The Seasons and the Climates.
I started writing blogs, begunning with the verse 8 of the chapter 4 of the Gita -
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम्।
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्
धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय संभवामि युगे युगे।।८।।
It's perhaps the most famous verse of this text. It shows how when Dharma declines and gradually starts becoming not only Vidharma but falls even beyond and lower, and because of the tradition assumes the disguise of adharma, the Self / Truth reincarnates in the form of an avatara to re-establish Dharma and to destroy the adharma and to save the Dharma and all those whosoever follow Dharma.
Buddha who was born the Siddhartha, had to go through the topsy turvy path of exploration, austerities and penance, before He could attain the
Enlightenment / बोधि beneath the
बोधि-वृक्ष /Bodhi-vRkSha.
Historically, With the arrival of Buddha -the Gautama, there was an apparent paradigm shift in the approach of the traditional Dharma and with the ग्लानि / decline of this Dharma another new path was needed to replace the old obsolete, redundant tradition of this SanAtanaa Vedika Dharma, so as to suit all them who were quite unable to follow the traditional Vedika Dharma as they were taught and had to follow in the light of the Vedika discipline.
Buddha as "Siddhartha" was born as a prince in the kingdom of Kapilvastu and became Buddha as "Gautama" or the गौतम बुद्ध, with attaining the बुद्धत्व / बोधि / Enlightenment.
कपिलवस्तु / Kapilvastu
On the other hand means the domain of The Sage / RSHi / कपिल मुनि - who was the आचार्य / AchArya / of the सांख्य पद्धति of Discipline of learning the Dharma.
The six standard Systems of Discipline of learning the Vedika Dharma are called दर्शन / darshana synonymous with the doctrine or tenets of SanAtana Dharma.
The above verse in the Gita refers to the decline of religion as tradition and the fall of the traditional approach to it.
Buddha was also referred to as the शाक्य मुनि who belonged to the clan of उशना, to which belonged वाजश्रवा, कौशिक, भृगु, भार्गव.
All these references could be found in the KaThopaniShad / कठोपनिषद्, where we find नचिकेता who was the son of the Sage vAjashravA.
Buddha the Gautama was therefore a landmark paradigm shift in the learning of Dharma.
When the Self / Truth became obscured and confusion and conflict started to prevail on the mass scale, the Vedika rituals and procedures (कर्मकाण्ड) were no more useful and the Dharma could be taught to those who really deserved and earnest, aspired to find out the essence of the Self / Truth or the Dharma.
In the year 2016 to 2019 I was living at a nearby place (Dewas).
One evening while on my evening walk, I was in the street before The "Himalayan Academy" a school in that area.
It was becoming dark and sunset time.
I found a small black bird on the side if the road. It was trying to escape from some danger and I too sensed its plight. It's left wing was torn apart so I got it caught in my palm, left it on a boundary wall of a nearby garden.
Soon it disappeared from sight.
I could save it from the street dogs who were some ten or twenty feet away from there, but I was still sad thinking what might have happened to it afterwards. I was just helpless.
Then I realized that even though one can attain Enlightenment, there remains the sadness about the plight of the others who are in life and have to suffer.
Buddha and the PatanjalaYogaSutra call this feeling : करुणा / Compassion.
मैत्री करुणा मुदिता उपेक्षा
अहिंसा सत्य अस्तेय ब्रह्मचर्य (+अपरिग्रह)
Are the another name for the same four / five foundational pillars of Dharma.
So Buddha was silent about the existence / non-existence of God. We know that in the teachings of the Sankhya discipline too,"God" is of the secondary importance while the Self / Truth is the foremost and the far more obvious and relevant, one could seek and strive for.
Two Contemporary Sages
Buddha and Zarathustra
One in the west, the present-day Iran and another in the east in Kapilvastu.
Both these two sages re-established Dharma / the Vedika Sanatana Dharma which had drifted away from the Real-Dharma.
I can understand what Nietzsche might have in mind when He said -
God is Dead.
अहिंसा / AhimsA, The very first tenet of Dharma is equivalent of -
मैत्री / friendship
In the sense that it teaches to respect the life in all its various and different forms. This same principle could be followed either with or without the acceptance of the existence of a God Who Governs the Whole Life and is a Conscious One too.
After having accepted such any God with whatever name and form and devoting Him doesn't mean that this God of the devotee is the only God who should be worshipped by all others also. Moreover, forcing one's God upon others and say that those who don't agree with this God have no right to life is utter vehemently an attitude.
This might be the reason behind why Nietzsche said :
God is Dead.
I agree with Nietzhe and can say, he was right in his own way. May be a believer or non-believer, matters not.
When God turns aggressive, violent and audacious must be revolted against.
Enough is Enough!
*****