The sorrows of humanity weighed heavily upon his heart, and the
superficialities of the wealthy and ostentatious court in which he lived,
irked his outspoken and truth-loving spirit.
Surrounded, as he was, by wealth and ease, with time for contemplation and
a mind given to philosophic speculation, the young prince found no sense of
comfort or permanent satisfaction in his own immunity from want and sorrow.
He pondered long upon the way to become freed from the "successive round of
births and deaths," and thus pondering, he sought solitude in which to find
his questions answered.
Fasting and penance have ever been the gist of the instruction given to
those who would "find the way to God," and so to this end Gautama fasted
and prayed, and practised self-sacrifice.
But the attainment of liberation was not easy, and Siddhartha suffered long
and practiced self-mortification assiduously, at length being rewarded; and
"there arose within him the eye to perceive the great and noble truths
which had been handed down; the knowledge of their nature; the
understanding of their cause; the wisdom that lights the true path; the
light that expels darkness.
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