Asita who was the teacher of Sihahanu, was the father of Suddhodana. During that period of time, he refused to live the worldly life and retired as a loner and lived in the royal park. Later, he developed numerous unbelievable powers. Moreover, most of the time he often spent his days in the Tavatimsa Loka, a heavenly place. Once when he visited Tavatimsa, he saw the whole Loka decorated with flowers and the devas were having fun. On inspecting, he came to know that Siddhattha Gotama was born and his birth was being celebrated there, because he was to become the Buddha.
Excited with this news he rushed to the Suddhodana’s palace and asked him to show the baby boy Siddhattha who was going to become as a Buddha. When he saw the baby boy and lifted him up in his arms to read the lucky marks anywhere present on his body, his face first arose up with a joyous smile but was soon clouded by a sad expression and he began shedding tears with a loud cry.
When the surprised king asked an explanation for his strange behavior, Asita said that he was happy because the child was to achieve Enlightenment; but he would not be lucky enough to survive long to hear his enlightening teachings.
Later on when Asita meant his sister’s son Nalaka, he instructed him to prepare himself so that he could receive the Buddha’s teachings when the time would come.