Buddha Purnima 2025: Sadhguru Explains The Significance Of Buddha Jayanti
Buddha Purnima 2025: The annual celebration of Buddha Purnima, also called Buddha Jayanti, honours the anniversary of the birth of Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. Celebrated with much fanfare, it is an important event for Buddhists worldwide. This year, it will be observed on May 12 as per Drik Panchang.
On this day, devotees clean their homes and bathe early in the morning. They swear to uphold Gautam Buddha's teachings.
Buddha Purnima also has cultural and spiritual significance for the Buddhist community worldwide, and it is primarily observed in East and South Asia, which includes China, Korea, Laos, Vietnam, Mongolia, Cambodia, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.
Sadhguru On Buddha Purnima's Significance
advetisement
According to Sadhguru, Buddha Purnima is a very important day in yogic culture since it marks the third purnima after the Earth switches to the northern run of the sun. Buddha's day of enlightenment is considered to be Buddha Purnima. This makes it an important observance for any spiritual aspirant.
Gautama had grown extremely feeble after nearly eight years of being an ascetic. He had spent four years as a Samana. The main sadhana for a Samana was to walk and fast without ever seeking food. This almost killed him. At this point, he arrived at the Niranjana River, which, like many other water bodies in India today, has dried up.
This river was a big stream with knee-high water flowing quickly. He attempted to cross the river, but by the halfway point, his body was too weak to take another step. But he is not the kind to give up, so he simply held on to a nearby dead branch and stood.
It is said that he stood there for several hours. However, Sadhguru stated, it is not known if he stood for many hours or just a few moments that felt like hours in his state of frailty. But at that moment, he realised, 'All that is required is absolute willingness."
When he realised this, he found the extra energy to take that step, crossed the river, and sat down under the now-famous Bodhi tree. He sat down, determined that 'unless the ultimate happens to me, I will not move. Either I get up as an Enlightened Being or I die in this position." He attained full enlightenment as the full moon was rising.
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May 12, 2025, 07:00 IST
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The baur or mango flowers have been driving India seasonally crazy for thousands of years, to the point that the verb baurana means going crazy with joy in several languages. Another name for the two-month Vasantotsava was Madanotsava, the season to go mad with joy and desire. The mango flowers provided the enabling backdrop of seduction, driving human procreation. The fertility of the spring flowers produces the fruit in the summer. ***** Indian pupils tend to dilate at the mere mention of the mango. Most people lapse into nostalgia, drawing emotional connections from their childhood. They rapture on about the mango's connections with their family relations, without actually knowing what's driving them on. We absorb cultural memes unquestioningly, lacking any knowledge of their hows and whys. We grow up feeling excited about mangoes without an awareness of their connection with Kamadeva (and desire) or the Buddha (and victory over desire). 'Mango, the king of fruits", is a common essay topic in our primary and secondary schools. It doesn't disappear with age. It isn't enough to get your favourite mangoes and consume them; you will feel compelled to let others know of it. (Cue reels and posts on social media.) Not just that, either. Many feel the compulsion to run down other mangoes, others' mangoes. The IPL season is now followed by the Indian Mangivory League, a season with its own breathless commentators and an assortment of cheerleaders. Look up #MangoWars on social media. To insult a person or a region, you merely need to put down their signature mango varieties. You cannot insult a person or a city or a region by insulting its apples and oranges. The mango shoulders burdens other fruits cannot imagine. Bengaluru-based scholar and author Venu Madhav Govindu calls it 'mango chauvinism", adding that in our pop culture, the mango is like cricket; everybody has an opinion on it without actually knowing it. Our age has fangled a weird variant of this peculiar Indian compulsion. Almost all mango talk centres on 'varieties". (It becomes varietiyaan in Uttar Pradesh). The number of varieties is very important to underscore range. Each of the innumerable mango festivals held each summer advertises the number of varieties it showcases. You can impress other people by the number of varieties you have tasted. Growers make it a point to let you know that they have trees of this many varieties. The other side of this varietal discourse is the exclusivity of special types of mangoes. For example, in Mumbai or Pune, you will meet people claiming the Alphonso or Hapus is the king of all mangoes, which itself is the king of all fruits. Be tolerant! They are riffing off essays they wrote in school, padding it with the most readily accessible cliches. For example, a well-educated and knowledgeable man in Goa said it was the Portuguese who brought the mango to India. In Karnataka, you will hear the claim that Tipu Sultan brought the fine mangoes grown there from Iran. Fictional stories find a lot more purchase than non-fiction built on research. HAPUS HYSTERIA Now the Alphonso is a very fine mango, indeed. But not all Hapus are the same. The produce from Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts is particularly prized. But even in the orchards of Konkan, there's a difference in the taste of mangoes growing in different parts of the same orchard. Growers will tell you that the finest Hapus come from trees planted in holes blasted into the weathered laterite hard rock (kaatal in Marathi). This practice began only in the 1960s; it came from agricultural scientists looking to grow something of value in the otherwise unproductive