Triple Stream

Ever since the archeological finds and the objective western schol­ars opened our eyes to the fact that there was such a great period in In­dian history which was dominated by one of the greatest and prepossessing personalities the world has ever seen ­Gautam Buddha - we became more proud of our cultural and spiritual heritage. We rejoice in the appeal of the Tatagatha and his timeless mes­sage of love, compassion, tolerance, unity, renunciation and selfless serv­ice, and feel thrilled at the discovery that our nation even as long ago as nearly 2500 years in the hoary past became the beacon of spirituality and a centre for a wide and rich cultural diffusion in countries far and near – ­Burma, Ceylon, China, Tibet, Japan, Indonesia, Bhutan, Malasia, Thailand, Korea, etc., The standard-bearers of India’s culture are not military heroes, monarchs, multi-millionaires and po­litical personages but sages and saints like Valmiki, Vyasa, Buddha, Sankara and their ilk.

Swamy Vivekananda in his let­ters and discourses has repeatedly asserted that modem India is in dire need of assimilating the great intellect of Sankara and the great heart of Buddha. He considers him as the embodiment of the highest ideal of Karma Yogi. He even went to the ex­tent of declaring that India needs Buddhas by the hundred. Sankara himself paid the highest tribute to Buddha by rating him “Yoginam Chakravartin” (The king of kings among sages). Though he renounced the throne of Kapila Vastu, he remains enthroned in the hearts of the people. The prince of a little state became the emperor of the spiritual world.

In this fast – moving, time-con­strained world of today poised for a quantum leap into the 21st century one can hardly imagine how bare­footed men like Buddha, Sankara and their disciples could set on foot to trek this vast sub-continent. The Buddhist missionaries even crossed the oceans in home-built vessels to spread the light of their message to the far cor­ners of the world. But for the valid and verifiable evidence of the work and words of Buddha preserved for poster­ity, one would have scarcely believed that such a man of phenomenal appeal to the masses and the classes alike had actually lived and moved among the mortals of this planet of dust and smoke.

At the age of 29 Gautama re­nounced all worldly pleasures includ­ing the luxuries of princely life and the blameless joys of the life of a house­holder and went out to explore the meaning of life and the cause of suffer­ing. In other words he undertook a daring, spiritual adventure to pene­trate the painted veil of appearance and get in touch with Reality. At first he searched for a Guru to guide him. He found none up to the mark. Then he resolved to seek the Truth all by himself.

He went from Rajagrha to Bud­dha Gaya and practiced austerities until he became extremely weak - so weak that one day he fainted and fell down. Having realised the futility of torturing his body and mind, which are the only instruments with which one could attain realisation, he went into the village and accepted a bowl of sweetened milk from Sujata, a village girl. In the evening he sat under a banyan tree with determination not to rise till he realised the Truth. Because of the rigorous discipline he had al­ready undergone for six years and the present resolution to seek it out, he could meditate and plunge deeper and deeper into the inner recesses of the mind. During the fourth watch of the night he attained Enlightenment - the highest Truth. Gautama became the Buddha.

Having spent seven weeks in his state of ineffable joy germinating from liberation at Buddha Gaya, he decided to share his joy and supreme knowl­edge with the people “out of compas­sion”. He preached his Middle Path, a golden mean between austerity and indulgence. His key-word was ‘Samyak’ which includes, right thought, right speech and right action. His ‘Eight-fold path’ was a cross between ‘PREYAS’ (that which is pleasant) and ‘SREYAS’ (that which is good). His preachings are contained in ‘Dhamma Pada’ which consists of 428 preceptorial sayings arranged under 28 Sargas in Pali language which was spoken by the common man. He spoke in the language and dialect of the people - not Sanskrit which was the language of a handiful of the educated elite.

“There was no mysticism or meta­physics or hocus pocus in what Bud­dha preached. It was singularly free from philosophical clap-trap. It was pure common sense ennobled by deep meditation. What is the cause of human suffering? Is there a remedy for it? We need not go to any ponderous tomes of philosophy or theology for an answer to this vexing and perpleassing question. It is so because man lacks self-control and lets his desires con­sume his judgement and the concern for the welfare of his fellow humans, thinking that his five senses are more important than the ten command­ments of right conduct. That man is the architect of his own fate is trite but true. If he sows the right kind of seed in fertile soil, he will reap a rich har­vest. If he sows the wind, he will reap the whirl wind! What man needs is ‘Samyak’ - self -restraint. He should look within for the cause of misery as well as its cure.

Buddha knew that a majority of the so-called religious men were Nay­agaras of words and Saharas of real spirituality. So he did not attach any importance to philosophical discourses and interminable debates. He carved at violence, ritualism, casteism and other divisive forces - not with a butcher’s knife but with a surgeon’s scalpel.

Till he died as an octogenarian he remained a rationalist and out-and-­out a humanist. As he was on his death bed, Ananda his first disciple cried in despair “Who will show us the path hereafter, for the light is going out!” Buddha comforted him saying “Why do you think the light is going? Be a lamp unto yourself”. Thus His final message was that every man should light his own lamp - using the oil of self-effort and the wick of self­control. What is expected from us is neither unworldliness nor other-worldliness but better worldlinesss.