Brij Mohan Sharma
It is said that history of the world is the history of to greatest men. If we agree with this definition, it should not be an overstatement to say that India occupies a pride of place in this sphere, inasmuch as its history is replete with the life and work of the greatest men the world has over seen. By ‘great men’, however, we never mean the kings and queens or the great military conquerors but philosophers and thinkers of the highest order.
Bhagavan Buddha is one such great personality of India who enriched its culture and philosophy, and is considered the first great reformer the world has seen. His spiritual teachings overflew the geographical bounds of India and filled the hearts of millions and millions with the ecstatic sweetness and aroma rarely experienced by mankind. And, all this was achieved through love and non-violence seldom witnessed in the annals of history.
To understand Buddha, however, it is pertinent to know that India, prior to Buddha, had already laid a dynamic and comprehensive philosophy of life and religion which finds its full form in Upanishads or Vedanta. Ekam sat, vipra bahuda vadanti- ‘Truth is one, sages call it by various names’- is the solemn assertion made by Vedas, which unequivocally declares the unity of the Godhead.
Bhagavan Sri Krishna further synthesized and strengthened the Indian national thought in the light of the Vedanta and gave it a universal meaning and direction as portrayed in Bhagavad Gita, the Song Celestial. He opened the doors of salvation to one and all breaking the man-made barriers of caste, class and sex (BG IX- 32), and declared that all religions lead to the same goal (B.G IV-11).
Some centuries after Sri Krishna, however, the original creative impulse lost its fervour in the flow of time. As a result, materialism with the higher classes and superstition with the common people again gained ascendency. Nevertheless, the spirit of renunciation and free enquiry continued to have its pervasive influence particularly in the eastern fringes of the country.
It was during this phase of Indian history in the sixth century BC that the next renaissance of the Indian spirit was achieved with Bhagavan Buddha at its centre which not only energised India but practically flooded the whole continent of Asia with the eternal Indian thought.
The personal name of Buddha was Siddartha and the family name Gautama. He was the only son of King Suddhodana and Queen Maya of Kapilavastu, a principality in the foothills of Himalayas. Siddhartha was married to Princess Yashodhara, and to them was born the prince Rahula. However, soon after his marriage, Gautama began to look beyond the pleasures and delights of worldly life. The facts of suffering and death could not be concealed for long beneath the trivial pleasures of the palace. In the recesses of his heart, he began to ask searching questions: Is there Truth beyond sorrow and death, and if there is, can man realize it, and if so, how ?
So, his enthusiasm to know the Truth led him to follow one of the well-established Upanishadic norms of renunciation. He renounced his home and wife and attachments and wandered alone in quest of Truth. Though the change from ease and comfort of palace to the hardships of monastic life were hard to bear at first, he soon entered on a course of study, discipline and meditation in the jungles. For many years he struggled and searched, now following this sect, now that, wandering from place to place, until at last he came to Gaya and, finding the place beautiful and serene, he sat down under a Bodhi (Banyan) tree with the resolve: “Let my body wither away in this seat, let it be reduced to mere skin, flesh and bones, but I shall not move in inch from hence till the highest enlightenment is gained.”
Sitting cross-legged in meditation, Gautama’s mind rose to the height of contemplation and ecstasy (nirvakalpa-samadhi). As night advanced, layer after layer of the coverings over Truth started lifting gradually, and towards the dawn he found the naked Truth revealed. It was the great moment of his life, the great moment in the history of man’s spiritual quest. Gautama became Buddha, the Enlightened one. He attained insight into the meaning of life and existence.
In order to share the new-found treasure with one and all bahujana hitaya, bahujana sakhaya- for the good of the many, for the happiness of the many- he wended his way to the holy city of Varanasi where, at Sarnath, he imparted his realization to humanity in two well-known discourses. The first one is famous as the dharamchakra-pravartana, the ‘turning’ of the wheel of Dharma, and the second is known as Anatmalaksana sutra, stripping the notion of individuality of all its unreal elements.
In the first discourse, he expounded the doctrine of the Middle Path (madhyama pratipada) between the extremes of self-indulgence and the self-mortification which, in essence, teaches humanity to observe neither austerity nor indulgence in spiritual life but a steady pursuity of truth with all the strength of body and mind. He also set forth, in detail, the noble eight fold path namely, right outlook, right will, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right absorption. (The symbold of this wheel of Dharma adorns the banner of India today).
In his second discourse, he exhorted his followers to give up the natural but mistaken identification of the self with the five skandhas or constituents of the changing personality, namely, the body, sensation, perception, predisposition and consciousness. Through such knowledge, man gives up identification with the finite, limited separate self, which is mortal, and realizes himself as non-dual, non-separate, absolute Self. Man, in his view, is burning in the fire of senses, in the fire of cravings, and the putting out this fire through dispassion and insight is nirvana, liberation.
For about forty years Buddha wandered from place to place meeting all classes of people and imparting his wisdom. He set in motion the first great missionary movement in history which, in the succeeding centuries, altered the destinies of nations in the most peaceful way. Thus, within fourteen centuries, the Light that was lit in India, had become the Light of Asia. However, how and why this light lost its luminosity in the land of its origin is a different story.
Buddha passed away in 453 B.C. Thus ended the earthly career of one of the dynamic characters of world’s religious history.
Today, India and the world at large needs the healing touch of the eternal message of Buddha, the message of toleration and kindliness, goodness and compassion, renunciation and service. All though his teachings- which are believed to be closest to the spirit of Upanishads- he laid constant stress on right conduct based on true understanding. Religion, according to him, does not consist in mere performance of rituals and propitiation of deities but it consists in the struggle to achieve self-possession and peace. He was the first prophet of the world who said: “I do not care to know your various theories about God. What is the use of discussing all subtle doctrines about the soul ? Do good and be good. And this will take you to the freedom and to whatever truth there is’’. Undoubtedly, he was a Karma Yogi par excellence in the real sense of the term.
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