After going from house to house in search of a handful of mustard seeds, Kisa Gotami became weary and hopeless because she could not find a house that was not visited by death. She then realised that every house had lost some or the other member to death.
Selfishness means to think of one’s own interest, needs and sufferings only, without any concern for others. Kisa was so deeply grieved by the death of her son that she did not realize the suffering undergone by others. She was extremely pained by her own sorrow and like a selfish person kept lamenting her loss.
Prince Siddhartha felt very upset to see so much grief and sorrow in the world. The sights of a sick man, an aged man, a funeral procession and a monk begging for alms so moved him that he decided to renounce the world to seek enlightenment.