♦His Story♦ ♦The Seeker♦ He was married early and happily, and ten years later a son was born to him. It was about this time that the knowledge of the world’s sorrow reached him. The story is told of his driving out beyond the palace gates, and meeting examples of suffering, old age, and death. He insisted upon an explanation, and the charioteer explained to his master how that these were the common lot of humanity. Gautama returned to the palace; but from that day was unable to settle into the old life. Unrest grew upon him, and at length he determined to leave his home, don the garb of the Seeker, and learn from those who had studied the problems of evil in human life, the lesson of their meaning and their remedy. ♦The Way of Religion♦ He went, as was natural, in the first place, to the religious teachers, the Brahmans, in order to learn from them how by religious service and ritual, evil had been mastered. It is significant that the time spent in this study was short, and that very little is told of it. The cruelty of the sacrifices repelled him, and he could discover no relation whatever between the elaborate symbolism of the worship, and the deeper needs of his awakened nature. ♦The Way of the ascetic Student♦ He left the sacred city, and retired with five companions of like mind with himself, that in the quiet of a forest retreat they might meditate together. The only way known to them was the way of severest self-discipline. Great thinkers of India had taught that the universe is one great Soul from which all other souls had broken away. These, separate from their true home, wander in misery, finding bodies as they may, according to their nature, and having no rest until they return to the original Soul. This is the doctrine of transmigration or re-incarnation. The soul is incarnated again and again, suffering in each new body the true recompense of the previous life. This process is repeated until the soul is purified from all evil, when it returns to the Mother Soul. The fewer the deeds, good or evil, the fewer the re-incarnations; and for those who would cut short the painful history, the life of the ascetic is the only true life. By austerity the power of the body may be vanquished, the selfish life (cause of all deeds, good or evil) may be subdued, and the soul may be set free. To this life Gautama gave himself for six years, adding ever severer and severer tests; until he was regarded as the greatest of living saints. But for himself was no satisfaction; the answer to his problem was not yet found. At length he owned sorrowfully that the way of asceticism was not the way of release. He had not yet discovered the cause of life’s suffering, and although the body seemed vanquished, Self lived, and temptation and sorrow were still possible. With superb courage he confessed to his companions that for him the experiment was a failure, and withdrew. * * * * *