hard rock. Trees here do not bear too many fruits, especially when compared to those growing in the valleys or greener surroundings. Their fruits are more vulnerable to 'spongy tissue", a disorder peculiar to the Alphonso. That's because the conditions are terribly harsh for trees growing in the sea-facing rocks. It is much hotter than in the valleys, not to mention the stiff offshore winds. But it's such trees, facing hostile conditions, that produce the finest Hapus. Your neighbourhood Mumbaikar or Puneri is unlikely to know this. He or she buys the mango off the market and basks in the reflected hype. They don't realise how this hysteria is destroying the object of their love. In their desperation to recover investments, mango growers resort to unscrupulous use of synthetic chemicals for a range of reasons. Such market-driven compulsions have dramatically hit the quality of not just the Alphonso but almost all prized varieties across the country over the past decade or two. Pesticide residues lead to rejection of export consignments, besides forcing people to consume small amounts of these poisons each time they have a mango. Traders wish to hit the markets with the season's produce as early as possible in the season. They pressure the growers to harvest early, before the fruits have matured. This unripe fruit is collected and sold by a string of wholesalers to retailers. The retailers ripen the fruit and sell it to the customers. A bulk of Alphonso retailers in Mumbai come from eastern Uttar Pradesh (UP) just for the mango season, living in small rented accommodations, sleeping in hammocks above ripening fruits. Many of them ripen the fruit using banned chemicals—because it's faster. The greater the hype, the more short-cuts are taken at each level of the value chain. A MANGO BY ANOTHER NAME Then there is the obsession over the names of mango varieties. Social media is awash with mango maps of India, locating and allocating mango varieties by region. Such maps are circulated widely. Each map has several errors of name and location. For example, some might tell you that the Langda and the Malda are different varieties. You can let them know that the variety is called 'Laingda" in Malda district of West Bengal. It's in Bihar that the same variety is called Malda or Maldah, and another name for it is Kapooriya, which itself is used for a few other varieties. In western UP, the variety again becomes known as Langda. Some names are terribly confusing, like Safeda and Badam. Benishan, a variety from Andhra Pradesh (AP), is sold across the country. It is called Badam in Maharashtra and Safeda in northern India. But in AP, Telangana and Karnataka, Badam means Alphonso. And there is another variety called Badam in many parts of southern India. Since the Benishan is believed to have originated in an orchard of Banginapalle, it is also known by the name of the village. Meanwhile, the Safeda is actually a small-sized variety from Malihabad near Lucknow, but in Delhi and Punjab, it is called Dinga. In mango maps circulated each summer, you might see different entries for Siroli, Bambai, Bambaiya and Bombay Green. This is the same variety, which shows slightly different traits from region to region, quite like the Langda/Malda. In fact, in northern Bihar, there is a red-and-yellow tinged variety called Durga Bhog, which is a kind of Bambai. In AP, a different mango is called Siroli. Several mangoes that have a red-coloured tinge get called Surkha or Sindura, although there are separate varieties by both names. You might see Amrapali located in Odisha and Mallika located in Karnataka, for their respective popularity in each state. Both these varieties were developed in the 1970s on the campus of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in Delhi. Both are crosses of Dashehri from UP and Neelam from Tamil Nadu. But Neelam is used for different varieties in other parts of the country. People can identify a handful of mango types they have seen. Residents of Mumbai don't get to taste the best mangoes from Goa, Gujarat or Karnataka, forget about faraway regions. People in UP have no idea about the finest mangoes of Bihar. In the two districts of Champaran is grown a small, plump variety called Zarda. It is not known across the border in eastern UP. Darbhanga in northern Bihar and Murshidabad in West Bengal are perhaps the two greatest centres in the history of fine mangoes. The variety of tastes and flavours in mangoes here is astounding. Yet you will not even hear of Champa, Rani Pasand, Bimli or Kohitoor outside of Murshidabad. Bihar has two popular varieties that come very late: Sipiya and Sukul. Both are deeply loved and sought after in Bihar. Outside, they are not known. In fact, along with Bihar, AP is the only state where sucking-type mangoes have a commanding presence. Like in Bihar, people from AP and Telangana love their juicy mangoes consumed by the bucket. Even their names are poetic: Panchadhara Kalasham (sugar pot), Pandhurivari Mamidi (mango from Pandhuri-side), and there are a range of Rasalu-type varieties. If you look at the map of the mango's genetic diversity, six out of the seven regions with a wealth of wild mangoes are in eastern or southern India (see box below). Most of the country has forgotten the joys of juicy sucking-type mangoes, in favour of table-type varieties that now dominate the market. IARI scientists have a list of 24 varieties that have commercial value. A few of these get discussed, most are not mentioned. Even within this narrow range, the best mangoes seldom go far from where they are grown. If you truly enjoy your mangoes and are willing go the distance for fine taste, there's still only one way: make friends with mango-growers and get mature but unripe mangoes from them; thereafter, ripen them carefully at home. We need to actually earn our mangoes. ***** The real reason we get so excited about the mango doesn't lie in classical Sanskrit dramas, or the ancient sceptical schools of asceticism, or the outstanding Mughal stewardship of orchards that produce fine fruits, or the commendable horticultural skills of Jesuit