Episode 2 - Story of Satyakama - the seeker of truth

Stories from Upanishads

This story is about a young boy named Satyakāma Jābāla . It teaches us about honesty, truthfulness and courage! This story is featured in Chandogya Upanishad. This story tells us how Satyakama is taught about Brahman and is enlighted by non-human gurus namely a bull, fire, swan and a diver-bird. So sit back and enjoy the story!

========================================================Transcript of the story Dear friends, thank you for joining in today and I hope you are quite excited to listen to the stories from Upanishads, as I am excited to tell them to you! If you have tuned in for the first time and loved listening to the podcast, please subscribe, follow or download the episode. Furthermore, I would also request you put in your valuable review and feedback about our episodes as we will learn from these and try to make the presentation better in the future. Today, I’m going to tell you the story of Satyakāma Jābāla – The seeker of Truth. I first read about Satyakāma when I was quite young. I couldn’t understand much of it and passed it on as just another story. However, my interest in Upanishads grew as I become more mature with age and began revisiting these sacred texts and the stories within them. I read the story of Satyakāma again and now I started looking at it from a different angle. Satyakāma’s story appears in the 4th Khanda of Chāndogya Upanishad, in verses 4.4-4.8. It’s about Satyakāma’s journey in the search of understanding the four quarters of Brahman or God.One day a young boy named Satyakāma, asked his mother – “Mother, I want to live a life of a learned man and hope to become a teacher of sacred texts. So please tell me what is my gotra? My family lineage?” Satyakāma’s mother grew thoughtful and in a pensive mood told him about her lineage rather than his own. On hearing this Satyakāma was sad and heartbroken. He knew that without knowing his true lineage and his gotra, he won’t be granted any education from a revered guru. His dream of leading a life of a learned man seemed doomed. He realized that all children get their paternal lineage and unfortunately he knew only about his maternal lineage. However, he paid his respect to his mother and left for sage Hāridrumata Gautama’s hermitage. On reaching the hermitage, Satyakāma visited the great sage. Falling at his feet he pleaded with folded hands –“O my revered sir, I wish to be a learned man. Please accept me as your pupil!”The great sage asked him –“My dear child, I would be happy to take you as my pupil, but, you must tell me your gotra! What is your family lineage?”On hearing this, Satyakāma with a heavy heart told the sage –“O my revered sir, I knew,… you would ask me my family lineage, my gotra! So I asked my mother about it. She said that in her youth she served as a maid to many people and got me. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know my paternal lineage or my gotra either. However, she told me that her name is Jabālā and my name is Satyakāma, so I must refer to my name as Satyakāma Jabālā. So I am Satyakāma Jabālā, sir! ”The revered sage smiled on hearing this from the young boy. He said calmly –“My dear child, none other than a Brahmin could speak such a deleterious truth about himself. You are a Brahmin and I will teach you and accept you as my pupil. Bring the sacrificial fuel, I will initiate you as my pupil.”Thus Satyakāma despite not knowing his gotra or family lineage was able to live his dream and get inducted as a pupil under the able tutelage of the great sage Hāridrumata Gautama. So after a few days of learning and staying in the hermitage, the sage gave Satyakāma four hundred lean and weak cows and bulls and asked him to take them to the forest and graze them. While accepting his guru’s command, Satyakāma said –“O my guru, my revered sir, I shall not return till these cows multiply to a thousand!”. On saying these Satyakāma drove the cows towards the forest. He travelled many days across various meadows, to reach a dense forest. He found a good spot for the animals to graze and waited for them to multiply. Gradually days changed to months and months into years as the bulls and cows reproduced and multiplied. As years went by a bull from his herd told Satyakāma that now they have multiplied to become a thousand and it was time for him to take them back to the hermitage. As Satyakāma was getting ready to depart, the bull said again –“Sir, let me tell you about a quarter of Brahman or the God!” Satyakāma happily agreed as he was a seeker of knowledge.The bull said –“Sir, one-sixteenth is the direction of east, one-sixteenth is the direction of west, one-sixteenth is the direction of north and one-sixteenth is the direction of south. These four directions make up four-sixteenth or a quarter of Brahman or God. This quarter is called “Prakashavaan” or the Radiant or Shinning. He who meditates on Brahman as the radiant; shines in this world.