Who was the most favorite disciple of Gautam Buddha, to whom he told this secret of ‘Sheelgandh’

Gautam Buddha Amritwani in Hindi: Anand who was one of the favorite disciples of Gautam Buddha. Once he was doing Vipassana in Shravasti. Vipassana is one of the many teachings of the Buddha. It was evening time and meanwhile Anand’s attention went towards the beautiful flowers blooming nearby.

Seeing the flowers, Anand started thinking about their fragrance, ‘How nice the fragrance of these flowers is. But all the fragrance is going in the same direction, towards which the wind is blowing. The fragrance of flowers should spread everywhere. After all, why is it that, instead of spreading in all directions, the fragrance of flowers is going only in the direction of the wind.

Ananda remembered that the Buddha had told about three types of best smells, which are Moolagandha, Saragandha and Pushpagandha. After this, Anand started thinking that, can there be any such fragrance which spreads in the opposite direction of the wind as well? That is, spread everywhere. Thinking of this, he went to Buddha’s temple for the answer of this question in his mind.

Buddha told the importance of Shilagandh

Anand said to Buddha, Bhante! Is there any such fragrance which spreads in all directions? Buddha said to Ananda, Beyond these three smells, Moolgandha, Saragandha and Pushpagandha, there is a smell which is called ‘Sheelgandha’ (smell of character). The person who takes refuge in the three gems of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and brings education into life has this smell.’

Shilgandha is found in the person who stays away from vices and bad thoughts, follows religion, does charity, controls all the senses and gives importance to sacrifice in life. The fragrance of such a person spreads everywhere and people respect him. After listening to Buddha, Anand said.. ‘Bhante! And with this smell the whole world is moving forward.’

Sheelgandh is mentioned in Dhamma verse.

Dhammapada is a famous literary text of Pali Buddhism, which is considered as sacred as Gita. It contains a collection of basic Buddhist teachings. In the verse of Dhamma, it has been said about sheelgandh-

na puffh gandho pativatmeti, no sandalwood tagaramallikava
satanch gandho pativatmeti, Sabba disa sappuriso pavayati.

Meaning: Sandalwood, Tagar, Lotus and Juhi. The fragrance of modesty is greater than the fragrance of all these flowers.

return to sandalwood, uppalam ath vassiki
Atesam Gandhajatan, Sealgandho answer.

Meaning: The smell of tagar and sandalwood, sheelgandh is more superior than the smell of utpal (lotus) and jasmine.

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