved, then the fear also goes away. How to remove the fretfulness, that solution also Param Pujya Dadashri gives to us. Regarding some person, if we continuously keep intending that, ‘s/he is very bad; s/he is very bad,’ then for them, fretfulness arises within. Instead, if we say, ‘is very good, is very good,’ then the fretfulness goes away. Using this key practically, we can experience the fear disappearing.

Out of fear, people usually kill cockroaches, lizards, scorpions, snakes, etc. Due to fright, many people faint upon seeing a snake. But, if we go to see, about 95 to 98 percent of snakes in this world are non-poisonous. Therefore, out of false fear, we should not kill them. Instead, carefully go and leave them in a far-off place. The true law is that, if we intend killing the insects, then they will harm us. Ultimately, there is a Soul in every living being. We should pray to the Soul, the God residing in the animals or insects, saying, “Oh God! You live in peace. I do not want to give you any pain. I do not want to kill anyone.” If we have such intentions, then we will not face any difficulty.

Many people are afraid to pass through the street where the dogs are barking. The reason dogs bark at the people passing on the road is because they themselves have a fear that, ‘these people will hurt us.’ In such a situation, if you attempt some reaction before the dog, then he bites in his own defense. Otherwise, most of the time, dogs are mostly barking at each other. We should not get scared at that time, we should not give any reaction and just pass by quietly. If we see the dog as a pure Soul, then even the dog will understand that these people are loving and will stop barking.

If the real vision, of seeing animals as pure Souls, is cultivated, the fear will vanish for sure, and also, what a wonderful outcome can come of it, we get to know about it here, from the words of Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan.

Questioner: It is written in the Aptasutra, ‘If you do pratikraman for a tiger, then it too will forget its violent intent.’ What does that mean?

Dadashri: Yes, when the tiger forgets its violent intent, then you will lose your fear.

Questioner: Our fear will go away. That is fine, but does that have any effect on its soul?

Dadashri: Nothing occurs. When your fear goes away, the connection (with the tiger) becomes free.

Questioner: But did you not say that its violent intent goes away.

Dadashri: Its violent intent goes away.

Questioner: How does that occur?

Dadashri: When your fear goes away, its violent intent goes away.

Questioner: So, does that mean that it had an effect on its Soul?

Dadashri: There is a direct effect on the Soul. It does reach its Soul.

Even a tiger will do whatever you command it, if you were to do its pratikraman. There is no difference between a tiger and a human. The difference is in the vibrations you emit. It is your vibrations that will affect the tiger. As long as you believe in your mind that a tiger is a violent animal, the tiger will remain violent. If you are aware that the tiger is the Soul, then it will have no violence with you. Everything is possible.  

(Here, pratikraman means for any fault, confessing our mistake before the God residing within the other person, asking for forgiveness for it, and deciding not to repeat that mistake again.)