In plain words
He recognised that kin and friends are the root cause of man's bonds, and that these very bonds bring man his sorrow. That is why He proclaimed: all is sorrow, sorrow; all is fleeting, fleeting; all is perishing, perishing. He resolved to recognise the principle that lies beyond all that is worldly.
Today parents set their children on the worldly path and, along with themselves, subject them too to suffering they cannot bear. The moment children reach a certain age, the evil wish arises in the parents to marry them off and sink them in bondage. The elders are sinking the children in bondage. On top of that, they imagine it to be some kind of Prema. That is not Prema at all. Is it Prema to force a son, “My dear, get married, get married”? No, no. If the boy wants it, he will marry of his own accord. Why should parents force him? This force itself is a great bondage. We must follow not the force outside but the source inside (the inner Ātma). This is the Buddha's chief teaching. Instead of trusting the divinity within us, we put our trust in the world. All that appears in this world is like castles in the air, like mirages. In a mirage it looks just as if there were water, but go near and there is no water there. This thing called marriage is also just like a mirage. Deluded into thinking there is some happiness in it, we cling to it and fall into needless troubles. We were born as human beings, after all, not as beasts! Why then should we not control the senses? What then is our education for? What is our cleverness for? All of it is in vain! In fact, even the parents do not stop to ask what happiness they themselves have had from this marriage. This itself is great Ajñāna. How much happiness have the parents enjoyed? What happiness have they enjoyed? Happiness of the body? Happiness of the mind? None at all. Even men of great learning and great intellect, making no effort to recognise this truth, set out on an impure path. They long only for the fleeting pleasures of the senses; they do not long for the eternal divinity beyond the senses. What is this life? Where is happiness to be found? Is it in family life? Is it in studies? Is it in a job? Is it in business? It is in none of them. All these are fleeting pleasures. All this is unreal, unreal, unreal! At the time of going, who is protecting us? What is going along with us? No one is protecting, nothing is coming along. Divinity alone stays with us: in the home, on the road, at our side. All these worldly things are only such as drown us. This world is like a knife smeared with honey. Try to lick that honey and it cuts the tongue. The more we enjoy the pleasures of the senses, the weaker we become; we do not become strong.
After the Buddha renounced the world, Śuddhodhana came: “My son! I am an emperor, and you too were meant to be an emperor.