Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 69: Bharata’s Distressing Dreams
Text 2.69.20
न पश्यामि भयस्थानं भयं चैवोपधारये।
भ्रष्टश्च स्वरयोगो मे छाया चोपहता मम॥
na paśyāmi bhaya-sthānaṁ bhayaṁ caivopadhāraye
bhraṣṭaś ca svara-yogo me chāyā copahatā mama
na paśyāmi = I don’t find; bhaya-sthānam = a reason for fear; bhayam ca eva upadhāraye = but still I am helplessly in fear; bhraṣṭaḥ ca = is faltering; svara-yogaḥ = voice; me = My; chāyā ca upahatā mama = and I have become discolored 2.
“I don’t find a reason for fear; still I am helplessly in fear. My voice is faltering and I have become discolored.1
1 Chāyā here means luster and luster indicates color.
NOTE. This pastime of Lord Bharata reveals the nature of fear. Prabhupāda elaborates on it thus:
Fear is due to worrying about the future. A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness has no fear because by his activities he is sure to go back to the spiritual sky, back home, back to Godhead. Therefore his future is very bright. Others, however, do not know what their future holds; they have no knowledge of what the next life holds. So they are therefore in constant anxiety. If we want to get free from anxiety, then the best course is to understand Kṛṣṇa and be situated always in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In that way we will be free from all fear. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.2.37) it is stated, bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt: fear is caused by our absorption in the illusory energy. But those who are free from the illusory energy, those who are confident that they are not the material body, that they are spiritual parts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and who are therefore engaged in the transcendental service of the Supreme Godhead, have nothing to fear. Their future is very bright. This fear is a condition of persons who are not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Abhayam, fearlessness, is possible only for one in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (Bhagavad-gītā 10.4-5 purport)