Page 14 - All India Magazine Sep-2025

Fear and Illness

Q: Can one get ill through fear?

Yes. I knew someone who was so full of fear that he got chol-
era! There was cholera in the next house and he got so frightened
that he caught the illness and without any other reason, there was
no other reason for his catching it: it was through sheer fright. And
it is a very common thing; in an epidemic, it is so in the majority of
cases. It is through fear that the door is opened and you catch the
illness. Those who have no fear can go about freely and generally
they catch nothing. But still..., you may have no fear in the mind,
you may have no fear even in the vital, but who has no fear in the
body?... Very few. A strict discipline is needed to cure the body of
fear. The cells themselves tremble. It is only by discipline, by yoga
that one can overcome this fear.
CWM 5: 168

Fear is hidden consent. When you are afraid of something, it
means that you admit its possibility and thus strengthen its hand.
It can be said that it is a subconscient consent.
CWM 14: 262

You must not fear. Most of your troubles come from fear. In fact,
ninety per cent of illnesses are the result of the subconscient fear
of the body. In the ordinary consciousness of the body there is a
more or less hidden anxiety about the consequences of the slight-
est physical disturbance. It can be translated by these words of
doubt about the future: “And what will happen?” It is this anxiety
that must be checked. Indeed this anxiety is a lack of confidence
in the Divine’s Grace, the unmistakable sign that the consecration
is not complete and perfect.
CWM 15: 151 The Mother

14 All India Magazine, September 2025