How are some people such as skydivers more fearless than devotees?

Transcript

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explore immortality. Some people seem to be fearless.
They may do skydiving, bungee diving, they may even say that I am not afraid of death. On the other hand, devotees may seem to have fear of that. Yes.
Fear, as I said, is a natural and necessary reaction to danger. But, in different people, this fear will be different in terms of its magnitude. Just like some people, their capacity to tolerate heat is quite high.
Some people, a little hot, they start sweating, they start feeling miserable. Some people, they can tolerate heat quite a bit. Some people can tolerate cold also quite a bit.
That is just the nature of their body-mind machine. So, like that, some people, by their past karma, for them, they get a sense of thrill when they encounter danger. They like to put themselves in a dangerous situation and that is what makes them feel, I am alive, I am doing something special.
So, we all, based on the kind of body-mind machine we have, we have particular needs. Some people have a need for security. And some people have a need for adventure.
That is just the different people’s mind is different. So, that does not necessarily mean that the person who needs security is less spiritually advanced or the person who seeks adventure is more spiritually advanced. This has got nothing to do with spirituality.
This is just the nature of the body-mind. Somebody, as I said, somebody may be able to tolerate cold very much. So, that person can very easily wake up in the morning and go out somewhere.
But that does not necessarily mean they will go to a temple for a spiritual program. They might just go somewhere else. So, just the physical or the psychological reaction to particular stimuli, that does not necessarily correlate with spiritual advancement.
It may, but it may not also. So, just like Kshatriyas or people of Kshatriya tendency, they have a tendency, by the nature of their body, they are martial, they like to fight, and they also have some fear, but they also want an adventure. And that’s how they are able to fight.
Common people will not be able to fight like that. So, in general, some people do have that capacity to be, to be, to feel fear much less than others. It’s not that they don’t feel any fear, but they feel it so much less, that it’s almost not noticeable.
And this is not necessarily a good thing. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s not necessarily a good thing. It’s just the way the body is.
But even among people who are going to do skydiving or jumping from a parachute or whatever, bungee diving, even among them, they have to be trained to be cautious. They have to make sure that the equipment works properly, that they are taking the necessary precautions. If they don’t take that, then they can put themselves into unnecessary danger.
So, that activity requires a certain level of fearlessness. But even it also requires a certain level of fear. If somebody is jumping from a parachute and they have not tested the parachute oneself, jumping with a parachute, that is not fearlessness, that is foolishness.
So, I would say rather than thinking of fear as digital, you know, some people are fearless and some people are fearful. We see fear as an analog measure. In some people, the level of fear that they feel is more and in some people the level of fear that they feel is less.
But even those who feel less fear, they also need to, even in those activities, feel some fear. A soldier is going to fight. A soldier has to have some level of fearlessness.
But a soldier also has to be careful, make sure that they are taking their weapons properly, that their weapons are in good condition, that their swords are sharp, their arrows are sharp, that they are well functional, everything. And they just fool around, you know, I will just go and fight. You will not fight, you will be slaughtered then, if you are not prepared.
So, the exact way in which a person’s fear or lack of fear is expressed will vary depending on one’s psychophysical nature and one’s particular situation, particular occupation also. But it is there in everyone and if it is less in some people, that’s just a reflection of the psychophysical nature.