Fear and Devotion

Once a Guru and disciple were walking, they were tired as they had walked a long distance and one of the disciples said, Guru, I cannot walk even a step further. I am exhausted Guru, let us sit here, I cannot take one more step. Guru, you please continue walking, I will rest for a while and come later. No matter how much the Guru insisted, the disciple was stubborn and so the guru walked away.

A while later the Guru saw a little girl waiting with food, standing next to the field where farmers were harvesting wheat. The guru picked up the little girl and left her near the disciple who was resting. When the farmers came for lunch, they could not find the little girl with food
They started searching for her, fearing some kidnapped her and finally saw her sitting next to the disciple.

The farmers shouted “hey we found her, this man took her” and started to yell at the disciple accusing him of kidnapping her
The angry farmers picked up sticks to thrash the disciple and surrounded him. Seeing the angry farmers with sticks, the disciple was so frightened, he got up and ran and reached before the Guru.

The Guru reached an hour later and seeing the disciple, he asked: “How did you manage to reach before me? Weren’t you taking rest, as you were so exhausted that you couldn’t take a single step further.”
The disciple said Guru, you shouldn’t have done this to me.
The guru then said, so you had the strength to carry on, which proves that you could have continued but you refused; so now how did you get the strength to reach before me? This shows that the strength is within us, if we apply effort, we can definitely move forward.

In Kali Yug (Present times), only devotion due to fear (Kamsa Bhakti) bears fruit. Kamsa, Lord Krishna’s uncle, was so scared of Krishna, he saw Krishna in water, every pillar and post, in everything due to fear. So, people pray due to the fear of consequences, – “Oh I should not get punished, good things should happen to me” etc.


Fear drives people towards faith and not the understanding of spiritual principles or fundamental truths. It is said that in Kali Yug, only Kamsa Bhakti is beneficial, due to fear. No one seeks knowledge for Liberation. Taste is most important for the tongue, eyes seek beauty, ears seek melody the mind is awestruck with external attributes.

Those who have knowledge have no fear and they do not waste time
They are practical and know we cannot regain lost time. As far as others are concerned, only fear brings out their talents and awakes them.


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