Buddha Purnima is a sacred festival of Buddhists. For 2008, it falls on 19th May, Monday. The festival is celebrated to commemorate the three most significant events of Lord Buddha’s life that happened on the same day.

• His Birth
• His Attainment of Enlightment
• His Attainment of Nirvana(death)

Lord Buddha-the founder of Buddhism is said to be the ninth avatar of Lord Maha Vishnu. He is one of the greatest spiritual teachers to mankind India has ever produced as Edwin Arnold calls him as the “Light of Asia.” His teachings have traveled far and wide outside India, have been practiced and followed in many countries and imprisoned the minds and hearts of millions.

Buddha Poornima in India and its Celebrations
According to Hindu calendar the day falls on the full moon of the fourth lunar month i.e. the month of Vaisakh (April or May). Pilgrims from all corners of the world come to Bodh Gaya and Sarnath in India to celebrate and participate in the festival that highlights worship, prayers, religious discourses and sermons, recitation of Buddhist scriptures, meditation and processions. Beside these two major sacred places, the festival is grandly celebrated with great devotion in areas with large Buddhist population like Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh and Sikkim.

The Divine Life of Gautam Buddha and the Significance of the Festival
Lord Buddha is born as Siddhartha in a Kshatriya family in Kalpataru, now Lumbini in present day Nepal. Popular legends present him as the son of a great king Shuddhodana. The king’s royal astrologer prophesies the king that Siddhartha would become a legendary emperor or world renowned ascetic. The worried father who did not want his son to spend a recluse life took special precautions to avoid every moment which would incite such thoughts in his son’s mind and Siddhartha spends 29 years amidst the luxuries of the royal palace completely ignorant of the realities and sorrows of life.

One day Siddhartha convinces his charioteer take him out of the palace. The sight of weak old man, a cripple and a corpse signifying old age, disease and death-the core harsh realties of life leaves him in utter shock. After seeing these three things Siddhartha sees an ascetic who looked completely peaceful with his outer as well as inner self. These are four sights that brought drastic changes in his life. And this led Siddharth to search the higher truths and actual meaning of life and he renounces all his worldly pleasures to attain enlightenment.

He wandered many places in search of truth and ultimately attained enlightenment in Bodhgaya under a ‘pipal’ tree and started preaching “The Four Noble Truths,” “The Eightfold Path of life,” humanity and love to all. After years of preaching and meditation he attained Nirvana and became Lord Gautam Buddha-the ‘Completely Enlightened Soul.’