Believe Me. There is NOTHING to Fear.
What the Bhagavad Gita and Stoic Wisdom Teach Us About Courage, Clarity, and Living Fully
There’s a strange thing about fear. It whispers. It roars. It waits in the background. And sometimes, without warning, it punches you in the chest so hard that you forget to breathe.
I’ve felt it. So have you.
Fear of failure. Fear of judgment. Fear of losing someone. Fear of not being enough. And the ultimate one—fear of death.
And yet, here I am, saying this with full conviction: There is nothing to fear.
Not because life is always comfortable. Not because danger is an illusion. But because what we fear is often a ghost of our own mind. And when we face it—truly face it—we realize: it has no teeth.
The Bhagavad Gita and Stoic philosophy, two ancient but eternal sources of wisdom, converge powerfully on this truth. And if we take their teachings seriously, we can finally begin to live—not from fear, but from freedom.
Let’s walk through it together.
1. Arjuna’s Breakdown is Our Breakdown
The Bhagavad Gita doesn’t begin with action. It begins with collapse.
Here is Arjuna—an undefeated warrior, a prince, a hero—and in the first chapter, he breaks down.
“My limbs are trembling, my mouth is drying up, my body is shivering, my bow slips from my hand…” (Gita 1.28–30)
Why? Fear. Deep, existential fear. Fear of doing the wrong thing. Fear of killing his loved ones. Fear of consequences. Fear of life and death.
He literally tells Krishna, “I shall not fight.”
Now pause. This isn’t just about a warrior on a battlefield. This is us, every single time we stand on the battlefield of our own lives—faced with a decision, a duty, a discomfort that threatens to consume us.
We want to retreat. We tremble. We find excuses.
But what does Krishna do?
He doesn’t tell Arjuna, “You’re right. This is scary. Let’s avoid it.”
He doesn’t say, “Just have faith. It will work out.”
He shows Arjuna the bigger picture—of life, of death, of duty, of the imperishable soul. And that’s when everything changes.
2. You Are Not the Body. You Are Eternal.
Let’s get to the core of Krishna’s message. It’s so simple that we miss its depth:
“It (the soul) never takes birth, nor it ever dies; it neither comes into being, nor it ever ceases to be. It is unborn, eternal, changeless, and primeval. It is not slain when the body is slain.” (Gita 2.20)
In other words: you are not this body. You are not your identity, your resume, your story. You are the eternal self.
And the self? It cannot be burned by fire, cut by weapons, drowned by water, or destroyed by anything.
Now imagine how fear dissolves in that awareness.
Why do we fear?
Because we think we will be harmed.
Because we think something will end.
Because we think we are this fragile, temporary thing.
But if I am not this body… then what is there to fear?
That doesn't mean we become reckless. No. It means we become resilient. Because we realize that what we truly are can never be harmed.
3. Memento Mori – Remember You Will Die
Now let’s bring in the Stoics.
The phrase Memento Mori means: Remember, you must die.
Sounds gloomy at first. But in reality, this is one of the most liberating reminders we can carry.
Why? Because when you remember death is inevitable, you stop fearing it. You stop delaying your life. You stop getting stuck in petty dramas. You stop postponing your purpose.
The Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius wrote:
“It is not death that a man should fear, but never beginning to live.”
Isn’t that the same thing Krishna tells Arjuna?
When Arjuna fears death and consequence, Krishna redirects him: not to safety, but to duty, to purpose, to right action.
“Better is discharging one’s own duty, even if it lacks quality, than another’s duty performed well. Death in the course of performing one’s own duty is better; performing another’s duty is fraught with fear (of being spiritually degraded).” (Gita 3.35)
Fear holds us back from living our own dharma. Memento Mori tears down that wall. It shakes us and says: Live. Now. Boldly. Wisely. Fully.
4. Face Fear by Understanding It
Both the Gita and Stoicism teach this: fear arises from ignorance.
From not understanding the self. From not seeing reality clearly. From thinking the temporary is permanent.
“The unreal (the body) has no existence; the real (the soul) has no nonexistence. Verily, the ultimate truth about both of these is realized by the seers of the truth (the realized sages).” (Gita 2.16)
And so, Krishna says to Arjuna—and to all of us: If you want to overcome fear, don't suppress it. Understand it. See through it.
What are we really afraid of?
Losing control? The Gita says: You never had control.
Being judged? The Gita says: The self remains untouched.
Failing? The Gita says: There is no failure when the intention is aligned with dharma.
The moment we stop resisting fear and start seeing it clearly, we begin to outgrow it.
5. True Courage is Doing the Right Thing, Even While Afraid
Let’s be clear. Krishna doesn’t promise Arjuna that the battle will be painless.
He doesn’t say: “Don’t worry, you won’t lose anyone.”
No. Krishna shows Arjuna that the battlefield is not outside—it’s within.
Courage isn’t the absence of fear. It is the ability to act despite fear, because you are aligned with truth.
Krishna says:
“Perform your dutiful actions, O Dhananjaya, being steadfast in Yoga, abandoning all material attachments, and remaining steady in both success and failure. Such equanimity is called Yoga.” (Gita 2.48)
The Stoics echoed this. Epictetus said: “It’s not things themselves that disturb us, but our judgments about them.”
When we stop attaching to outcomes and start committing to the right action, fear begins to shrink.
You don’t need to see the whole staircase. You just need to take the next step. With honor, with clarity, with love.
6. You Are Not Alone
In times of fear, we feel isolated. Abandoned. Alone.
But one of the most comforting teachings of the Gita is this:
“And I am seated in the hearts of all; from Me come memory, knowledge, as well as their loss; I am verily the one to be known through the study of the Vedas; indeed, I am the compiler of Vedanta (Upanishads), and I am the knower of the Vedas.” (Gita 15.15)
In other words: Krishna is with you. Within you.
You may feel lost. You may not know what to do. But Krishna does. And if you listen—not just with your ears, but with your heart—you will hear that still, small voice.
It will not scream. But it will guide.
Sometimes it says, “Wait.”
Sometimes it says, “Let go.”
And sometimes it says, “Fight.”
But it always says: Do not fear. I am here.
Final Thoughts: Fear is the Greatest Illusion
Today, people sell fear to us in new packaging—news headlines, marketing gimmicks, social media doom, performance pressure.
But fear is nothing new. It’s been with us since the beginning of time.
The Bhagavad Gita and the Stoics aren’t asking us to become superheroes. They’re reminding us that we already have access to courage—not by becoming something new, but by remembering who we are.
So next time fear visits, greet it. Understand it. Learn from it. And then, gently walk past it.
Because you were never meant to live a small, scared life.
You were meant to rise.
You were meant to serve.
You were meant to live, fully and fearlessly.
And the next time your knees shake or your voice quivers, whisper to yourself what Arjuna eventually realized:
“There is nothing to fear. Krishna is with me.”
Thank you for these beautiful insights