I often wonder as to why Buddha came back to the world. Post-enlightenment, there was nothing he was seeking from the world. He could have stayed away from the world in his blissful state. When he came back to the society, there was so much resistance from the society. There are many stories indicating conspiracies. Some even hired a lady to blame Buddha for having impregnated her. Despite all this resistance, what can be Buddha's motivation?
Buddha understood that the world is a very diverse place where people are at different stages of evolution. Some are quite less evolved and therefore their degree of fixation is quite high. They are so hollow from the inside that they hold on to their material possessions, desires, and dreams very tightly. They will hold on to their wealth, and positions and the moment they see any threat to these, they will start reacting strongly. Similarly, they will hold on to their image in society, and their views and religions. The moment somebody criticizes their views, they start reacting strongly. On the other pole, there are some who are very evolved and they try to help others and work for the welfare of all the beings. They are connected internally and therefore keep passing on that love and compassion to everybody. Most of us are somewhere in between the two poles.
A realized person like Buddha can see that all these people are behaving differently due to their fixations (of the present life and the past lives) but in the end, everybody will evolve and realize his true self. As parents, we come across many instances where kids are stubborn and we do something for their welfare and yet they treat us badly. We do not let go and keep trying with them. It is because we love them unconditionally and therefore care for them. However, in other relationships, we get hurt by some comments, criticisms, and bad behavior because we do not connect to "others" with love and compassion. Probably we are not "so connected" to our true selves and therefore that "love and compassion" with others is "limited" and gets exhausted with little criticism or foul behavior. Our reaction will change with our level of awareness. A bad behavior, arrogance, or nasty remark by someone will result in stress, anxiety, and sadness if we are "disconnected internally and also weak in the material world", aggression if we are "disconnected internally but strong in the material world", love and compassion if we are "internally connected". It does not matter whether we are weak or strong in the material world if we are internally connected.
Buddha will understand that the purpose of realization is not to run away from this world but rather to share that experience with everybody around so that more and more people move towards completion and get over their sufferings. When a doctor operates a patient, the patient cries out of pain and curses the doctor. However, the doctor continues the operation understanding that the patient is in great pain and therefore his reaction is irrational. He is not in a position to understand what is good or bad for him and once the patient gets cured, he feels grateful to the doctor for the whole of his life. The same is interaction with a drug addict. The moment somebody tries to help him get out of the addiction, the addict feels as if that person is an enemy. There may be instances of aggression and even physical violence. Yet, at the end of the day when he gets rid of the addiction, he feels so grateful.
It is not easy to stay calm in these situations where the person we are trying to help is the one trying to harm us. It requires tremendous love and compassion. Any and every aggression and reaction is a result of a weak inner connection and reminds us to work inwardly. It's not easy to be a doctor operating on a patient who is crying constantly and having lost his balance shouts at the doctor itself. Buddha established such a deep inner connection that he could have love and compassion with the lady who is alleging him to have impregnated her. All these adventures are not possible for somebody who is in doubt and it requires unshakeable inner connection. On the other hand, once somebody establishes that deep inner connection, one is not afraid to undertake all these adventures. Any and every effort to put in place systems for the people who have gotten used to chaos, and to awaken a sleeping person from their slumber will not be welcomed by the ones who have gotten used to chaos or their slumber. That's why Buddha had to have an experience of enlightenment before beginning his adventure to wake the people up from their slumber.
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