NCERT English Class 10 Chapter 10 - The Sermon at Benares Solution

Chapter 10 - The Sermon at Benares

Thinking about the text:
Question 1: When her son dies, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house. What does she ask for? Does she get it? Why not?
Answer: After the death of her son, Kisa Gotami was overcome with grief. She carried the dead body of her son in her arms and went from door to door asking for medicine to cure her child, but nobody could provide any medicine, for there is no such medicine available which can bring a dead person back to life.

Question 2: Kisa Gotami again goes from house to house after she speaks with the Buddha. What does she ask for, the second time around? Does she get it? Why not?
Answer: Gautama Buddha asks Kisa Gotami to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a house where death had never knocked at the door. Kisa Gotami went from door to door, but couldn’t find a single house where death had not taken a beloved one away. She couldn’t get it as death is inevitable and anyone who is born is bound to die one day.

Question 3: What does Kisa Gotami understand the second time that she failed to understand the first time? Was this what the Buddha wanted her to understand?
Answer: After failing to procure a handful of mustard seeds from a house where death had never knocked the door, she sat down by the roadside feeling helpless. She saw lights of the city that flickered and were extinguished. At last, it was dark everywhere. She realised that death was common to all and she was being selfish in her grief. Yes, this is what the Buddha wanted her to understand, that everyone who is born is bound to die one day.

Question 4: Why do you think Kisa Gotami understood this only the second time? In what way did the Buddha change her understanding?
Answer: Kisa Gotami could see only her grief earlier. When she went from door to door the second time, she understood that everyone was dealing with the loss of a beloved one. There was not a single house in town, where death had not taken a father, a mother, a sister, a brother, son or  daughter. Everyone, at some point of time have experienced the death of their loved ones. Gautama Buddha helped her understand this as he told her to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a house where death had never knocked at the door. This way she got aware that death is common to all human beings.

Question 5: How do you usually understand the idea of ‘selfishness’? Do you agree with Kisa Gotami that she was being ‘selfish in her grief ’?
Answer: A selfish person is one who only thinks about himself or herself, and to some extent Kisa Gotami was selfish as well. We all are humans and it is natural for us to die. We do not easily accept the death of our loved ones. Same had happened to Kisa Gotami. As it was her only child, she did not want him to die. Finally she went to the Buddha to ask for help and later on came to terms with her grief through greater understanding of reality.