Fiction & Nonfiction

The Guiding Son

The Guiding Son
(Written for a contest on Spiritual stories)

For Suddhodana, king of the city-state of Kapilavastu, that particular morning was of great significance. He heard that a holy man, called Siddhartha or Buddha, well known and sought after in his kingdom and far beyond was on his way to his palace. He also heard that the monk was originally from Kapilavastu.  He decided to welcome him in royal style.

Suddhodana summoned his chief minister and directed him to get the city spruced up and decorated in anticipation of the great man’s visit to his city and palace.

Soon, the city of Kapilavastu stood shining in all its grandeur. The king and the commoners alike were agog with excitement. They stood by the streets and looked forward for the announcement of the great man’s arrival at the outskirts of Kapilavastu.

Soon, the news was announced and the people jostled with each other to have a glimpse of the holy man.

There he was! As he walked on the main street leading to the king’s palace, people and their king looked on him in open-mouthed wonder and awe. There was a magnificent aura around his beautiful face and figure. He was tall with a golden complexion. His eyes were of deep blue hue, and eyebrows, dark and arched. His long and dark hair was whorled on the top of his head. He looked serene. He smiled with a touching kindness. He looked royal and saintly at the same time. It was this compassionate outlook that brought people to listen to his words of wisdom with total absorption, and changed their lives.

King Suddhodana was spellbound. He looked at the monk, standing at the palace gate with a begging bowl, accompanied by an ocean of followers. Shock waves went through him when he recognized that he was none other than Gouthama, his one and only son, the present heir to the kingdom of Kapilavastu. He recalled that Gouthama went away abandoning the kingly pleasures as a young man. He returned after decades! There he stood like a stranger! What a pity he renounced the throne and power! The aged king was overcome with remorse and self pity. He would make one more effort to call him back, he thought.

The king heard the mendicant begging for alms.

“Bhiksham dehi,” (grant me alms) adding, “Sangham saranam gachami.” (I seek the society of the enlightened ones.) 

Suddhodana could not contain his frustration at finding his son, begging.

“Gouthama! My son! Don’t do this injustice to yourself and society. Come back my son. You are the keeper of this state. I am waiting for you for so long. The moment you are anointed as the king, I can retire from the kingly duties and seek the spiritual path.”

Gouthama smiled with tranquility at the king and said,

“O King! I am no longer bound to the state. I am bound to the welfare of the society. I have found a way to relieve humanity of its burden of sorrow and find Nirvana (Salvation).”

Suddhodana was dumbstruck. He recovered soon enough and spoke in all solemnity,

“I would like to hear those ways to salvation.”

The change in him was clear and transparent.

The Enlightened One replied,

“O Seeker! Know the aspects of importance before you set yourself on the spiritual path. First, think about the reason why human beings go through suffering from birth to death. You will understand on contemplation that their suffering is closely linked to desire, desire at every stage of life which leads to ageing, sickness and mortality. There are other desires like pleasures and powers, which involve frustration if they are not fulfilled. This desperateness and suffering can be dispelled only with the abandoning of desire.”

“How do we abandon desire?” asked a man from the crowd.

The erstwhile prince replied, “By believing in truth.”

“Where do we find it?”

Gouthama, also known as Siddhartha (one who attained his goal) replied,

“You will find it in right belief, right speech, right intent, right behavior, right livelihood, right effort, right contemplation and right concentration.”

No wonder, he was known as the Buddha because he found the path to enlightenment, the awakening.

A few hours later, he went to the chambers, where Yashodhara, his former wife lived. His son Rahula, a young child of nine, was playing in the courtyard. He noticed the mendicant and went near to look at him.

“Bhiksham dehi,” said the monk.

“Mother, there is a monk outside asking for alms.”

Yashodhara came out with alms. She recognized her husband and fainted out of shock and the remembrance of the days of joy they spent before he left her on a fateful night.

Yashodhara could not contain her high emotion and accused him of deserting her and their son.

Buddha said,
“Mother of Rahula! I was led by a power beyond my control. I was completely disillusioned by the fleeting life of pleasure, pain, disease and death.”

Then he repeated his request for alms.  She offered the grain that she brought out for him.

He said with serenity,
“I would rather have Rahula as my Bhiksha.”

Yashodhara was speechless with fear. She did not want to lose her only son. She asked Rahula to go back to his play. She wanted him to get away from the presence of the monk. Rahula, on the other hand, had a different idea.

“Mother, I want to go with him.” 

Despite his mother’s pleadings not to go, he followed the Buddha.

That evening, king Suddhodana, his kinsmen and ministers and the people at large, became his disciples. The transformation was total and astounding.

Such was the impact of Buddha, founder of Buddhism.


Word Count:942

Author’s Note:
“For forty-five years, the Buddha and his disciples went from place to place in India spreading the Dharma, his teachings. Their compassion knew no bounds; they helped everyone along the way, beggars, kings and slave girls. At night, they would sleep where they were; when hungry they would ask for a little food. Wherever the Buddha went, he won the hearts of the people because he dealt with their true feelings. He advised them not to accept his words on blindly, but to decide for themselves whether his teachings are right or wrong, then follow them. He encouraged everyone to have compassion for each other and develop their own virtue: "You should do your own work, for I can teach only the way."

Buddhism flourished in India for one thousand years before it moved to other regions.

(The above information is borrowed from Wikipedia, from an article titled,” age of the sage.org” Transmitting the Wisdom of the Ages.)