The Gita in daily life
When you are afraid
I am frightened and I cannot think straight. Does the Gita say anything about fear?
I am frightened and I cannot think straight. Does the Gita say anything about fear?
It says a good deal, and it does not treat fear as shameful. The most frightened man in the Gita is Arjuna, who looks at what he asked to see and says openly that his mind is shaking (11.45). Krishna does not correct him. He tells him to let the fear go and then takes on a gentler form so that it can (11.49). Elsewhere the text says even a little of this dharma protects from great fear (2.40), and that many have been freed of fear by taking refuge (4.10).
Hansi Gita Bhawan Trust · from the Bhagavad Gita
Fear and its absence run through the whole text. Fearlessness stands first in the list of qualities belonging to a man born to the higher nature (16.1) — ahead of purity, giving and restraint. Whatever it is, it is not courage in the military sense: Arjuna is the finest archer of his age and is terrified anyway. At 18.30 fearlessness is treated as a property of the understanding. The clear buddhi is the one that knows what should be done and what should not, what is to be feared and what is not, what binds and what frees.
The eleventh chapter shows fear rather than discussing it. Arjuna asks to see, is shown, and cannot bear it. He says in the same breath that he is thrilled and that his mind is shaking (11.45), and he asks for the familiar four-armed form back (11.46). Krishna’s answer has two halves that are usually separated and should not be: he says do not be afraid and do not be bewildered (11.49), and then he actually changes back and settles him (11.50). Reassurance and accommodation arrive together. Nobody is told to endure the terrible form.
The most quoted line on fear is 18.66 — let go of all duties, come to me alone for shelter, do not grieve. It is the last instruction of the teaching, spoken to a man who has already heard seventeen chapters. Lifted out, it is easily made to mean that faith removes fear, which the text does not claim. 2.40 makes a smaller claim and means it: no effort in this way of working is wasted, nothing goes backwards, and even a little of it protects from great fear. A little. Protects. Not removes.
In the Gita’s own words
Where this comes from.
Bhagavad Gita 2.40Shri Bhagavan
नेहाभिक्रमनाशोऽस्ति प्रत्यवायो न विद्यते ।
स्वल्पमप्यस्य धर्मस्य त्रायते महतो भयात् ॥Here no effort is wasted, and nothing goes backwards. Even a little of this dharma protects a man from great fear.
The Gita’s working promise about fear, and it is carefully limited: effort here is never wasted, and even a little of this dharma protects from great fear. Protection, not removal.
Bhagavad Gita 4.10Shri Bhagavan
वीतरागभयक्रोधा मन्मया मामुपाश्रिताः ।
बहवो ज्ञानतपसा पूता मद्भावमागताः ॥Free of passion, fear and anger, filled with me and taking refuge in me, many have been purified by the discipline of knowledge and have come to my own being.
Passion, fear and anger are named together as what people were freed from, by taking refuge and by the discipline of knowledge. Fear is treated as something that goes with a change in the person, not as something argued away.
Bhagavad Gita 11.45Arjuna
अदृष्टपूर्वं हृषितोऽस्मि दृष्ट्वा
भयेन च प्रव्यथितं मनो मे ।
तदेव मे दर्शय देव रूपं
प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास ॥I am thrilled to have seen what no one had seen before, and at the same time my mind is shaking with fear. Show me that earlier form of yours, God. Be kind, lord of gods, home of the world.
Arjuna says it out loud in front of everyone: thrilled by what he has seen and shaking with fear at the same time. The Gita prints the admission rather than tidying it away.
Bhagavad Gita 11.49Shri Bhagavan
मा ते व्यथा मा च विमूढभावो
दृष्ट्वा रूपं घोरमीदृङ्ममेदम् ।
व्यपेतभीः प्रीतमनाः पुनस्त्वं
तदेव मे रूपमिदं प्रपश्य ॥Do not be afraid, and do not be bewildered, now that you have seen this terrible form of mine. Let your fear go, let your mind be glad, and look again at that other form of mine.
