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The Great Renunciation
That very day the child Rahul was seven days old, and the king made arrangements for a great celebration to mark the auspicious day. The celebration included opulent festivities with performances by attractive dancers. As Siddhartha was watching these festivities, he slipped into a state of deep contemplation and then fell asleep. When the exhausted dancers saw the prince sleeping, they too dozed off, sleeping wherever it was immediately convenient. After some time the prince awoke. He saw in the bright light of the lamps that these beautiful dancers, scattered here and there, were completely unconscious. He noticed that some of these sleeping damsels' mouths were hanging open, some were drooling, and some had their clothes disheveled. What had looked like a scene of rejoicing now appeared to Siddhartha as a cremation ground filled with dead bodies. An overwhelming sense of detachment consumed him. He returned to his private royal quarters where his wife and son were fast asleep. Seeing the beautiful face of his son he wanted to hold him, but he did not do so as this might awaken his wife and thereby ruin his secret plans. He decided at that moment to
flee from his life as a householder.
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