The monk then went back to earth and asked the Buddha. The Buddha laughed at his little adventure and told a joke about it. "Monk, in the old days, navigators depended on birds to know if land is nearby. They would release a bird. If the bird returned, it means that land is not near. You monk, you r just like that bird. Flying away from the ship, seeing no land, and then returning to me". The monk was so amused he too laughed. At this point, the Buddha gave the answer, "Nirvarna is when the four great elements cease without remainder". The monk understood. He rejoiced at the answer.
The term nirvana is associated with both Hinduism, the oldest religion in the world, and Buddhism, its best known off-shoot. In both Hinduism and Buddhism, the word refers to a higher state of being, but the two religions view this state very differently. As it turns out, examining the distinction between the concepts of nirvana is an excellent way of understanding some of the major differences between the two religions. Nirvana is mainly associated with Buddhism, which was born out of Hinduism back in the 5th century B.C. It began as a movement within Hinduism, based on the philosophy and life of a man named Siddhartha Gautama, and eventually diverged to form its own path.