Lord Buddha's Advice

Swami Sivananda Saraswati

Story of Lord Buddha

Some 2,500 years ago, there lived in North India a raja named Suddbodana. He had a son named Gautama, a fine and handsome youth At the age of sixteen he was married to a beautiful wife named Yasodara and had a little son named Rahul. He lived in a fine palace enjoying all the splendors and pleasures befitting a royal prince.

Beyond the bare fact that from the age of sixteen right up to the age of twenty-nine he lived the life of a householder, nothing can be said about the early life of Gautama, who was destined in course of time to shine forth as a brilliant polestar in the spiritual firmament of the world.

Prince Gautama, also called Siddhartha, had always been a wise and thoughtful lad. Gentle in his speech, kind-hearted and full of mercy to all living being, when one fine morning he accompanied his royal father for a ride on horseback, he felt quite pleased and happy. But the next moment he saw a ploughman beating a poor bullock that had a sore on its back till it dropped down with intense pain and agony. As he rode along a little further he saw a dove being eaten by a hungry hawk. Then he saw another dove eating some flies. Gautama went back home fall of sorrow,

After a few days Gautama had a dream. He saw an old feeble man unable to walk and hardly able to stand and groaning under the burden of old age. And a voice addressed Gautama: “Thou wilt also get old and feeble like this old man, O Gautama.”

He then saw a man suffering from some dire malady and crying aloud, unable to bear the torturing pain. And the voice said to Gautama: “Thou wilt also get ill and full of pain like this, O Gautama.” Then he saw another man lying dead on the ground. And the voice again said to Gautama: Thou must also die one day, O Gautama.”

Supreme vairagya dawned upon Gautama now. He fully realized the utter transitoriness of life and leaving his home, wife and child and all the pleasures and joys of life, he retired into the forest and became an ascetic. For seven years he lived in the woods trying to find out some means to put an end to pain, sin and sorrow in the world, to seek something higher and nobler than the things of the senses conditioned in time.

Thus we learn that Siddhartha's reason for renunciation was his profound conviction that all worldly pleasures and happiness were fleeting and his intense longing to attain to peace and calm which nothing could shake or end. Of course he sought this first for himself only, but afterwards he thought that what had given him peace and calmness would be equally beneficial to others as well.

One night as he sat meditating under a bodhi tree (or the Tree of Buddhahood), truth dawned upon him. He realized that man's life is full of pain, that desire is the cause of pain, that pain can be ended by putting an end to all desires, and that desire can be ended by right thought, word and deed. From this memorable day onwards, he came to be known as Buddha or the “Enlightened.”

Buddha was one of the noblest and kindest men who ever lived. His religion is called Buddhism. He taught the world to be good and kind to all beings including animals and crawling creatures, and that it was a sin to hurt anyone. He had a large following. Even today Buddhism is considered to be a great religion by all right-thinking men.

Lord Buddha's advice

Lord Buddha describes the amount of suffering which men endure. “The transmigration (samsara) of beings, O mendicants,” he says, “has its beginning in eternity. The opening cannot be found from which, having come forth, being led astray through ignorance, bound by the thirst for existence, men stray and wander. What do ye think, O mendicants, which of the two is more: the water which is in the four great oceans, or the tears which have poured from you and have been shed for you while ye wandered and went astray in this long transmigration, and sorrowed and wept, because that which ye hated was your portion, and that which ye loved was not your portion? A mother's death, a father's death, a brother's death, a sister's death, a son's death, a daughter's death, the loss of relations, the loss of property, all this ye have experienced through long ages. And while ye experienced this through long ages, more tears have poured from you and have been shed from you, while ye strayed and wandered on this long pilgrimage and sorrowed and wept because that which ye hated was your portion and that which ye loved was not your portion, than all the water which is in the Four Great Oceans.”

“A wise man should avoid unchastity as if it were a burning pit of live coals; one who is not able to live in a state of celibacy, should not commit adultery.”

“Never associate with loved or with unloved objects;
Not to see the loved and to see the unloved is pain.
Therefore, hold nothing dear, for the loss of the loved is evil;
No bonds have they to whom nothing is loved or unloved.
From what is loved is born grief, from the loved is born fear;
To the man freed from loving anything there is no grief, much less fear.
From affection is born grief, from affection is born fear;
To the man freed from affection there is no grief, much less fear,
From pleasure is born grief, from pleasure is born fear;
To the man freed from pleasure there is no grief, much less fear.”
From desire is born grief, from desire is born fear
To the man freed from desire there is no grief, much less fear.
What laughter, what joy is there, since there is always the burning?
Enveloped in darkness, seek ye not a lamp?
Behold the varicolored figure, the accumulated mass of wounds.
Afflicted full of wishes, to which there is no firmness, no stability.
This from (body) is decrepit, a nest of diseases, decaying:
The putrid body is breaking up, for life ends in death.
These greyish bones, which are cast away like gourds in autumn—
Having seen them, what pleasure remains
The preoccupied man while in the act of gathering flowers
Does death seize and carry off, as a great flood the sleeping village.
The pre-occupied man while in the act of gathering flowers
Does the God of Death get into his power, when unstated with lusts.”

                                                                                     Dhammapadam

More Articles on Vairagya:

• What is Vairagya?
• Miseries of Mundane Existence
• The Body
• The World
• The Mysterious Palace of Brahman
• Lord Buddha's Advice
• Happiness is Within
• Essence of Vairagya Shatakam
• Selections from Viveka-Chudamani Relating to Vairagya
• Here is an Answer for You!