Modern Day Buddha
In search of Nirvana.
I hold Lord Buddha close to my heart, I don’t know any monks , visited a monastery only recently , but have this connection to Buddha since my middle school days , when we first learnt about him in Value Education or History I guess , I don’t remember.
When I was doing an in-depth reading of ancient history to prepare for Civil Services, the facts did shock me a bit , to the extent history is manipulated and can be written to suit the popular or the opinion of people in authority. Buddha was never a God and he never wanted to be one, he was a Guru , a Teacher , A guide ; all his sermons point to this image of his. His teachings , his little anecdotes ,simplicity and the passionate search for zen , nirvana , moksha fascinated me towards the Buddhist philosophy.
I believe most of us know the story of how Buddha was actually a prince , Gautam Siddhartha , son of Sudhodhana a powerful king, chief of the Shakya nation. When he was born , a fortune teller was called to the court of the kind to predict the future of this new born prince, the priest predicted that Siddhartha will be a great human being , to which the king was pleased, hearing that his son will be a great king like him one day , the teller then interjected and said , no , he will help others one day renounce his luxurious life. The king angry and scared decided to keep Siddhartha away from all sufferings and pain and so he had a luxurious life , laiden with ornaments , all kinds of foods he liked, royal silky robes and servants at his beck and call. He was unaware of the reality of human life, diseases , old age, poverty , death. And hence Siddhartha was kept in his castle away from all the turmoils, in his own bubble. He grew up got married had a kid and now wanted to venture out in the world , discover a world beyond the castle walls. And as the prophecy went , so it happened , on his trail around the city he witnessed images he hadn’t imagined before, frail people , old ladies limping and walking with a stick , a funeral procession , a leper ,when he saw all this he was deeply shocked and in pain, he went back to his castle to fathom all that he had encountered , finally deciding that he will give it all up ,to his fathers utter dismay and heartbreak Siddhartha left his royal abode in search of peace , ‘nirvana’ as he would call it , and the rest is history.
This story has since then always been at the back of my head at the tip of my heart and as it has now become the center of my Iris. Empaths of the world will relate to this. It isn’t something groundbreaking that happened with Buddha , this is an experience many of us share. When growing up , our parents shield us from the outside world , because they know how nasty it can be , how unsafe and uncaring but eventually we all have to find our own place in the world. Go out and seek answers from life , existential , professional and so on. And we encounter sites which break our hearts , make us question the system by which this world runs.
I like to think of myself as a Modern Day Buddha, this is not an exaggeration but a self discovery, the sufferings in the world have grown incredibly , yes a lot due to Corona’s impact but even before it , poverty , disparities , abuse against animals , against women , hate crimes , acts of discrimination have grown exponentially , yes it’s easier to turn a blind eye to all this but till how long ? when these images are thronged at you when you go out in public , when you watch the news or when you sit down and come face to face with nightmares people are living in . We all have compassion that’s a quality which makes us most human but every once in a while I too want to get up renounce all this and go live in the woods until I achieve Nirvana, I wish what the capital world had to offer me in ways of expensive clothes, unbelievable gadgets or lux hotels and lifestyles could fill this bottomless pit but when I flip the coin to the other side of reality no amount of high end cosmetics , sneakers or automobiles would be able to fill this void.
Have you ever too felt like a Modern Day Buddha? Share with me in comment or email me @hurmuzzyuman@gmail.com , maybe we could find a way to help this world & eave it as Buddha had imagined it. :)
