SET 1

Glory be to Thee, O my God!  Make manifest the rivers of Thy sovereign might, that the waters of Thy Unity may flow through the inmost realities of all things, in such wise that the banner of Thine unfailing guidance may be raised aloft in the kingdom of thy command and the stars of Thy divine splendour may shine brightly in the heaven of thy majesty. Potent art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee.  Thou, verily, art the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.

SET 2

I beseech Thee, O my God, by all the transcendent glory of Thy Name, to clothe Thy loved ones in the robe of justice and to illumine their beings with the light of trustworthiness.  Thou art the One that hath power to do as He pleaseth and Who holdeth within His grasp the reins of all things, visible and invisible.

SET 3

I have wakened in Thy shelter, O my God, and it becometh him that seeketh that shelter to abide within the Sanctuary of Thy protection and the Stronghold of Thy defence.  Illumine my inner being, O my Lord, with the splendours of the Dayspring of Thy Revelation, even as Thou didst illumine my outer being with the morning light of Thy favour.

SET 4

O my God, my Master, the Goal of my desire!  This, Thy servant, seeketh to sleep in the shelter of Thy mercy, and to repose beneath the canopy of Thy grace, imploring Thy care and Thy protection. I beg of Thee, O my Lord, by Thine eye that sleepeth not, to guard mine eyes from beholding aught beside Thee.  Strengthen, then, their vision that they may discern Thy signs, and behold the Horizon of Thy Revelation.  Thou art He before the revelations of Whose omnipotence the quintessence of power hath trembled. No God is there but thee, the Almighty, the All-Subduing, The Unconditioned.

Buddha was born some two and a half thousand years ago in a place called Lumbini, it is believed, which is part of Nepal on the border with India. His father was a king who had long wished to have an heir who would one day rule in his place. Soon after His birth, Buddha’s mother died. In a ceremony celebrating His birth, several wise men, upon beholding the beauty of His countenance, predicted He would grow either into a great emperor or into a great spiritual teacher. Naturally, His father hoped for the first, and so he decided to conceal from his Son all the suffering and sadness in the world and to surround Him with beauty and luxury. This way, His father thought, He would surely develop a love for material things and would become a great warrior and powerful emperor with vast riches. A high wall was built around the palace gardens to shield the Boy from life outside, and the king made certain that his Son was never in want or need. He was determined Buddha should know only wealth and happiness. This, of course, was not to be.

At the age of twenty-nine, Buddha asked to leave the royal estate and visit the countryside. He set out one day with His charioteer, Channa, and was deeply struck by what He saw. He had been accustomed to comfort and happiness. Now He observed sickness and death. People labored and toiled under the yoke of misery. He turned to Channa and asked the meaning of what He had seen. “Your life of happiness, Master,” he responded, “is the unusual one.” Sickness, old age, and death, he explained, are the common lot of man. So it was that Buddha became aware of pain and agony, oppression and cruelty, and He decided to renounce His princely life and dedicate Himself to alleviating the suffering that existed in the world. In the dead of night, He left the palace, exchanging His rich robes for the simple clothing of a monk.

Buddha spent the next six years in prayer and meditation, living a simple life, free of earthly things. He had no home and ate what little food people offered Him. Perhaps you know that in India at the time, those who chose to follow a spiritual path would often give up all that they possessed and would spend their days in quiet contemplation, while others would provide them with their daily nourishment. Buddha lived on the meager sustenance He received in this way. Eventually, He went to study first with one, and then with another, of the great spiritual teachers of His time. So profound was His own spiritual insight and understanding that each hoped Buddha would succeed him. But He was not interested, for the period of His search had not come to an end. Still, He had not found a way to conquer old age, disease, and death, and He continued on His way.

