Lord Buddha As mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam
SYNONYMStataù kalau sampravåtte
sammohäya sura-dviñäm
buddho nämnäïjana-sutaù
kékaöeñu bhaviñyati
TRANSLATION
Then, in the beginning of Kali-yuga,
the Lord will appear as Lord Buddha, the son of Aïjanä, in the
province of Gayä, just for the purpose of deluding those who are envious
of the faithful theist.
PURPORT by HDG Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada:
Lord Buddha, a powerful incarnation
of the Personality of Godhead, appeared in the province of Gayä (Bihar)
as the son of Aïjanä, and he preached his own conception of nonviolence
and deprecated even the animal sacrifices sanctioned in the Vedas. At the
time when Lord Buddha appeared, the people in general were atheistic and
preferred animal flesh to anything else. On the plea of Vedic sacrifice,
every place was practically turned into a slaughterhouse, and animal-killing
was indulged in unrestrictedly. Lord Buddha preached nonviolence, taking
pity on the poor animals. He preached that he did not believe in the tenets
of the Vedas and stressed the adverse psychological effects incurred by
animal-killing. Less intelligent men of the age of Kali, who had no faith
in God, followed his principle, and for the time being they were trained
in moral discipline and nonviolence, the preliminary steps for proceeding
further on the path of God realization. He deluded the atheists because
such atheists who followed his principles did not believe in God, but they
kept their absolute faith in Lord Buddha, who himself was the incarnation
of God. Thus the faithless people were made to believe in God in the form
of Lord Buddha. That was the mercy of Lord Buddha: he made the faithless
faithful to him.
Killing of animals before the advent
of Lord Buddha was the most prominent feature of the society. People claimed
that these were Vedic sacrifices. When the Vedas are not accepted through
the authoritative disciplic succession, the casual readers of the Vedas
are misled by the flowery language of that system of knowledge. In the
Bhagavad-gétä a comment has been made on such foolish scholars
(avipaçcitaù). The foolish scholars of Vedic literature who
do not care to receive the transcendental message through the transcendental
realized sources of disciplic succession are sure to be bewildered. To
them, the ritualistic ceremonies are considered to be all in all. They
have no depth of knowledge. According to the Bhagavad-gétä
(15.15), vedaiç ca sarvair aham eva vedyaù: the whole system
of the Vedas is to lead one gradually to the path of the Supreme Lord.
The whole theme of Vedic literature is to know the Supreme Lord, the individual
soul, the cosmic situation and the relation between all these items. When
the relation is known, the relative function begins, and as a result of
such a function the ultimate goal of life or going back to Godhead takes
place in the easiest manner. Unfortunately, unauthorized scholars of the
Vedas become captivated by the purificatory ceremonies only, and natural
progress is thereby checked.
To such bewildered persons of atheistic
propensity, Lord Buddha is the emblem of theism. He therefore first of
all wanted to check the habit of animal-killing. The animal-killers are
dangerous elements on the path going back to Godhead. There are two types
of animal-killers. The soul is also sometimes called the “animal” or the
living being. Therefore, both the slaughterer of animals and those who
have lost their identity of soul are animal-killers.
Mahäräja Parékñit
said that only the animal-killer cannot relish the transcendental message
of the Supreme Lord. Therefore if people are to be educated to the path
of Godhead, they must be taught first and foremost to stop the process
of animal-killing as above mentioned. It is nonsensical to say that animal-killing
has nothing to do with spiritual realization. By this dangerous theory
many so-called sannyäsés have sprung up by the grace of Kali-yuga
who preach animal-killing under the garb of the Vedas. The subject matter
has already been discussed in the conversation between Lord Caitanya and
Maulana Chand Kazi Shaheb. The animal sacrifice as stated in the Vedas
is different from the unrestricted animal-killing in the slaughterhouse.
Because the asuras or the so-called scholars of Vedic literatures put forward
the evidence of animal-killing in the Vedas, Lord Buddha superficially
denied the authority of the Vedas. This rejection of the Vedas by Lord
Buddha was adopted in order to save people from the vice of animal-killing
as well as to save the poor animals from the slaughtering process of their
big brothers who clamor for universal brotherhood, peace, justice and equity.
There is no justice when there is animal-killing. Lord Buddha wanted to
stop it completely, and therefore his cult of ahiàsä was propagated
not only in India but also outside the country.
Technically Lord Buddha’s philosophy
is called atheistic because there is no acceptance of the Supreme Lord
and because that system of philosophy denied the authority of the Vedas.
But that is an act of camouflage by the Lord. Lord Buddha is the incarnation
of Godhead. As such, he is the original propounder of Vedic knowledge.
He therefore cannot reject Vedic philosophy. But he rejected it outwardly
because the sura-dviña, or the demons who are always envious of
the devotees of Godhead, try to support cow-killing or animal-killing from
the pages of the Vedas, and this is now being done by the modernized sannyäsés.
Lord Buddha had to reject the authority of the Vedas altogether. This is
simply technical, and had it not been so he would not have been so accepted
as the incarnation of Godhead.
Nor would he have been worshiped
in the transcendental songs of the poet Jayadeva, who is a Vaiñëava
äcärya. Lord Buddha preached the preliminary principles of the
Vedas in a manner suitable for the time being (and so also did Çaìkaräcärya)
to establish the authority of the Vedas. Therefore both Lord Buddha and
Äcärya Çaìkara paved the path of theism, and Vaiñëava
äcäryas, specifically Lord Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu,
led the people on the path towards a realization of going back to Godhead.
We are glad that people are taking
interest in the nonviolent movement of Lord Buddha. But will they take
the matter very seriously and close the animal slaughterhouses altogether?
If not, there is no meaning to the ahiàsä cult.
Çrémad-Bhägavatam
was composed just prior to the beginning of the age of Kali (about five
thousand years ago), and Lord Buddha appeared about twenty-six hundred
years ago. Therefore in the Çrémad-Bhägavatam Lord Buddha
is foretold. Such is the authority of this clear scripture. There are many
such prophecies, and they are being fulfilled one after another. They will
indicate the positive standing of Çrémad-Bhägavatam,
which is without trace of mistake, illusion, cheating and imperfection,
which are the four flaws of all conditioned souls. The liberated souls
are above these flaws; therefore they can see and foretell things which
are to take place on distant future dates. (Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada. Srimad Bhagavatam 1:3:24. text and purport.)
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