By Udayan Barua

Buddha Purnima is the greatest festival of the Buddhist community and is being observed with due solemnity almost all over the world. This full moon night is worth remembering for the birth, attainment of wisdom and passing away of Lord Buddha. He left kingdom in search of eternal peace of body and mind. Shidhartha, son of Suddhadhan, a king in Nepal, after attaining wisdom was popularity known and revered as "Buddha." The simple history of Buddha is more or less known to all. Buddha Purnima is a reminder of what Lord Buddha preached for the noble cause of the many. The noble eight-fold paths are: Right understanding, right thoughts, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. These eight noble paths or ways are easy to understand but have so far been proved difficult to emulate in our day to day life. The humans for not being conscious about these rightful ways, resultantly fall victims to untold and unpredictable number of miseries.

Every religion principally prescribes mindful methods for development of moral and spiritual values and Buddhism stands akin to all religious fundamental principles. Buddha in his first sermon to the monks asked, "Go forth, O Bhikkhus, for the good of the many, for the happiness of the many." This message is wide, loud, and broad and to all and meant for the cause of happiness of all living beings, irrespective of caste, creed and race. Modern environmental scientists call for saving the nature and all creatures towards protection and safety of eco-system for the greater interest of existence and safeguard of human race and civilization, which is in consonance with Buddha's philosophy. At the moment the world, i.e, human race and civilization, is tormented by conflicts arising out of racial, regional, religious, cultural, financial and a host of other discriminations. Every conscious and religious person realizes that peoples at different parts of the globe are now engaged in immaterial, unethical and immoral fighting, which has so far claimed innumerable innocent human lives and also caused loss of millions of dollars. In these circumstances, all religious, political and social leaders of all countries, right at this moment, should sit and think together. This would help change the scenario.

Amongst many others, Buddha stressed on "Metta" i.e. "Moitri" in Bengali. It implies a sincere heart of a true friend. It aims at the welfare and genuine happiness of all living beings without exception and discrimination. On this holy night, let all of us take a noble gesture to sit and think together for the cause of peaceful co-existence. Let Buddha Purnima shine on us with its eternal message of peace. "Let all beings be happy."