The two that came after

From that one true purpose of attaining moksha, arose two major religions. Both very much around the same time. These two religions came into being because of the quandaries of two upper-class men, both princes in fact. Both of them obsessed with the problems and suffering they saw around them in society and personally at home, up and left a privileged life behind them and began their journey to find a way to moksha.

One of them, who came to be known as the Buddha, was born around 580 BCE as Siddhartha Gautama. The other was Vardamana, born around 599 BCE and came to be known as Mahavira. Both born in the Ganges basin of eastern India.

They had more in common than just that. Even their ideologies synced. They both came to be revolted by desire, forming the opinion that desire was the cause of all pain and suffering in the world. When you let go of desire, you gain peace. And this was the path to moksha.

They were both practical people who came up with a list of things that could be applied directly by anyone to ascend on their journey to Moksha.

We will discuss these lists in the coming instalments.