Monday Motivation From Scriptures (MMFS-1): Face your fears - Face what you must face

Hi,

This is Siva coming to you with a new post "Monday Motivation From Scriptures" through which I would like to share with you short stories from the scriptures and holy books regularly. I hope you will find them interesting, inspiring, and worth reading. Here is the first one…

-------------------------------------------

Face your Fears - Face what you must face

This is a small story from Mahabharata. Once Krishna and Balarama were walking through a forest. They were in the middle of the forest, when the night fell and it became dark. As it was a dangerous forest, Krishna suggested to Balarama, "You keep watch until midnight while I sleep, and  I will be on watch from midnight till morning." Krishna went to sleep, while Balarama was in the role of guard. Night was getting deeper. All of a sudden, Balarama saw a monster coming towards him. As the monster approached him and screamed, Balarama got terrified. The moment Balarama felt the fear within,  the size of monster became bigger. The monster screamed one more time, Balarama became more fearful, and the monster grew still bigger. Scared with the fear of the monster, Balarama screamed "Krishna… Krishna" and fainted. Hearing the Balarama's call, Krishna woke up.  While Krishna was guarding, the same monster appeared; saw a new person this time; and screamed again. Krishna, instead of being perturbed, looked at the monster and asked him, “What do you want?” The courage of Krishna made the monster shrank in its size. Krishna went closer to the monster and asked him again, “What do you want?” The size of monster further reduced. The size of the monster reduced to such an extent that Krishna took him in his palm and tied him in his dhoti/cloth. 

Next morning, as they resumed their journey through the forest, Balarama told, ""Krishna, you don't know what a terrible thing happened while you were asleep. There was a huge monster trying to kill us both. I don't know how we survived, the last thing I remember is that I fainted." Then, Krishna took the monster out of his dhoti, showed him to Balarama and asked , “Are you talking about this?” Balarama immediately asked, “Yes, but when I saw he was so big. How come he became so small now?” Krishna calmly replied, “Every time I faced him and questioned him, he shrunk in size, finally he became this."

-------------------------------------------

Every time we are afraid, our fears grow big, but every time we face them and question them, they become smaller and smaller. When we avoid what we must face in life, it becomes bigger than us and takes control over us. When we face what we must face, we become bigger than it and we take control of it. The monster referred in the story above is like all the challenges we face in life. If we keep avoiding to face what we must face, these challenges become monstrous, and they gain control over us. Instead if we face what you must face, we gain control over them. The very challenges and tough times of life are indeed opportunities to help us become what we can be…bigger and stronger, provided we face them with courage.

With love and regards,

Siva

value4value@gmail.com