In the many emotions ruled by life, Fear is one factor which is unavoidable in one’s life. There is no person who does not have fear, but the one, who faces it, is victorious and the one who escapes it, is always pursued by it. The manner in which one tries to face fear is a matter of intellectuality and courage. But it is only when these two are combined with righteousness does the person emerge successful. The Ramayan and Mahabharat have great examples of how fear was faced and how one tried to overcome them through their thinking.
When one thinks of Marich, the first thing what strikes is the powerful push of Shri Ram’s arrow by which Marich fell in Lanka. With this incident, Marich understands the strength of Shri Ram and becomes a changed man and turns into an ascetic. However, destiny does not leave him and Ravan orders him to deceit Shri Ram as a golden deer so that he could abduct Mata Sita. Marich fear rises again and he tries hard to convince Ravan not to foster enmity with Shri Ram. But Ravan does not listen to him and threatens to kill Marich. This is when Marich although fearing Shri Ram’s strength decides to face it and get resolved of his sins only through Shri Ram’ arrow and gives a meaningful purpose to his fears.
In the same incident, Ravan is the one who is the conqueror of the three worlds, yet he did not have the courage to face Shri Ram in person and opted for deceit using Marich as a pawn. Ravan tried his best to escape his fear of Shri Ram, but fear pursued him and he ended up with defeat in the hands of Shri Ram. The difference between Marich and Ravan is Marich faced his fear and Ravan tried to escape it. Ravan only teaches that the more you escape fear, the higher is its speed of pursuit.
The same thing happens in Mahabharat where Duryodhan once confides with his father Dhritarashtr that he feared the power of Arjun’s arrows more than anything. Because of the fear which ruled Duryodhan, he resorted to evil schemes to destroy the Pandavas. But, each time he resorted to an evil plan, the Pandavas shone with more glory. In the Kurukshestra battle, he tries to face his fear by a vast army than the Pandavas and thinks he would win, but he forgets that Shri Krishna was on the righteous side of the Pandavas and victory would be of Dharma’s.
In the same battle, Yudhishtir fears the mighty attack of Bheeshm Pitamah and fears that victory would never be theirs unless the mighty warrior succumbs. But without resorting to deceit, Yudhisthir himself goes to Bheeshm and confides his fear with humility that the Pandavas were no match for Bheesma’s skill in war and requests Bheeshm himself for a solution. Pleased with Yudhisthir’s intellectual approach, Bheeshma himself tells his secret to be defeated in war and blesses them with victory.
Duryodhan without accepting his fear resorted to deceit and ended up with a miserable plight. On the contrary, Yushistir instead of boasting about himself, accepted his fear and won over the situation. Fear may be inevitable, but never impossible to overcome. Fear faced is fear gone.