You May Leave if You Wish

There are four traditional varnas, or castes initiated by the Vedic system: brãhmin (priestly), kshatriya (warrior/princely), vaishya (merchant), and the shudra (laborer). Being a religious-based culture, the Aryans were at the behest of the brãhmins and their Vedic religion, which centered around devotions, oblations, and sacrifices to a number of deities.

Siddhartha Gautama was a noble kshatriya, destined to be a great king, greater than his father. However, the prophecy of a mendicant holy man said otherwise, namely that he would be a teacher, which highly disappointed his father's ambitions for his royal offspring. This could not be so.

Siddhartha thus lived a princely life, without sorrow, without suffering, a kept man with all the luxuries of the world at his feet, so long as he remained within the confines of the illustrious palace, which itself was purged of suffering, sickness, and even old age by order of the king. Siddhartha lived a charmed life.

Upon breaking the curfew of bliss imposed upon him by his father, Siddhartha set out to see what was beyond the gates of paradise, disobeying his father, as children often do. Siddhartha saw, in succession, a sick man, a dying man, a corpse being cremated, and a wandering ascetic. Siddhartha left his home, his wealth, a wife and child, knowing that they would all be taken care of, even without him.

Having wandered for many years, gaining recognition of mystical powers of concentration and spiritual awareness, Siddhartha, whose name means "the one who has attained his goal" had not yet attained his goal. He was still hungry, his heart, soul, and mind full of desire. Desire for what? Desire...

In deep, profound meditation, Siddhartha experienced the dissolution of Mãyã, or cosmic illusion, and saw the universe for what it was, he gazed upon the void, and he saw... Upon awakening from this meditation, he soon became known as the Buddha, the "one who has awakened." But to what, and from what?

The Buddha, as with Socrates (who was to come a century later) and Jesus (another four centuries after Socrates), did not write, but he spent the last 45 years of his life fulfilling the prophecy of his destiny, he became a teacher. However, as with many great teachers, he did not want blind devotion, he wanted self-actualization and self-discipline, which could only be done by, you guessed it, your-self.

The deer park at Sarnath and Vulture Peak were to become two well-known classrooms for the teachings of the Buddha, from the Buddha himself. Wary of zealot devotees, the Buddha insisted that his words alone were not enough, you, yourself had to do the hard work.

To reach the state of Enlightenment, it was necessary to do only one thing, to rid yourself of material desire, the hunger for external relief of suffering. Suffering was none other than this thirst, desire to be satiated, because slaking the thirst was transitory, ephemeral. It would come back, with greater longing than before if one had not taken care of one's self, the atman, the soul, first.

To live then, without suffering, to become enlightened, was up to the individual, no deity would help, no deus ex machina, no easier and softer way would work. Right thought, right action, right speech and a deliberate choice of living the Middle Way, devoid of extremes and desires, could open the pathway towards enlightenment, but you have to walk the path alone.

To such a call, many decried, "It's too much to ask. I cannot do this! You, the Buddha, must save me. Tell me an easier way."

To this, the Buddha is said to have responded, "You May Leave if You Wish."