Once a merchant named Pindak has come to the place where Gautam Buddha was preaching. The merchant came to hear Buddha’s sermons. The teachings made a deep impression on the merchant. He was so enthused that he begged Buddha to visit his town Shravasti and spread his wisdom there. Buddha could not refuse his earnest […]
The king, Prasenjit’s kingdom was in deep trouble due to a dreaded dacoit named Angulimaal. It was not his real name, but a name representing the barbaric act he used to indulge in. His custom was to chop off the little finger of his victim thread it into a garland of fingers he used to
There was a rogue monk in one of the Buddha viharas who was sullying the fair name of the Buddhism. His name was Maulja Faggun. He was in the habit of teasing nuns, wolf whistling and using foul language. The nuns were fed up with him. He was a wolf in monk’s clothing.Buddha was told
Pritachara was a girl born in a rich trader family that lived in a big mansion. The family was money crazy. All the male members remained engaged in the business of making money. They took little interest in whatever was happening in their house. Even when they were home their minds remained busy in mentally
Once, Ananda was going to the town to seek alms which was a daily ritual. It was a hot summer afternoon. He was feeling thirsty. Suddenly, he saw a girl drawing water from the well. He went to her and asked for some water to drink. The girl looked at Ananda for a long time
The five monks who had meditated at ‘Urubela’ with Gautam and deserted him when they found him eating kheer had gone to a forest situated near Sarnath to continue their penance. They meditated for a long time but achieved nothing.Utterly frustrated they wandered around as aimless mendicants unable to decide their future course of action.
Siddhartha sat down under a tree to reminisce his life and times so far. The watershed moment of the life had arrived. With the dawn his life would enter a new phase.At last the dawn broke. The birds chirped to herald the beginning of a new day and to urge Siddhartha to begin his new
Gradually Siddhartha totally withdrew into himself. Now his brooding had become more grave because he was pondering over specific issues. He had definite agenda to give a thought to phenomena of death, disease, old age, woes and the search of eternal peace.Meanwhile, Yashodhra gave birth to a son. Entire palace rejoiced and celebrated the event.
The king and the queen talked to the closest friend of Siddhartha. They asked Basantak to spend more time with his prince friend and find out why he was so serious and brooding always.They hoped that Basantak might be able to fathom the mind of the prince as he could talk to Siddhartha frankly and
Basantak was the closest friend of Siddhartha and the royal couple wanted him to be with the prince as much time as possible. He understood Siddhartha’s nature well and had adjusted himself to it. When the prince lapsed into his contemplative mood he would not disturb him. He would let him ponder and spoke only
Even as an infant Siddhartha was an unusual child. Sometimes Prajawati got extremely puzzled. The infant did not cry or bawl much. It would quietly lay in its cradle and stare into the empty space as if pondering over some issue.The king and the queen talked about it. To arouse the interest of the child
Mahamaya and Prajawati were queens of king Shudhodhana of Kapilvastu, a kingdom situated in the shadows of Himalayas. The king and the queens were married for a long time, yet no queen was blessed with a child. That was causing a great sadness in the royal family. The king’s sadness was made worse by the
During January, 1886 his health recovered a bit. He began to take walks in the garden. He would speak to his disciples. One day he blessed his disciples which made them ecstatic because they claimed that they felt some spiritual energy charge their bodies.Inspite of being afflicted with cancer he appeared cheerful. There was intense
Ramakrishna had contracted a strange throat disease which made drinking of normal water during the summers extremely painful for him. He could drink only iced water.The disciples had arranged for the ice to be available for him.A month went by but the pain of the throat did not go away. Infact, it became more and
Over the period Ramakrishna had emerged as a unique spiritual leader whose discourses and message were being printed in the magazines and the newspapers. A lot of people were now coming to Dakshineshwra to see him and hear him for spiritual guidance.One day, a youngman named Narendra came to see Ramakrishna along with his friends.