The relationship between Prince Siddhārtha and Princess Yaśodarā was not an ordinary relationship. It was coming from an extremely long past and was deeply rooted. Although it is not easy to point out the exact start of their samsaric relationship, in the time of the Dīpaṁkara Supreme Buddha, a strange but amazing thing happened:
At that time, the Bodhisatta was born into an extremely wealthy brahmin family. Once he became young and strong, instead of getting married and ruling his wealth, he wanted to leave the household life and become an ascetic. However, his parents refused. But immediately after his beloved parents’ passing away, he gave up all his luxuries, gave away all his wealth, and became an ascetic. His name was ‘Sumēdha’, hence he became the ‘Acetic Sumēdha’……
When Prince Rāhula became a monk, Yaśodarā again asked for permission from King Suddhodana to become ordain. Then the king said,
“Daughter, if you are to ordain now itself, people in the future will condemn your ordination, saying that you have become a nun out of mere sorrow from the loss of one and only son.
Don’t you remember that even when you lost your beloved jāliya and Kanhajinā, you could bear up that pain and tolerate the grief. The instances you happen to give away your children born from your womb with their hands tied together, are more in number than this mountain ‘Sineru. But in such situations, too, you tolerated the grief and pain. Now, when my son, Prince Sidhārtha, has attained enlightenment and ordained his only son, how can we go against that fate? At first, I was defeated by Sidhārtha, then by Nanda, and now by my little grandson Rāhula. How can I lose you too?……..
From the day she was ordained, she began to receive a lot of generous offerings and obeisance from people. They were queuing up with the offerings loaded into carts. For her, they built beautiful shrines and nunneries with all the necessary facilities. Like the rivers flowing towards the ocean, regardless of gender, people from every corner of Jambudvīpa (India) came by wagons carrying various kinds of food and drinks, robes, and medicines. Therefore, the nunnery was always crowded and busy with big gatherings of devotees.
One day, after listening to the dhamma in the presence of the Lord Buddha, before returning back, she went to the Buddha and said:…..