Question:

Why is Buddha globally popular even though he was criticized by Vedic sages?

Answer:

Buddha, born as Prince Siddhartha Gautama had everything – money, name, fame, position, power, wife, everything one could wish for. He renounced all that to look for a cure for the disease called ‘The Mind’. Everyone was suffering from this miserable and incurable disease. He chose to become a recluse and learn the meditation techniques that were taught by the sages of yesteryears to find out the way to the cessation of misery.

He visited several Gurus and mastered every technique in a very short time. But to his dismay, the mind was still not permanently quiescent. He practiced the 8 types of Samadhis that were taught in those days. Even then, the mind stilled only for a short time. He kept feeling that there had to be something higher and more permanent that was missing in all the techniques. Buddha continued his research individually. He did not entertain blind faith. He only called that as Truth which was his own experience. And through his intense penance, he attained Enlightenment through the discovery of the last missing step after the 8 types of Samadhi.

Buddha was a very honest and moralistic person. He always said that he did not create the missing link, instead, he had just re-discovered what was lost. He spoke only what came into his experience. He wouldn’t speak that which was beyond his experience. This attracted many serious practitioners and recluses. Buddha was an inspiration for the recluses who had been practising for years together and did not get anywhere with the Vedic techniques. They all came to Buddha and got enlightened.

This raged a fire among the so-called Vedic sages. Why?

• Brahmins of that time were teaching aspects of scriptures that they had not experienced. Their teachings were based only on blind faith.
• Secondly, Buddha had added the step of ‘Cessation of Mind’ to their steps of Samadhi.
• Thirdly, Buddha negated the caste system prevalent in those times and defied the supremacy of one human over the other.

They felt insecure and challenged by these changes. They were making money by selling their techniques, rites & rituals, etc. Their shops would be shut down if they would accept him. Therefore, they were against the Buddha.

This was the religious struggle happening in that era, that put so many people against the Buddha. Despite that, Buddhism flourished. Today, it is globally accepted as that neutral religion that helps a person walk the path of Truth purely based on his Own Experience.

The best part about Buddha is that he says “Don’t believe me. Just because I say so, it doesn’t become Your truth. You experience it in your own meditation. If it becomes your own truth by your own experience, then only believe it”.

Who would say something like that?

Only a True Guru who is not insecure would be able to say that. Buddha was so confident of what he had found that he did NOT need any crutch of blind faith.

What are the lessons that we can learn from the Buddha?

• Moral values purify one to such an extent that higher states of Samadhi are revealed to him by Mother Nature.
• Only an insecure Guru would demand blind faith and stop you from going away whereas a True Guru would ask you to experience it and then only call it ‘Your Truth’.

So you decide for yourself. You don’t have to believe the Buddha. You don’t have to believe me. You dive into spiritual studies, study the Vedic path and the Buddha’s path and find your OWN truth.