priests in 16th century Goa. It has to do with the mango's pivotal role in ordinary life. For most of history, our cities and villages were dotted with mango groves on common lands, often called amrai. These offered a lot much more than fruits or flowers or leaves or timber. They were the central infrastructure of community life. Amrais were so dense, sunlight never penetrated them; the mango has been the preferred shade tree of this hot country since forever. The amrai is where all manner of community activities occurred. This is where wedding parties or baraat (a contraction of var-yatra or the groom's travelling party) stayed. Weddings were solemnised in amrais. From wrestling competitions to beit-bazi contests, from dance and music to feasts associated with varied festivals. And, of course, the mango grove was central to the spring festivities of Vasantotsava and its numerous events like Holi. The fruit was one of many joys that came from mango groves. In the peak of summer in northern India, many people spent all their time in mango groves; in a time without electricity, fans or air-conditioners, these were cooler than any other parts of villages. This was happening till the 1970s. (Remember Basanti and Veeru cavorting in the mango grove of the 1975 blockbuster Sholay.) Naturally, the mango was associated with community joy and celebration, in cities as well as villages. From the spring festivities of the ancient times, to the weddings of modern India. Apart from all the innumerable uses of the mango tree, its groves were the centres of community life and collective joy. Till two or three generations ago. Under British colonial rule, zamindars began felling these groves. Whatever remained was cut down after India's independence, either for land distribution or encroachment. The excitement over the mango has to do with matters far bigger than fine fruits. It has to do with the community life and joy that we have lost as a people. The memory of that joy, however, hasn't gone, even as the groves have all been cut down. We try to find it in mangoes grown and traded with utter indifference in orchards owned by absentee landlords. If you listen carefully, you can hear a dirge under the breathless commentary over the mango. That's why the mango. That's why nothing else. An independent journalist in Delhi, Sopan Joshi is the author of Mangifera indica: A Biography of the Mango (2024). Also Read How safe is the food on your plate?
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- News18
'Ocean, Big Sea': What Does The Word 'Dalai' In Dalai Lama Mean?
Last Updated: The title "Dalai Lama" is a combination of the Sino-Mongolian word dalai meaning "big sea" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "guru, teacher" The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, will turn 90 this week. While he has ended speculation on whether he will have a successor or not after his death by reaffirming his succession plan, this is set to escalate tensions with China that has rejected it. China has said any future heir must receive its seal of approval, adding a new chapter to Tibetan Buddhism's decades-long struggle with the Chinese ruling Communist Party. WHAT DOES THE DALAI LAMA MEAN? While the Dalai Lama is the face of Buddhism to many people across the world, he is actually the head of just one tradition within Tibetan Buddhism known as the Gelug school. According to the website of the Namgyal Monastery, the Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or 'Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, founded by Tsongkhapa (1357-1419). The title 'Dalai Lama" is a combination of the Sino-Mongolian word dalai meaning 'big sea" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning 'guru, teacher", suggesting breadth and depth of wisdom. Britannica states that it became the title for the leader of the Gelukpa order in the beginning, with the third Dalai Lama who reached an agreement for mutual respect and support with Mongol chief Altan Khan, who bestowed on him that title. Tibetans believe the Dalai Lama to be the manifestation of Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, and the 'one who hears the cries of the world". Avalokiteśvara is prayed to across Asia, and is known as Chenrezig in Tibet, Guanyin in China, and Kannon or Kanzeon in Japan. The line of Dalai Lamas began as a lineage of spiritual teachers, with the fifth Dalai Lama assuming political authority over Tibet. The Gaden Phodrang Trust, a non-profit organisation, was founded by the Office of the Dalai Lama in 2015. The statement made by the 14th Dalai Lama, who is also called Lhama Thondup, on May 21, was released by his office four days ahead of his birthday on July 6. A 5.57-minute video of his speech in Tibetan was also released. 'I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue and I hereby reiterate that the Gaden Phodrang Trust has the sole authority to recognise the future reincarnation. No one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter," the statement said. Earlier, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism had maintained that Tibet's most sacred tradition could be wound up, or his successor could be a woman or someone born outside China. China, however, has rejected the Nobel Peace laureate's succession plan. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama, the second-high priest of Tibetan Buddhism, has to go through the centuries-old tradition of the 'Golden Urn' law procedure started by the 18th century Qing dynasty. 'The Dalai Lama's reincarnation must follow the principles of domestic recognition, the 'Golden Urn' process, and approval by the central government, in line with religious traditions and laws," she told a media briefing in Beijing while responding to the Dalai Lama's announcement. The week-long celebrations to mark the Dalai Lama's 90th birthday commenced at Tsuglagkhang, the main temple at McLeodganj near Dharamshala, on June 30. The occasion is significant, as the Dalai Lama had said in 2011 that at the age of 90, he will decide whether the institution will continue or not. (With PTI inputs)
