Be Active, Not Reactive

Once, Lord Buddha was passing through a village. Some impertinent villagers started mistreating and pelting stones at him. He did not react anything; there was no any reaction or changes in his body movement as well. He told “is it done for you? I need to go to the other village as well”. The villagers were expecting some virulent reaction from the Buddha. But it went against their expectation. Out of surprise, they asked “we battered you, we pelted stones at you, but you did not react the way we were expecting from you.  Buddha replied, “no one can make you react until and unless you are supportive for that, and submitted yourself to them. I do not submit myself to the people who want to make me react according to their will. I have full control on my action. I am always conscious whenever I indulge in action. I have not left my any action on chance”. The action is the result of the senses. The uncontrolled senses are reactive and the controlled senses are always active. It would always be constructive, and the reactive senses have more chances to be destructive.

      

Buddha said, “If you would have done the same things 15 years ago, before becoming Buddha, I would have been very reactive, but now I am not reactive, I am active only, I am aware, I am conscious, I am Buddha. I know what I am, I know each of my action, it does not make any difference what people think and say about me”. He did not want to squander his energy on unyielding deal. Buddha always looks calm, cool and content. He had known himself. He is enlightened. The person who knows himself, to him nothing can disturb.

     

The same incident takes place in our life on daily basis, but we are very reactive, we spend most of our time and energy to react them. I case of reaction, we cannot be creator or owner, we end with the follower, and we culminate with frustration. Inadvertently and unwittingly, we squander most of the energy in reaction or talking about others which is really an unyielding effort for our complete development. The wise person always invest some time to contemplate about himself, about his weaknesses on daily basis and devote his energy in improvement, not on the reaction impelled by others.

      

The path that leads to success, health, prosperity and happiness is started with individual commitment. Commit yourself that you do not want to squander your energy in reacting on unbidden and unyielding stuff; rather you direct your energy to reach your highest set goal.” The moment you commit yourself, the life start changing from there, it would not matter what people think and talk about you, what difficulties you encounter, how many fiasco you confront. It will only matter for you, the day by day improvement and impending goal. One thing is very certain; no one can make you unhappy without your permission. And to grant permission you must have the complete ownership on your life.