MP Board · Class 10 · English · First Flight: The Sermon at BenaresWhat did Kisa Gotami realize after visiting house to house in search of mustard seeds?

When Kisa Gotami went from house to house in search of a handful of mustard seeds from a house where no one had ever died, she was unable to find even a single such home. In every dwelling, she found that someone—whether a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, or wife—had lost their life at some point. This realization deeply transformed her perspective on human existence and mortality. She sat down, feeling weary and hopeless, and watched the flickering city lights as they were extinguished one by one. This made her understand that death is the ultimate universal truth of all living beings. She realized that human lives are flickering lights, and grieving for the dead only brings more pain and suffering to the living without altering the inevitable reality of death.