Gautam Buddha ( Religious Figure )

Gautam Buddha means the enlightened one. And Gautam Buddha was one of the greatest religious preachers that the world has seen. His teachings expounded in Buddhism, are immensely popular in Burma, China, Japan and other South Eastern Countries.

Gautam Buddha was born in 563 B.C. as Siddhartha, as a son of Shuddhodana, the king of Kapilavastu in Nepal. His mother Mayadevi expired when he was just 7 days old and he was brought up by his stepmother Gautami. Siddhartha was made to lead a very splendid life as the astrologers had predicted that he would give up worldly pleasures to follow a different path. The King wanted to avoid this at all costs and so did not let him out of the palace. He hoped that Siddhartha would one day become King.

When Siddhartha had grown into an intelligent young man, he travelled out of his palace one day and chanced on a few sights that changed the course of his life. He first saw a very old man who could hardly walk, a sick man who was suffering from pain and lastly, a corpse (dead body). He had never been felt such pain before and so these sights had a deep effect on him. His servant explained that pain and death are inevitable.

This made Siddhartha very sad and he started to re think his life and began to try to find the reasons behind the grief and sorrows. Seeing him so thoughtful, his father decided to get him married and get his mind off such serious topics. He was married to a princess called Yashodhara who soon gave birth to a son, Rahul.

Despite this, Siddhartha found no happiness in materialistic pleasures an so left the palace in search of Salvation-‘Mokshya’. He was only 29 years old. He roamed the country, meeting various sadhus and saints in search of inner peace. He lived the life of a hermit and underwent continuous ‘tapasya’ to achieve his purpose, but still could not understand the meaning of reason for life and death.

Finally, one day he reached Bodh Gaya. He was very tired and so sat under the shade of a tree. He shut his eyes and was blessed with a divine light. This was the turning point, as he realized the truth is within every human being. The search outside was pointless. After this, he was as ‘Buddha’ or the enlightened one.

For 45 years, Buddha spread his message of a spiritual life. He did not believe in rituals but pointed to 8-fold paths towards salvation- that of right speech, understanding, determination, deeds, efforts, awareness, thinking and living. According to Buddhism by following this path one could overcome desires, which were the root cause of grief and misery.

The Gautam Buddha died in 483 B.C at the rip age of 80 years, after successfully spreading his massage to the world. Buddhism still lives and has a strong following in various Asian countries.