Fear

A king ran into a Fakir and in keeping with the custom when a king met a subject he said, “Ask for a favor.”
The fakir replied, “It would be unseemly for me to ask a favor of one of my slaves.”
“How dare you speak so disrespectfully to the king”, said a guard man. “Explain yourself or you shall die.”
The fakir said, “I have a slave who is the master of your king.”
“Who?”
“Fear”, said the fakir.
If we search the depths of our hearts we come face to face with the fact that we are zeros. We are empty inside. Be it a prime minister or a petty laborer, every man feels empty. Man cannot face this emptiness. So he creates any number of images and imaginations about him and the world around. In our relationships, in our workplaces and in the society at large we try to be something; to project to the near and dear ones an image of a good man, a humble man, an intelligent man, an integral man.
A lot of effort foes into keeping this image intact. However life is a strange thing. Whenever something is founded on untruth it goes on to give you a blow, pushing you towards truth. Its constant endeavor is to show you ‘you are a zero’.
When the image you have created within and outside of yourself faces the threat of a collapse or crashes then fear arises in you. That is why Sri Bhagavan says, “Mind is fear. Fear is never in the action. It is only in the anticipation. Mind is an amplifier. It controls and manipulates life.”
Enlightenment is liberation from the mind.
Enlightenment is liberation from fear.