At last, He went to the edge of a great forest and entered it, and there He lived a life of utter seclusion. He spent long hours meditating in the silence of the woods around Him and contented Himself with little. Food became of no importance to Him. It is said that, at one time, He lived on a single grain of rice a day. By then, His body had become weak from hunger, and His mind began to lose its sharp focus. He had abandoned every earthly thing, even food and drink, but, still, He had not found the knowledge He so desired. In this way, He came to realize that such self-denial was not the path to spiritual truth, for how could knowledge be accessible to a mind so weakened by hunger that it could not think? A bowl of sweet porridge rice, left by a kind woman named Sujata, helped Him to regain His strength.

Buddha then arose and sat at the foot of a tree. It was under this tree that God illumined Him with true knowledge. A new and wondrous set of teachings flooded His heart and mind. His six-year period of search had ended. It was from that time onward that He became known as the Buddha, which means the “Awakened One” or “Enlightened One”.

Buddha, who was thirty-five years of age, was in the present-day Indian state of Bihar at the time, and the tree is now referred to as the “Bodhi Tree”. He continued to meditate in the forest for some forty-nine days and then He set out to teach the knowledge God had revealed to Him. Nearing the city of Benares, He came upon five monks who practiced extreme self-denial, believing that it would lead them to spiritual truth. Initially, when they saw Buddha in the distance, the monks thought that He had abandoned His life of detachment. So they decided that, while it was acceptable for Him to sit among them, they would not go out to welcome Him. But as Buddha approached them, they felt drawn to His Holy Presence and were filled with the desire to serve Him. They prepared a seat for Him and fetched water to wash His feet, a towel, and a footstool. Then He announced to them the glad tidings of a new Day of God. As soon as they heard His Message, they accepted its truth. They were among the first to recognize Buddha’s station and to follow His teachings.

Story 3

With great love, Buddha began to proclaim His Message to the people of the region. His teachings endowed them with a new understanding of life and brought tranquility and joy to their hearts. Large numbers were attracted to the radiance and grandeur, majesty, and beauty, that had become manifest in Him. He would sit in the fields and teach the many people who sought His wise counsel. He told them to look beyond the things of this world that decay and perish and to seek true happiness in that which is everlasting. You realize, of course, that Buddha was teaching them the true way to conquer sadness caused by sickness, old age, and death, the three signs of suffering that He had seen in the world when He first left the royal estate with His companion Channa many years before. Every person experiences misery and sorrow, His teachings explained, and it is only when we recognize that true life is the life of the spirit, not physical existence, that we can prevent suffering and sadness from ruling our hearts. One woman called Kisa Gotami learned this lesson from Buddha Himself, and her story is still recounted by many.

Kisa Gotami was overcome with grief. Her first-born son had taken ill and died, and she became so distraught that she roamed the streets ceaselessly, asking for help to bring her son back to life. A kind and wise man took her to see Buddha. Buddha told her that, if she brought Him a handful of mustard seeds, He would give life back to her son. But, He indicated, the seeds must come from a house that had never known the loss of a child or parent, a husband or wife, a friend or relative. Full of confidence, Kisa Gotami set off to gather the seeds. She went from door to door, to every home in the village, asking for the precious seeds. But, at every door, she would hear: “Oh, we have seen many deaths here,” “I lost my father,” or “I lost my sister.” There was no family that had not been touched by death. Kisa Gotami became sad and hopeless and sat down at the side of the road, watching the lights of the city as they flickered up and were then extinguished. At last, there was darkness everywhere. As she sat in the darkness, she considered the fate of human beings; like flames, they come into this world and their lives burn away. She realized that both life and death are common to all, and this realization brought peace to her heart and enabled her to accept her suffering with contentment.

The transformative power of Buddha’s words affected countless other people—kings and princes, merchants and beggars, men and women. He was some eighty years old when He passed away in Kushinagar, today in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Until His very last day on earth, Buddha continued to teach vigorously, and after His Spirit ascended from this world, His disciples traveled near and far sharing His teachings. As time passed, India and other parts of Asia were increasingly influenced by His Message, and His teachings led to the betterment of many aspects of life. Buddha came to be known as “the Light of Asia”.