Krishna’s answer: do not be afraid, do not be bewildered, look again at the other form. Read with 11.50, where he resumes the gentle form, it is an accommodation and not a demand.
Bhagavad Gita 16.1Shri Bhagavan
अभयं सत्त्वसंशुद्धिर्ज्ञानयोगव्यवस्थितिः ।
दानं दमश्च यज्ञश्च स्वाध्यायस्तप आर्जवम् ॥Fearlessness, a clean and settled mind, steadiness in knowledge and in yoga, giving, restraint of the senses, sacrifice, study of the scriptures, austerity, and being straight with people.
Fearlessness heads the list of qualities of the higher nature, before purity, giving, restraint and study. Its place in the order is itself the claim.
Bhagavad Gita 18.30Shri Bhagavan
प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च कार्याकार्ये भयाभये ।
बन्धं मोक्षं च या वेत्ति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी ॥The understanding that knows engagement and withdrawal, what is to be done and what is not, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation — that understanding, O Partha, is of goodness.
Fear and fearlessness are listed among the things a clear understanding knows correctly, beside duty and non-duty, bondage and freedom. Knowing what is worth fearing is treated as knowledge.
Bhagavad Gita 18.66Shri Bhagavan
सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।
अहं त्वां सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः ॥Letting go of all duties, come to Me alone for shelter. I shall set you free from every sin; do not grieve.
The last instruction of the teaching: let go of all duties, take refuge, do not grieve. It is addressed to a man who has heard everything that comes before it, and it does not promise that the war goes away.
What to actually do
Small, and today.
- Say what you are afraid of, in one sentence, to one person. Arjuna does exactly this in front of two armies and the text prints it. Fear kept unnamed grows in the dark and tends to stand in for every other fear you have.
- Do the next small thing anyway. 2.40 says no effort in this direction is wasted and nothing goes backwards. A student afraid of an examination still has one chapter he could read tonight. A man afraid of what a test will show still has an appointment he can keep.
- Take refuge in a form you can actually bear. Krishna resumes the gentler form precisely because Arjuna cannot hold the other one (11.49, 11.50). A practice you can sustain — a lamp at a fixed hour, five minutes, one chapter read aloud — is worth more than one designed for a braver person.
- Sort the fears rather than trying to abolish them. 18.30 makes knowing what to fear and what not to fear a mark of clear understanding. Some fear is information about something that needs doing. The rest is weather.
What the Gita does not say
That a person of faith does not feel fear. The Gita’s own hero is openly afraid, says so in front of everyone, and asks for the vision to stop (11.45, 11.46). He is not rebuked for it, and his request is granted. Nor is 18.66 a promise that taking refuge makes the frightening thing go away. After 18.66 Arjuna still has a war in front of him, and 18.73 is his saying he will act, not his saying he is comfortable.
The words behind this
Common questions
About this.
Which verse of the Gita is about fear?
Several. 2.40 says even a little of this dharma protects from great fear. 4.10 describes people freed of passion, fear and anger through refuge and knowledge. 16.1 puts fearlessness first among the higher qualities. And 11.45 is Arjuna saying his mind is shaking, which may be the most useful of them, because it shows what the text permits a person to say.
Does reciting the Gita remove fear?
The text does promise something to those who study and hear this dialogue: 18.70 and 18.71 speak of the sacrifice of knowledge and of the worlds reached by one who listens with faith. Neither verse promises relief from fear. 2.40 credits the practice itself with protection from great fear, not the sound of the words.
What does 18.66 mean?
Let go of all duties and come to me alone for shelter; I shall free you from every sin; do not grieve. It is the closing instruction of the teaching, addressed to Arjuna after seventeen chapters. It is a call to refuge, not a guarantee that the danger in front of a person will be taken away.
Is it wrong to be afraid of dying?
The Gita does not call it wrong. It argues that the dweller in the body is not killed when the body is killed (2.20) and treats that as a reason not to grieve. Whether the argument reaches a frightened person is another matter, and the text does not pretend that hearing it once settles anything.