The Buddha and The Dhammapada

What could be more Indian than The Buddha. Brought up as a prince, deserted his family as a young man, roamed the land in search of something, and found it while sitting under a tree! Reading about the Buddha's search is interesting (Pankaj Mishra's excellent An End to Suffering is an excellent Buddha travel book, but reading what he said (or rather, what it is assumed he said) is even more interesting. Take this from the Dhammapada,

from affection arises sorrow, from affection arises fear, but he who is freed from affection has no sorrow and certainly no fear.

As Bertie Wooster would say, "Well, I say what?" Like most of what the Buddha says, this is pretty straightforward. If you love something, expect to be sad and scared (the fear of losing that thing or person heads the scared list). Sorrow and Fear are not constructive emotions and so, perhaps, you should consider heading away from affection if you want to be truly free (to attain nirvana, I suppose). Oddly enough, this, and other Buddha-isms (if I may coin the word) could also be construed as an excuse for the Buddha's desertion of his family. Perhaps he left his family and then spent the rest of his life trying to build a convincing excuse for deserting them (do Buddhists issue fatwas?). Just Kidding!

(Note: The sutra is from the chapter on Preference where the Buddha says never have preferences and treat everything equally - a nightmare scenario for Capitalists, Economists and Marketing gurus everywhere!)