Buddha.

Buddha was a nice guy who was born in a palace, he had a lovely wife and had everything going fine, but then he wanted to know the ultimate truth.

I really don’t know why he had to leave his house when he could have sat in his garden and meditated under any tree – guess he also realized his own stupidity when he announced that the middle path is the best way, a balanced way between extremes of indulgence and abstinence.

I have always been fascinated by Buddha because I had a lot of Amar Chitra Katha Comics and had read a lot of Jataka Tales or stories about Buddhas past life as various animals.

I used to imagine myself sometimes as an ant or deer or monkey leading a life in the forest and wondered how I never remembered my past lives.

Being a logical person and not believing in any superstitions, I liked Buddha’s approach of simple four noble truths and eight fold path. It was very easy and simple to practice.

Later, I started appreciating Buddha a lot when I realized that evolution of life of a child inside the mother’s womb was similar to evolution as per Charles Darwin – an egg slowly became a fish, snake, lizard, monkey and then finally a human. The Jataka Tales are similarly about evolution and have lessons of love and sacrifice.

The turning the wheels of Dharma was also deeply appreciated when I realized that our life is nothing but a series of cause and effect and the law of karma is nothing but a simple rule of reaping the fruits of whatever we have sown in the past. The cycle of life is nothing personal and it was always possible to get off by attaining liberation through work or karma, for Buddha said that it was possible by doing work with detachment and not getting entangled to the results.

Buddhism has spread all across the globe due to its simplicity and in today’s world it remains the most scientific and relevant teaching. We should practice love, compassion and generosity for all living creatures for life is constantly evolving as the wheels of time keep turning in a cyclical fashion. Let’s sow seeds of love, kindness, forgiveness and goodness.