Once, on a moonlit night in July, Buddha started contemplating on life and its meaning as a whole. He reflected on youth, which invariably ends in old age, about man's senses that fail him at the very time of need. He also realized how the arrival of disease leads to the loss of health. Then comes death that puts an end to everything. At the end of this exercise, Buddha was overcome by an overwhelming desire to embark on a quest to find a solution to these vagaries of life.

Buddha wanted deliverance from old age, illness, misery, and death not only for himself but also for all beings. It was his deep compassion that led him to the quest ending in his enlightenment. It was also this very compassion that made him renounce all his material possessions and family bonds. Thus at the age of twenty-nine, on the day his wife gave birth to his only son, prince Siddharta or the future Buddha wrenched himself away from everything his life in the palace offered him. He cut off his long locks, abandoned his royal robes and after putting on a hermit's robe, retreated into the forest to seek a solution to those problems of life. He sought an answer to the riddle of life, seeking a true way out of suffering that would lead to Nirvana. This was the great renunciation that has been glorified over the ages by many writers, poets and artists.

After he left the palace, Buddha first sought guidance from two famous sages, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. These two men were masters of meditation and Buddha hoped that they would help him scale the heights of concentrative thought. He practiced concentration and reached the highest meditative attainments possible but was not satisfied with the results. He wanted to achieve Supreme Enlightenment and nothing less than that. Even though his teachers wanted him to stay back and succeed them in due time, Buddha declined and left in search of the ultimate truth.

Finally he reached Uruvela, situated by the river Neranjara at Gaya. There was a village located nearby where he could get his alms. Finding it to be a suitable place to continue with his quest for enlightenment, he decided to stay. Soon enough, five other ascetics joined him. They were Kondanna, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahanama, and Assaji. Together, they set on find the ultimate truth or enlightenment that would bring about the ultimate deliverance.