Today Gurudeva talks about fear, good fear and bad fear--good fear of real danger, and bad fears that are negative thinking, creating problems where they do not exist. Bad fear, Gurudeva explains, can be overcome by positive thinking. He then answers a question about the immensity of the universe, and explains how God Siva's universe is a perfect universe.

Unedited Transcript:

Today at Kauai Aadheenam; February 14th.

A Happy Valentine's day to each and everyone of you. Will you be my Valentine? This is really wonderful. We have just enjoyed a fantastic Mahasivaratri puja that lasted till past midnight. All initiated devotees in good standing in Saiva Siddhanta Church were invited. It was a wonderful, close group of inner people, who have been on the path for many, many years.

Today, we are going to talk about fear.

Have you ever been afraid? There are two kinds of fear, you know. A good kind, and a not-so-good kind. Standing on top of a tall building looking down at the traffic below, you do have a certain trepidation if you get too close to the edge. That's the good kind of fear. Our scriptures tell us, "It is wise to fear that which should be feared."

There is another kind of fear that is not such a good kind of fear. It tears down the self image of the individual who indulges in the kind of thinking, creating concepts. "What if my house burned down? What if I had a automobile accident today? What if?, what if?, what if?." Innumerable, various fears that may never happen. But, we know, what we think about the most manifests eventually.

Now those kinds of fears can be wiped away through positive thinking. If you catch yourself 'what-if'ing, then just stop and think positively. Say a positive affirmation, "I am protected by the divinity within me and the divinity around me. Nothing can hurt and touch me." Think positively and the negative fear will vanish.

We have a question from Toronto about the immensity of the Universe. Greetings to Toronto, Canada! It's only our minds that conceive the Universe being immense. For all we know, it might be very, very small. For all we know, it may go on for ever and ever and ever. But what we do know in our limited concept, according to the Vedas, that it is an absolute perfect Universe. Everything working 100 percent in-sync, with everything else.

Sit by a river. Observe the the stars, the sunrise, the moon, all the planets, the river, the trees around you and you'll see that there is nothing wrong in the universe. It is a perfect universe. What the Vedas tell us is that we are a part of ecology. The Vedas don't tell us that human beings have to dominate nature and eat all the animals, birds and fish. Some of the other religions believe that they should. The Vedas do not tell us that we are not a part of ecology, that we are on the outside looking in. The Vedas explain that we are an intricate part of this wonderful Universe and even more so, of this beautiful planet of ours.

We hope that shed a little light on your question, from Toronto. Thank you very, very much for sending it on the e-mail to us. We want to wish you well in your life.

Aum Namah Sivaya.