The Tale Of Enlightenment Poem by Vadakkumpurath Ramesan

In a mid-night chill before Jesus
Kapilavasthu hugged Lumbini
In the snowy-cold to dip
In sleep with a lullaby touch.
The prince kept awake
Beside his wife and son
With a last glance before parting
Whose inner self urged him
To abandon the luxury and pleasure
Of the immortal earthly bonds
And to move and to search
The truth of the life and universe!

Gautama, the then Siddhartha
Took alms with an empty pot
In hand not eager to eat much,
The king Bimbisara could sense
The royal credentials of the Hermit
And pleaded with him to end the ordeal
But Gauthama firm in his quest
To seek the enlightenment
Moved ahead seeking answers
From hermit to hermit
But never got an answer
To unveil the misery and mystery
Of the life and the spinning universe!

At the age of thirty
He arrived at the feet
Of the Banyan tree
That stood beside river Niranjana
Where he sat and shut the doors
Of the five senses to enter
The realms of Truth and the Absolute!

Gautama turned Buddha
And Uruvelam turned Buddha Gaya
As he got the enlightenment
That atoned everything
That made him to see the Absolute!

As Buddha relegated to past
The Banyan tree became divine
Where people thronged in thick
Which the empress of Asoka
Never tolerated and allowed
The empress ordered
To axe the Banyan tree
But Sangamitra, her daughter
Took a branch to Ravana Lanka
To plant the branch of Buddhism
The Banyan tree in Anuradhapura
Gave a branch to Buddha Gaya
Where it sprouted and spread
To be hall-mark of Buddhism
On the land of Vedas and Puranas!