Gautama, the Buddha, was one of India’s great gifts to the world and its civilisation. Millions all over the world call themselves Buddhists and draw inspiration from His life. Through precept and practice he taught that one of the highest values in life is maitreyi, love for all.
Buddha recognised no caste. The Buddha was born over two thousand five hundred years ago, as the son of a king — Raja Suddhodhana — on the sacred day of Vaisakh Purnima at Lumbini, situated near the city of Kapilavastu. The royal astrologer prophesied that the infant, whom they named Siddhartha, would grow to be either a great Chakravarti (an Emperor) or a renunciate who would bring inner enlightenment to thousands of lost souls.
The father surrounded the Prince with luxuries and comforts. To keep him bound, he got him married to one of the most beautiful girls — Princess Yashodhara. Soon, a son, Rahula was born to them.
At the age of twenty-nine, Siddartha went out to see the city of his father. He beheld what the Buddhist books call the “four signs,” — witnesses to the impermanence of the world. He saw an old man, a diseased man, a dead man, and a monk.
And there entered into his heart a vision of dukkha, the world-sorrow. He renounces the palace. On reaching the forest of meditation, he gives away his fine clothes to his charioteer, becomes a fakir and enters the forest.
Gautama’s quest ends in illumination and attainment of nirvana. Buddha received illumination, under a tree. To .
