Buddha (6th Century BC) was born a Hindu and died a Hindu. He set out on a spiritual quest following a course prescribed by Hinduism. He became a Paribrajaka Sannyasi after renouncing his hearth and home. The question which disturbed him most was the question of Dukha (human sufferings). He saw Dukha as an ineluctable fact of life. But he was determined to find its origin and a means to overcome it. Buddha went to sages for guidance. Their teachings aided him to proceed. He was otherwise well versed in the scriptures. Finally, he resolved to meditate intensely.

He spent six years at a stretch in deep study, practice and meditation, and ultimately emerged successful. He became The Enlightened one. He then proclaimed his message to the world at large like a Rishi of yore. He said Dukha exists, it has an origin, there is a way to its cessation, and the way is a path comprising eight disciplines. He termed these truths as Arya Satya, on which he laid the foundation of his faith. Scholars say: “Buddha was primarily an ethical teacher and reformer, not a metaphysician. When any one asked Buddha metaphysical questions … he avoided discussing them. Metaphysics, he pointed out, is no cure for miseries of life.”

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But by what method did he practice meditation? Sixth century BC was a time when spiritual seekers of India practically followed the precepts of Maharishi Kapila (7th century BC) whose process for concentrating the mind on the self was then considered most scientific and efficacious. Kapila, too, dealt with the problem of human sufferings or Tapa. Buddha, conjecturally, took to his teachings. For the path he preached for emancipation from Dukha after his Nirvana resembles the Astanga Yoga of Patanjali (2nd century BC) who later developed his Yoga Aphorisms for the practice of meditation for Samadhi and realisation of the supreme Self depending on Kapila’s teachings.

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Patanjali says Yoga stops the mind from taking different modifications (vrittis) by relentless practice (abhyasa) and nonattachment (vairagya), so that the aspirant would be eventually established in his own Self (Swarupa). He then gives out the procedure of how to quell and cleanse the mind of its accumulated dross for its concentration on the object of his meditation. Given the consummate vairagya and vyakulata (urgency) in him, Buddha carried out his abhyasa without any break in a procedure similar to Patanjali’s, and thereby purged his mind of its past tendencies. As a result, he at last accomplished Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the highest spiritual attainment that liberated him from all worldly afflictions.

An ordinary sadhaka does not survive after such an experience. But Buddha........

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