The Buddha along with his disciples once came near a village and settled down while going around Aryavarta preaching his philosophy.

This tale goes as back as the period of great Shramanas; saints who inspired new schools of philosophy breaking free of the Traditional Vedic Religion. Many found new interpretation to the Shruti, some outright rejected it. They were praised, cheered and even abused by the then society. But the people recognized their ‘shram’, their ardent and spotless spiritual hardwork to realize truth; thus they were called Shramanas.

And in this age was born a prince of the Shakya tribe, Siddharta Goutama, who, shocked by the decaying nature of the material world and the suffering it caused to its inhabitants, and thus overwhelmed, left his royal life of temporary material pleasures, to find a way out. He performed extreme rites and led a extreme life as a monk amongst the Vedics, and later amongst the Jains. But when his sadhanas were in vain, he left all the ‘known paths’ of dharma to find his own. And he realized what he called the truth, the middle way or the eight fold path.

He was called the Buddha, the ‘Awakened One’, and preached about in all of Aryavarta. He was rebuked and rejected by the Vedic scholars, but a lot came under his influence and accepting his teachings became his disciples. They were certainly not less in number; neither limited to any tribe or varna, for from kings to helots came to visit him from long distances. He himself, along with his direct disciples would roam about Aryavarta going from village to village. Some called him a wizard, a magician and even an Avatar!

So when the villagers heard that the Buddha had come, excited to meet this God-man, several journeyed to his abode. But he had settled along with his disciples in the very outskirts of the village, even beyond where the untouchable atisudras and chandalas dwelled. Thus those who whose quest for truth was outweighed by their belief in traditional varnas, were discouraged to meet the saint. Yet many, who were brave enough to discard such beliefs, went to meet him.

Amongst these men, was a Brahmin learned in Vedas and of ardent devotion to Bhagavan Ram. He would worship him with all rites, and remember his name day and night, and in moments of joy or sadness, anger or fear, or even in any ordinary moments, would take the name of Ram. Since been given his Janeu he dwelled in his Bhakti to Ram, and yet in this old age, his mind had started to sprout seeds of doubt. “Is God real?” he thought. Even as he was ashamed of such ’ill thoughts’, punishing himself and took the Lord’s name over and over again, whatever he did, the seeds of doubt won’t go away. Sometimes after, even he took his doubt seriously, and it caused him great pain. So when he heard that the Buddha had came, even though he knew that this shraman was loathed by Brahmin societies, upon hearing the rumors of him being a God-man and an Avatar, he hurried to the abode of Goutama, hoping he would dispel his doubts forever.

When he had reached the very outskirts of the village, he saw a big peepal tree; under which a fair skinned Shakyamuni clad in saffron robes sat, surrounded by his disciples. He was imparting certain knowledge to them when our Brahmin barged in.

“Oh lord! I’ve been drowning in the sea of doubt since forever. I’ve held my Janeu and recited the Gayatri everyday. I ardently studied the Shrutis and has been worshipping Bhagvan Ram since forever! Yet, today as I stand before you, seeds of doubt has sprouted, and their roots exhausting my conscience! Tell me, oh Wise One, is God real? Does Bhagvan really exist?”

“No” replied the Buddha, “he doesn’t exist.”

Shocked and heartbroken, the Brahmin returned. There he told the villagers about this revelation. Many were sad; some outright rejected such outrageous of a claim. Yet word spread quickly.

Amongst the disciples of Buddha, also discord broke; for the master has never spoken on the existence of God before, no matter how much they enquired.

“It’s decided then”, they said, “The creation is without a creator!”

“Yes, belief in such is a superstition and irrational!”

As the day dwelled to evening, and the sun reached the horizon, a Charvaka entered the village. He had heard of the supposed ‘Awakened One’ was nearby. He had rejected the ancient Vedic religion along with all schools of theism when he was young, and walked on the path of Rishi Charvak, who declared God to be non-existent and reincarnation a lie. The Charvakas were most radical in ideas amongst the shramans, yet had held their place for quite a long time in history of Bharatvarsha.

Yet this Charvaka, although completely trained in their ways and thoughts, with old age, began to doubt his beliefs.

“Does no being greater than me exist? The creator of this vast creation? Is it true? Or am I deluded by maya?”

He asked many learned ones on this, but got no satisfactory answers. And when he had almost given up on his seeking, he heard of Shakyamuni, the Buddha, and thus decided to visit him.

“He might possess the knowledge of truth”, he wondered. And crossing many lands he heard many rumors, of his powers and Avatarhood! And his belief strengthened, that is until he reached the said village.

“Buddha says there is no God!”, Claimed the villagers. Some said “he has spoken truth”, others said “he is a Mleccha born amongst Aryas”. Thus the Charvaka thought a bit, and decided to hear the truth himself from the Buddha.

Deep inside the forest, at the outskirts of the village, Buddha and disciples were meditating. The rays of the setting sun illuminated his bright brilliant face, and noticing thus, the Charvaka awaited silently before him.

When Buddha opened his eyes, and saw the Charvaka in front of him, he enquired his purpose. The Charvaka said, “Oh Wise One! I heard you hold the truths of this world and more! I, a Charvaka, who since my younger years discarded all religions with the idea of God itself! Yet, until today, I hadn’t found out if I’m really true. Say O Awakened One, does the so-called creator of creation, almighty God , really not exist?”

The disciples expected their master to confirm this man the truth, for they already ‘knew’ the answer. But the Buddha, declared, “Yes Charvaka! God exists!”

The Charvaka was perplexed, so were the disciples.

“What?” Discord broke again. “How can a man’s word change within some hours, moreover when he is the ‘Awakened One’!?”

Thus the disciples enquired, “O Blessed One, you said God doesn’t exist to the Brahmin this morning, and now you say He does? How can that be possible? We don’t understand!”

Buddha thus said, “Once a king and his attendant went to hunt in the deep forests. It was to be an entertainment, but fate had other things in mind. The king’s kin had plotted to overthrow him; they thus sent an assassin to kill the king when he was least protected, which happens to be the hunt. The assassin shot a poisoned arrow which critically injureed the king, but doesn’t kill him immediately. Now he cries in anguish, and calls for the attendant to help. Shall the attendant, who could take down and catch the assassin himself, rush to help the fatally injured king or shall he, chase down the assassin?”

The most intelligent of his disciples said at once, “Help the king!”

“Why?”

“Or he will die!”

“So the assassin will escape. And the plot won’t be uncovered then…?”

“But master”, one disciple asked, “What good is to catch the killer when the king may die? Catching him will be in vain! Oh Blessed One, isn’t it true that helping the injured king should be the attendant’s top priority? “

The Buddha thus smiled, and said, “If so, then why seeking the truth of God so important, while you have been injured by arrows of misery and suffering since eternity?”

“Before you were even born and even after you die, and in the lives that will follow, you shall not escape suffering simply by enquiring about God. Just as the killer’s identity, relation, race or varna is of no importance to the attendant who needs to save the king or even the king himself, the existence of God is a fruitless question! Regardless if he exists or not, you needn’t know, but make it your goal to be free from suffering regardless, for the arrow of suffering, of misery and of decay has been injuring you since the beginning!”

Thus the disciples and the Charvaka, and later the villagers including the Brahmin came to know, and since then they practiced the middle path and many attained Nirvana.

(a retelling of buddhist story)
© iamjusta_storyteller