Man alone among sentient beings is self-conscious and unprogrammed. He is aware of himself and his environment, and free to choose his attitude and behavior. Self-awareness and free will are man’s ‘humanness’. All other beings are tied to a pattern set by their instincts. man, too, has instincts, but he is not bound by their pattern. In fact, blessed with free will, he cannot rely upon instinct as a guide for his behavior, but must thoughtfully choose his actions in accordance with ethical standards. If he allows his actions just to ‘happen’, triggered by instinct-born impulses or some conditioned ‘mechanicalness’, he is not acting but merely reacting.

All reactions are ‘happenings’. Human choice is over action - not reaction. Once I act I have no power to choose the reaction. I can chooses to clap my hands or not. But, when - with a certain velocity - the flat of my hands contact each other, I have no option to decide whether a noise is made. A reaction is like that. Any reaction is determined by the totality of laws and circumstances that, once an action has occurred, come into force to make the given reaction happen.

If I fail to choose my actions consciously and deliberately, but simply let them happen, they will be reactions, either impulsive reactions born of instincts or mechanical reactions born of conditioning. In either cases I have not exercised that special faculty that makes me human, namely choice of action based on rational thought.

So what? Why does it matter whether I exercise this special faculty? Is there a reason why I should consciously choose my actions? What is wrong with letting impulse or conditioning guide me? My impulses are normal. My conditioning carried by my parents, my teacher, society is good.

That may be true. But, still, over any period of time, a life based on impulsive or mechanical behavior will run into problems. When my ’actions’ are really reactions, my mind will be troubled, because:

-  Experience will not teach me
-  Conflicts between thought and deed will bother me
- Painful emotions will build up.
- Mood will be my master.

When I consciously, rationally choose my actions, I am in a position to benefit from what has happened before. Experience is my teacher. Even from wrong actions I become wiser. But when I let my actions ’happen’, I am not consciously there to learn from the past.

In addition, these actions that are ’happenings’ will lead to a split in me. No matter how constructive my conditioning may have been, my impulses will not always be in line with my ethical standards, leading to behavior in conflict with values. Action in conflict will produce a mind divided against itself. Like  Duryodhana in the Mahaabhaarat, I will find myself saying:

            janaami dharmam na ca me pravrtti
            janaami adharmam na ca me nivrtti

‘ I know what is right, but I cannot do it
I know what is not right, but I cannot but do it’.

Duryodhana has lost the power of rational choice over his actions. His mind was in conflict and split between values and impulses. A mind in conflict is always a painful mind.

Pain, in fact, is the companion of many reactions. When I analyses the attitudes and conduct that all religions condemn as ’bad’, I find that bad actions are really painful actions. Universally condemned emotions, such as jealousy and hatred, are built-up reactions. These are disturbing emotions that trouble the mind. No one consciously chooses to be jealous or hateful. Such actions grow from license granted to impulse. Impulse stems from desire/longing for the agreeable and anger/aversion to the disagreeable. In the Gita, Lord Krishna says: 

            shaknotiihaiva yah sodhum praak shariiravimokshanaat
            kaamakrodhobhavam vegam sa yuktah sa sukhii narah

‘The one who is able to master the force born of anger and desire here (in this world) before release from the body is a karma-yogi. He is indeed a happy person’. (5.23)

Finally, to the extent my actions are the result of impulse, I will be ruled by mood. With mood as my master I will be a question mark to myself and others. No one will know whether at any given time I will be reasonable, touchy, co-operative or stubborn.

Thus, analysis shows that thoughtless action, born of impulse or conditioning will cause me pain and problems. If I see this but find that I am caught in a web reaction and mechanicalness, what can I do?

I can undertake a program of alertness. I can commit myself to watch, consciously, all my thoughts, my words, and my actions, no matter how small, trivial or insignificant they are. To be conscious of all thoughts, words, and actions is called tapas in Sanskrit. The word is used to cover many religious austerities such as fasting, observing silence, and similar disciplines. The purpose of all these disciplines is only to make one more conscious. When one is doing something different from routine, alertness and awareness sharpen.

With sharpened awareness I will be able to recognise when I am mechanical. If I become conscious that I am mechanical, then mechanicalness ceases! consciousness and mechanicalness cannot co-exist. With mechanicalness gone, my actions are subject to my choice. I can choose deliberately to align even my trivial thoughts, words, and deeds so that they are not at war with one another. Mastery over small things brings in its wake control over larger ones. Through alertness and deliberateness I can free myself from reactions born of impulse and conditioning.

A mind free from reactions is quiet, receptive, objective, capable and serene. Such a mind enjoys relative happiness. It can learn from experience, not wracked with conflict. It can deal with negative emotions and it is master over its moods. A mind like this is ready to discover the truth of the self through the teaching of Vedanta.