BUDDHA POORNIMA - 27TH MAY 2010
Today, we would like to turn our attention to a real, genuine enlightened master - Buddha. Today is Buddha Poornima, the full moon day on which Buddha attained enlightenment. We wish all sincere seekers (especially all those who were drawn to Nithyananda due to their deep spiritual seeking, and have been fooled by his fraudulent words and actions) will continue their quest and be guided by a real enlightened master like Buddha.
Taking a last look at his new-born son and implanting a kiss on the feet of his wife, a prince of 29 years old came out of his palace at the dead of night and mounted on his dear horse in search of real happiness.
The next 6 years of extreme spiritual exercises costed the body of the prince heavily thus making him to forego the path of extreme hardships and choose the middle path between self-indulgence and self-mortification by accepting rice porridge from a village girl.
The prince sat under a pipal tree with a firm resolve to realize the truth.
What was his resolve?
“Let my body dry up, as it were on this seat, let the flesh thereof and the bone sink into dissolution; without realizing that Enlightenment which is difficult to attain even in aeons, this body shall not rise from its seat.
49 days thus rolled off.
On the 50th day, the 35 years old prince became the enlightened one, the Buddha.
That was on Vaishaki Poornima day at Gaya, 2600 years ago.
Bahujana hitaya bahujana sukhaya,lokanukampaya,
arthaya hitaya sukhaya devananussanam
“for the good of many, for the happiness of many, for showing compassion to the world, for realizing the spiritual purpose of life, for your own good and as well as the god and happiness of all men and gods you have to dedicate your lives.”
Those were the words of Buddha to those who were around him on that day.
The next 45 years saw Buddha leaving no stone unturned in spreading his message of universal love.
Buddha spoke in the language then current in eastern India, Magadhi Prakrit.
He came out with his 4 noble truths.
1) Suffering is an inherent part of existence
2) The origin of suffering is ignorance the main symptoms of which are attachment and craving.
3) The cause of suffering can be removed.
4) The way for its removal is “Ashtangika marga – eight fold path”
The components of Ashtangika Marga are:
1) right understanding
2) right thought
3) right speech
4) right action
5) right livelihood
6) right effort
7) right mindfulness and
8) right concentration
The elapse of 2600 years brings us the common obstacle of “samsaya – doubtfulness about its present applicability” in our minds. Let’s see what the recent incarnations say about Buddha.
Sri Ramakrishna, the avatara varishtha – the bst among incarnations, believed that the incarnation of Buddha continued to be manifest even then in the image of Puri of the “three gems” in the forms of Jagannath, Subhadra and Balaram. On another occasion upon seeing the drama “Buddhacharita” staged by Girishchandra Ghosh, Sri Ramakrishna remarked, “It is certain that Buddha was an incarnation of God. There is no difference between the faith founded by him and the Vedic path of knowledge.”
Swami Vivekananda in his later days narrated his vision of Bhagawan Buddha in the following words:
“One day, when I was sitting …I saw the extraordinary figure of a monk appear suddenly, from where I did not know, and stand before me at a little distance filling the room with a divine effulgence. He was in ochrecloth with a Kamandalu in his hand. His face bore such a calm and serene expression of inwardness born of indifference to all things that I was amazed and felt much drawn towards him. He walked forward towards me with a slow step, with his eyes steadfastly fixed on me, as if he wanted to say something. But I was seized with fear and could not keep quiet. I got up from my seat, opened the door and walked out of the room with rapid step. The next moment I thought,” Why this foolish fear?” I made bold and went back into the room to hear the monk, who, alas, was no longer there. I waited long in vain and felt dejected, repenting that I had been stupid enough to fly away without listening to him. I have seen many monks, but never have I found such an extraordinary expression in any other face. That face has been indelibly imprinted in my heart. It may be a hallucination, but very often it comes to my mind that I had the good fortune of seeing Lord Buddha that day.”
Vivekananda was fond of addressing Buddha as “the great preacher of the brotherhood of mankind.”
“Among all the prophets of mankind here was a man who never had any cobwebs in his brain and who was sane and strong “said Vivekananda.
Tibetan Spiritual leader Dalial Lama will inaugurate the country’s first-ever Buddha Smiriti Park, sprawling 22 acres, in the heart of the city of Patna on Thursday morning, the 27th May 2010, the Budhha Poornima Day. The first-of-its kind park will house a 200-ft stupa containing holy relics from Japan, Thailand, Myanmar and South Korea and two saplings, one of the Mahabodhu Tree of Gaya and another from Sri Lanka.
The sight of an old man, a sick person, a dead body and a monk just only for one time was sufficient for a 29 year old prince Siddharth who was having all wealth and sense pleasures around him to understand the depth of all worldly pleasures.
6 years of hard austerities gave him the right direction in his search for Truth.
50 days was enough for him to have the Truth in experience.
May all of us pray for His blessings and love in realizing the Truth in this birth itself.!
thanks for ur great job.we need people like you in every field.may god always bless you.all true devotees r with u.
ReplyDelete