Heartiest greetings to all countrymen on Buddha Purnima..!!
Whenever Gautam Buddha's name comes to my mind, I am reminded of an interesting story. The story goes - One day Buddha was interacting with his disciples. Suddenly in the midst of it, an angry man came and started using bad language against him. The man continued to do so for quite some time. All of Buddha's disciples were furious with the man but Buddha told them to remain quiet. After a while, the man grew tired of shouting and came to Buddha and said "I have been abusing for quite some time now but you haven't reacted to it at all." Buddha, in his calm voice replied, "If you have something that you want to give to me but I refuse to take it, who will it be left with?" "It will be left with me," replied the man. Then Buddha said, "See in the same way you kept using bad words against me but I didn't react, hence where are your words?" The man replied "They remain with me." Inspired by Buddha's wisdom, the man fell at Buddha's feet. The young man understood, clasped his hands together and slowly bowed to the Buddha. Clearly, the man had learned a valuable lesson that day.
This was the power of Buddha. This is the essence of his wisdom: Forgiveness! Sobriety! Renunciation !. I think these virtues are most needed in the current times. Today is Buddha Purnima. It is the time to remember his message and teachings. The Modi government is observing it as 'Vaisakh: 2,565th International Buddha Purnima Day'. I think Buddha is very relevant with his inspiring life and teachings in such a difficult time. His ideal life, his philosophy can show us the way as to how to ride out calamity and difficult times. It helps us to meet the challenges bravely.The Corona pandemic has forced us to return to several basic tenets of our great culture.
The contribution of Gautam Buddha to the human values that we have adopted in our lives, and passed down from generation to generation, is invaluable and priceless.We are moved by compassion towards those suffering, towards animals and birds, towards those who are helpless, and have empathy for one and all. We owe all this and much more to the invaluable teachings of Gautam Buddha.
Buddha, the propounder of Buddhism , was born on Vesak Purnima, so it is also known as Buddha Purnima. It is celebrated not only in our country but also in many countries including Japan, Korea, China, Nepal, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indonesia.
The Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India have done a tremendous amount of work for the preservation of the Buddhist pilgrimage sites of our country like Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, Kushinagar andSanchi. These places attract Buddhist followers from all over the world. Apart from the teachings of Buddha, one can also see the architectural beauty of these monuments.
In a nutshell ,if we imbibe the teachings and wisdom of Buddha in our lives , then we shall contribute not only to establishment of a great country and a great world but also help create agreat human being with values of the highest order. Once again, congratulations to all of you on Buddha Purnima ..!
(Prahlad Singh Patel is Minister for Culture & Tourism in Government of India)
