The Buddha once asked a student, “If a person is struck by an arrow, is it painful?”. The student replied, ‘it is!’. The Buddha then asked, “ If the same person is struck by a second arrow, is that even more painful?”. The student replied, “it is”.
The Buddha then explained, “In life, we cannot control the first arrow, which are painful experiences like losing our loved ones, getting failure after a lot of efforts, getting aged, contracting diseases, etc. However, the second arrow is our reaction to the first, which is to judge, which is to criticize ourselves, which is to become angry, to frustrate, to hate others. To deny the first arrow is like being stuck by a second arrow. The first arrow is accidental but the second arrow is optional”.
Being a sincere aspirant, there are chances of you getting struck from first arrows along this journey. You might get insults from relatives, you might miss prelims cut-off by a fraction of marks, or your optionals might not fare well, or your UPSC plan might not work well as planned. But it is you who can accept or deny the first arrow. You need to be resilient. You need to accept the existential plans. You need to work without attaching to the results.
Buddha says to increase your consciousness level, to avoid dwelling in the past and future. Life is to experience moment by moment. Success will happen by itself when we live to the fullest.
