NCERT Class 10 English (First Flight)
NCERT Solution Class 10 English ( The Sermon at Benares)
Gautama Buddha was born to a North Indian royal family as a prince and was named Siddhartha Gautama. When he was twelve years old, he was sent to a far away place to study Hindu sacred scriptures and upon returning four years later, he got married to a princess. Soon, they both had a son and they continued to live the royal life for about ten years. The royals were shielded from all the unpleasant experiences of the world until one day, on his way to hunt, the Prince met a sick man, an aged man, a funeral procession and a monk begging for alms.
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These experiences acted as eye-openers for him and thus, he left all the royalty behind to seek a higher sense of spiritual knowledge. Upon attaining salvation, he began preaching. He gave his first sermon in the city of Benares. There was a lady named Kisa Gotami whose son had died. Suffering with unending pain, she went from house to house looking for a medicine to bring her son back to life. People started thinking that the lady had lost her senses. One day, she met a man who directed her towards Lord Buddha who could possible have a solution for her problem. Buddha asked her to look for mustard seeds and the seeds must be procured from a house that had seen no death.
NCERT Solution Class 10 English ( The Sermon at Benares)
Reinstated with hope, Kisa Gotami once again went on a search from house to house but to her dismay, she could not find mustard seeds from a house that would fulfil Buddha’s condition. Disheartened, she sat at the edge of the road thus realising how selfish she had been. She became conscious to the fact that men were mortal and no one could escape the cycle of life. This was exactly what Buddha wanted her to understand. According to Lord Buddha, feelings of grief and sorrow only increase man’s pain and suffering thus, deteriorating his health. Therefore, a wise person fully aware about nature’s functioning must not grieve at something bound to happen and only then he can be happy and blessed.
NCERT Solution Class 10 English ( The Sermon at Benares)
Thinking about the Text
- When her son dies, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house. What does she ask for? Does she get it? Why not?
- Kisa Gotami again goes from house to house after she speaks with the Buddha. What does she ask for, the second time around? Does she get it? Why not?
- What does Kisa Gotami understand the second time that she failed to understand the first time? Was this what the Buddha wanted her to understand?
- Why do you think Kisa Gotami understood this only the second time? In what way did the Buddha change her understanding?
- How do you usually understand the idea of ‘selfishness’? Do you agree with Kisa Gotami that she was being ‘selfish in her grief ’?
