At what point in time would Gautama have decided to leave his home? He was perplexed by the questions of life and death, old age and disease, happiness and sorrow, while the entire kingdom, including his parents and wife, was busy seeking to maximise their pleasures and comforts. To the extent that his father would try all the possible methods to keep Gautam away from reality. Any person who gets attracted to the rays of the Sun will make an effort to come out of the well. The rest of the people will stay happily inside the well, considering that to be the whole of reality.
Having seen the Sun and the sea, it is impossible for a person to stay inside the well. Even if he goes back inside the well, the limitations of the well and the images of the sea will haunt him. He will never remain happy inside the well, unlike the people who have never seen the sea. Naturally, people inside the well will conclude that it is painful to go out, look at such people, and will find another strong reason to stay inside. चौबे जी चले थे छब्बे जी बनने, दुबे जी बनकर रह गए।
Lord Ram also faced a similar issue when he developed Vairagya at a very young age. However, his father called upon Sage Vashistha and Vishwamitra to have a dialogue with his son, and their dialogue is recorded in the Yog Vashistha. Ram understood the meaning of life and lived the rest of his life with equanimity. In a society where parents are not as realised as Janak and Dashratha, what is the way out for a person who experiences the open sky? That's the problem with almost every sane person in today's world. The whole world is being led by people who will do anything for their own selfish interests. There is so much aggression all around that life has become very unpredictable. The atmosphere is full of pollution and aggression. That breeds fear in the hearts of everybody. That makes people very shortsighted. Everybody wants to enjoy whatever is left within the well before dying.
The one who has seen the sunlight and the open sky finds whatever is happening inside the well to be quite stupid and meaningless. He doesn't want to be a part of this game. However, the people inside the well level various allegations against him. They hold him responsible for having changed. He shouts, "You too, come along with me and see the sea". The people inside the well call him stupid. What option does he have other than leaving the well and disappearing? Once he disappears, people say that he has not fulfilled his responsibility.
I have a question for everybody who says that Buddha was not responsible for his family members, especially his wife and son. What is responsibility? To do whatever the society has decided? The people in Brij would never like Krishna to go to Mathura to fight Kansa. Krishna was not guided by that sense of responsibility. He, too, owed a responsibility to his mother, Yashoda, who brought him up, and to his friends, especially Radha. But he chose the larger purpose of life. Anybody who chooses the higher purpose of life will have to give up the well. He will have to leave the people and relationships who are reluctant to move outside the well. Is it selfish? Is it selfish on the part of Krishna to go to Mathura? I think that all of us are made to move beyond the well and explore the larger possibilities of life. J. Krishnamurti was taught for years by members of the Theosophical Society. However, once he saw the futility of the concept of the teacher and the organisation, he disbanded them. Because our first responsibility is towards the truth. Once we see the sunlight and the sea, it makes no sense to continue to live inside the well. An act of stupidity by an ignorant person is a lesser crime, while an act of stupidity by a person who knows that it is stupid is a far bigger crime.
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