Beloved Ones of God,
Now we come to the peculiarity of Buddha. Buddha showed the great reason, he began with reason. His parents kept him closed, secluded in the palace till he was a grown up young man, and never allowed him to see the misery of life. He was quite unacquainted with life in the world. He only knew his servants, the royal comforts that he experienced in the palace. And there comes one day when the father says, ”Now you must go out; how long shall we keep him in captivity?” The first day when he goes out he looks around and says, ”What is this?” They said, ”He is a blind man, he cannot see.” He said, ”Yes, and what is this?” ”It is a poverty-stricken man, he has no money.” ”What is this?” ”It is old age, which has its trials.” ”What is this?” They said, ”They are the heroes who fought. Now they have become wounded; now for the whole life they are in this condition.”
He looked at all and said, ”Is there no remedy for it?” They said, ”There are remedies, but remedies are limited.” It was the first experience of life that gave him a blow. With that blow his soul was wakened, and he began to think, ”How can they be relieved of all different kinds of miseries?” The whole life of Buddha went in it; he was devoted to find the remedy to relieve humanity. He thought of things, examined different aspects of life, talked with people, consoled them and served them. Every moment of life of Buddha was devoted to finding the remedy to relieve humanity, whatever way it can be. In this pursuit of relief he found out the same mystery, the mystery which all great prophets and souls have found, and the mystery was self-realization. That was the remedy of all miseries, and nothing else. Give the poor money, he will be poorer still.
After that Buddha had to renounce the comfort and the happiness which God had given him and go out as a physician of the soul, to console humanity. The whole life was passed in it, and those inspired by the glance, by the words, by the presence, by the atmosphere of the master, they spread it still more, till it became the message of the world. Today half the world is benefitted by it, and the whole world is benefitted by it indirectly.
