I keep seeing various posts asking people to be fearless, shameless and guiltless. Fear, shame and guilt are emotions which prevents the person from doing unethical things. These are instinctive emotions which pop up whenever we do something wrong.
Losing these emotions is dangerous and I will prove this using examples from the Kerala story. There will be a few spoilers but nothing big. If people really let go of fear,they would do scary things like jump from the terrace bcoz they are not afraid of hitting the ground as a messy pulp.
They may run haywire on roads as they are not afraid of getting into an accident. They may even enter risky situations without taking caution or doing due diligence. In the Kerala story, Shalu lets go of fear and was not scared to go to a foreign nation where she could be trained to be a suicide bomber.
She was not afraid to completely break contact with her Hindu family and extended community. She was not afraid of being stoned to death if suspected of adultery or have her hands cut if she puts on makeup. or uses mobile.
What if people really let go of shame.They may not care for wearing any clothes and may roam naked on roads. They may not care for the sanctity of marriage and may have extramarital affairs. They may do sex in public places. The possibilities are beyond imagination.
In the movie Shalu lets go of shame and has sex with the Muzzie guy whose intention is to impregnate her in order to manipulate her into conversion and indoctrination. Her friend also lets go of shame and sends her nudes to another Muzzie who uses them to blackmail her into conversion and further brainwashing.
If people lose guilt, they may not care about hurting other people as long as they get what they want. They would have no remorse and no repentence for the havoc and chaos they create in anyone else’s life. Such people may even become psychopaths and sociopaths.
Shalini had lost all guilt and did not care for the natural and legal consequences of her choices, she had almost become a psycho to the point that she was willing to die and kill for the cause of Islam.
But thankfully in the end, she feels guilt over her actions and develops awareness, understanding and self-restraint. If people let go of fear, shame and guilt; they may go mad and do insane things as their life would lose its moral structure. The Hindu dharma gives us an ethical structure and teaches us values via daily rituals, festivals and community bonding.
Chanting shlokas, attending hari kathas, doing bhajan-kirtans, etc. helps us imbibe positive emotions like prem(love),dhairya (patience), karuna(compassion), sadbuddhi(common sense), shourya(courage),indriyjayah(victory over one’s senses or self-control),atmaanushasan (self discipline) etc. All emotions are teachers. Fear teaches caution, shame teaches social intelligence and guilt teaches sensitivity towards others.
If one is the jolly type, they can reframe fear as sadbuddhi, shame as indriyjayah and guilt as karuna using Sanatan’s positive ethical values i.e. it is common sense(sadbuddhi) to understand and investigate deeply what we fear to see if there’s any danger, guilt is felt when there is possibility of hurting another and that’s nothing but karuna(compassion).
Ultimately it is important to be a conscious person. Remember the savdhan in ‘Shubh mangal savdhan’. Always take caution, be aware of social consequences and don’t trample on others just to gain power! And do watch the Kerala files.
(This article has been compiled from the tweet thread posted by @PoojaPophale on May 6, 2023, with minor edits to improve readability and conform to HinduPost style guide)
