Whenever I attended the “Pancha Bhuta Aradhana” programme at the Isha Yoga Center – Dhyanalinga on the monthly Shivarathri day ………………….I would be told that “Fear and Doubt” are the biggest hurdles in ones life and in the spiritual path as well.
Fear and Doubt manifest in so many ways. They are not generic words that sound so off the mark. They are real, technical states of being. I have seen many people around me having fear manifest in them in various ways. Fear that impacts their decision process in everything that they do.
Doubt that can be of anything – self-doubt, doubt the path chosen, doubt your relationships, doubt your colleagues etc. While it is one thing to perceive things the way they are – it is quite a different thing to doubt things …………………because that would mean that you begin to see things the way you think they are.
A classic example from the epics is of Anjaneya having self-doubt on wether he would be able to cross the oceans. It is only when Jambavantha counsels him that Anjaneya attains to enlightenment and his true prowess really begins to show. This happens on the beach.
Krishna doubts whether he is the chosen one. His Guru Sandipani reminds him of his mission. He attains to enlightenment on the Govardhana giri peak after this counselling.
A quotation from the book “The Power of Mantra and the Mystery of Initiation” by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait :
I noticed that the answers to all my questions centered around two central themes. The first theme was to be careful of fear and doubt. Fear and doubt are like an army of termites chewing away at the foundation and causing the entire structure of spirituality to collapse. The second theme was that ego and selfishness are the greatest enemies. In fact they are the commanders – they organize anger, hatred, jealousy, greed and the desire for revenge – commanding them to create both inner and outer turmoil
Many times we are not even aware that Fear, Doubt and Ego are manifesting themselves in our thoughts, decisions and actions.
It is one thing for me to say that its not a good thing to have fear, doubt and ego …………….but leaving you high and dry without giving you the tools ….is not fair 🙂 :-).
There are many tools. Some tools create a space between “You” and “Your thoughts”, “You” and “Your body”, “You” and “Your Emotions”, “You” and “Your mind”. This creation of a distance is so essential for you to be aware that you are indeed afraid, in doubt or have that ego that is manifesting currently. Awareness is the first step to change. Tools like Shambhavi, Shoonya/Deep Meditation, Aana Paana Sati/Breath Awareness, Samyama help create that space and make you deeply aware that you are not your thoughts/body/emotion/mind and give you the space and handle to deal with things.
The second set of tools are to address the root of fear, doubt and ego and remove it. For this the set of practices are tattwa shuddhi or bhuta shuddhi and mantra sadhana. Essentially they help cleanse and address the karmic root and samskaras over a period of time. This evens out fear, doubt and ego over a period of time.
Deep Meditation, Shambhavi and Samyama are offered by Yogani at http://www.aypsite.com
Shambhavi, Shoonya, Bhuta Shuddhi, Aana Paana Sati and Samyama are offered by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev at Isha Foundation
Tattwa Shuddhi is offered by Swami Satyananda Saraswathi from Bihar School of Yoga – Munger
There are many more practices that also address the same aspects of cleansing and creating a space – like Hatha Yoga etc.
Nirvana Shatakam 