Dear friends!
Howsoever alluring may be the attractions of illusion (maya) there has always been a cry in the heart of a human being for rest, peace; freedom from unseen and unknown bondage in which he feels fettered some day or the other. There has never been a single human being who has not thought of suicide at least once in his life time, psychologists say. It is not so that one is thinking about death; no. Actually one is fed up of the situations and wants to get rid of that.
Howsoever affluent one may be, howsoever mighty one may be; the feeling of dissatisfaction is always there and one’s desire to have a change in situations or get free grows stronger and stronger, day by day, life after life and birth after birth.
Finding no way some drown themselves in wine, smoking, drugs and so many kinds of things that lead to self-deception. Thinking they are on the way of development some indulge in making huge amount of money by every means, right or wrong. Some indulge in satisfaction of their senses. They destroy their lives in sensuous pleasures. Some find a little peace in devotion but that too proves to be self-deceptive some day. Singing bhajans, recitation of mantras and pseudo uplift of consciousness following so called transcendental meditation etc. prove futile unless and until a strong urge of detachment towards every kind of desire is there. Nothing except right understanding and self-realization can give one eternal peace and satisfaction.
Having a deep look on his horoscope the learned astrologers of that time told
his father, “ O King! Your son either will become a ‘Chakravarti Samraat’ and will rule all over the world or renounce his royal status and take sannyas and will shatter the fetters of ignorance of mankind.” Like every father the king got sad and made his life luxurious from his very childhood so that he may not know about the sufferings of world. So much so that there were set hundreds of gardeners in his palace who were there to pick the dried leaves up and throw away before the prince reaches the garden, so that he may not come to know what a downfall or decay is.
But the merciful Nature has its own ways.
What happened to the prince and how he got detached from the worldly pleasures is known to all of us as we know the same prince as Mahabhishik, the name he liked most to be addressed with, Lord Buddha.
Buddha never said he was a Guru of anyone. Neither did he seek refuge in any deity or scripture, nor did he teach his listeners to do so. He used to call them his friends or fellow-travelers.
Though during his journey to the enlightenment he passed through many schools of thought and practiced many techniques of meditation, but what he shared with the mankind after his enlightenment was not any Guru-Mantra or technique of meditation like T M (Transcendental Meditation) or Sudarshan Kriya that create a pseudo sense of uplift of consciousness.
His total emphasis was on awareness.
Gautama Buddha was a true savior of mankind. He liked to be called to be called a Vaidya, a physician. He did not give the mankind any kind of toys to play with and lead a life of self-deception.
He showed the path of a balanced life. Balanced thinking, balanced action, balanced knowledge and balanced speech. Everything balanced in right direction under the guidance of one’s balanced awareness.
He called his way Majhim Nikaya, a middle path.
The Brahmins of his times called him Veda-Virodhi, a man who stood against the Vedas. Were the teachings of Buddha really against the Vedas? If yes, why did he do so?
Actually Buddha gave so much honour to human intellect and awareness that no one before him had done so.
Lord Krishna knew the importance of intelligence and wisdom and he too had told Arjuna, “. . . dadaami buddhiyogam tam..” but to whom? Who, “. . . yen maamupyaanti te.”
But Buddha laid no condition like Krishna.
Again, Krishna’s allegorical statements only led to idol-worshipping and all of his hard word went in vain.
Buddha made it clear that if we are ignorant then the enlightenment also is not to come from anywhere else or from anyone. No Guru, no mantras and no scripture could come to one’s rescue. Only right resolution to the problem tackled in a right way could bring one out of ignorance and lead to enlightenment.
So rational, so logical were his statements that the Hindus had to declare him an incarnation of Lord Vishnu as they could not accept what he was saying and also could not ignore what he was saying. They found a way. They declared him an incarnation of Lord Vishnu who had come to condemn the Vedas.
Now friends, there is no significance of Vedas. Significance is that of intelligence, wisdom, sensitivity, awareness and consciousness.
“Believe nothing, no matter wherever might have you read it or whosoever has said it. Not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense,” Buddha used to tell in his discourses time to time.
Though there is evident statement in Upnishdas – “Ritey Gyananaanamuktih…” But Upnishdas gave so much stress on the need of a Guru that Buddha could not digest it and did not allow his followers to call him a Guru. He saw the absurdity of the very word.
Upnishdas asserted the need of a Guru and simultaneously knew that the seeker and the sage, the master and the disciple had a sense of rivalry and were full of Raga-Dwesha. Had it not been so, there hadn’t been the need to pray “. . . ma vidvishavahayi.”
No statement of Buddha ever created a sense of self-contradiction. He did not use allegorical language like Lord Krishna.
His teachings are crystal clear.
No Guru, No Scripture but only ‘App Deepo Bhav!’
OM TAT SAT
VINOD SHORI
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