“After a pause, the bull said, that Fire or Agni will tell him about the next quarter. Enriched with the knowledge of the first quarter named ‘Prakashavaan’, Satyakāma started his journey back to the sage’s hermitage along with his thousand cattle. After driving them throughout the day, he retired at nightfall by a fire which he fueled after penning the cattle in a safe location. He finally sat down to the west of the fire facing the east.Then the fire or the Agni spoke to him – “My dear Satyakāma!” Startled Satyakāma looked at the fire, and with folded hands asked, “Sir!” The Agni continued –“Let me impart you with the knowledge on the next quarter of Brahman” Satyakāma was happy to hear that and excitedly agreed to listen to Agni.Agni continued –“One-sixteenth is the earth, One-sixteenth is the atmosphere, One-sixteenth is the sky, and one-sixteenth is the ocean. This four-sixteenth is the quarter of Brahman, named ‘Anantavaan’ or the ‘Endless’. One who knows Him to be thus and meditates upon him as ‘endless’ becomes endless in this world!”After a pause, Agni told him that a swan will tell him about the 3rd quarter of Brahman. The next day, again Satyakāma drove the cattle towards the hermitage and at sundown, he sat by the fire after penning the cattle in a secured location facing towards the east. Suddenly a large swan flew down to him and called him by his name.With folded hands, Satyakāma asked the swan, if he would tell him about the 3rd quarter of Brahman. The swan said –“My dear Satyakāma, one-sixteenth is the fire, one-sixteenth is the sun, one-sixteenth is the moon and one-sixteenth is the lightning. This four-sixteenth is the quarter of Brahman called ‘Jyotishmaan’ or the ‘Effulgent’. One who knows him thus and meditates upon him as the ‘Jyotishmaan’ becomes effulgent in this world.”After saying this, the swan told Satyakāma that a diver-bird will tell him about the fourth quarter of Brahman. The next day, Satyakāma drove the cattle towards the hermitage and at nightfall sat by the fire facing towards the east. A diver bird flew down beside him and told him that he was going to tell him about the fourth quarter of Brahman. Delighted Satyakāma paid attention with folded hands. The diver-bird said –“One-sixteenth is the breath, one-sixteenth is the eye, one-sixteen is the ear and one-sixteenth is the mind. This four-sixteenth is the quarter of Brahman called ‘Ayatanavaan’ or the ‘all supporting’. One who knows him thus and meditates upon him as the ‘all-supporting’, becomes ‘That’ in this world. Then he wins the world, possessing all support in this world. ”On knowing all the four quarters of Brahman, Satyakāma reached his guru’s hermitage along with his thousand cattle. As soon as he entered his guru’s chamber, the sage Hāridrumata Gautama asked him – “My child, you look radiant and shine like a knower of Brahman. Who has taught you?” Satyakāma calmly replied, “My revered sir, I learnt these from non-human gurus such as a bull, fire, swan and a diver-bird. So may I request you to enlighten me with the knowledge of Brahman, as the knowledge received directly from one’s own guru becomes complete! Then sage Hāridrumata Gautama taught him all four quarters of Brahman with more meaning and examples which helped Satyakāma to learn and get enriched with the eternal knowledge of Brahman. Later on, after graduating from the hermitage, Satyakāma himself became a great teacher with his dreams fulfilled.So, my friends, this was the story of Satyakāma – the seeker of truth. What we learnt from this story is whatever may be the situation, we must always stay glued to the path of truth and humility. Knowledge can be attained from anyone who is knowledgeable and we must wholeheartedly accept to learn from everyone. Knowledge is omnipresent, and it's there for everyone to acquire. It comes not by the family lineage, but rather from the one who seeks it. Also from all that we have read about ancient Indian Vedic gurukuls or ashramas that these were institutes of great discipline and strict rules of eligibility for students as they needed to be from upper caste or upper varnas such as a Brahmin, Kshatriya or Vaishya. This story of Satyakaama revealed that although such rules existed in institutions if the guru or teacher sees potential in any student displaying complete honesty, truthfulness, dedication, passion and courage then he may choose to disregard such rules. Satyakaama was a shudra or lower caste by birth as his mother, Jabaalaa was a service maid. But due to his complete honesty, courage and truthfulness, Sage Haridrimata Gautama declared Satyakaama as a Brahmin and accepted him as his student. Thank you my dear friends for listening to the story of Satyakāma and we hope you have enjoyed it as we have enjoyed retelling it to you all. However before I sign off - I’ll ask you three questions from the story and the listeners with all correct answers will be called out in a future episode. So stay tight as I ask the first question -“What was Satyakama’s agony before going to the hermitage of Haridrumata Gautama?” Next question -“What are the three non-human gurus or teachers who taught Satyakama about Brahman?” The last one -“What do you mean by the terms Prakashvaan, Jyotishmaan, Anantavaan and Ayatanavaan?”

So please email me your responses. My email is - [e-mail], i.e A,R,G,H,Y,A,T,H,I,N,K,[e-mail]. I would really love to have your responses soon. Until next time with another story from Upanishad, we’ll catch you on the other side.

=======================================================

Please email me your responses to [e-mail]

===========================================================

This podcast is available on most of the popular Podcast catchers. Please feel free to download and review the episode. Your comments will provide me with a creative boost to get going further on!

==========================================================

This podcast was created on Hubhopper studio. If you wish to start your own podcast for free, visit www.hubhopperstudio.com. Hubhopper is India's leading podcast creation platform. Start your podcast with Hubhopper studio & get your voice heard across platforms like Spotify, Gaana, Google podcasts, Wynk Music and more. Click on the link in the episode description or visit www.hubhopperstudio.com.”https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hubhopper&referrer=utm_source%3DPodcast%26utm_medium%3DHost_feed%26anid%3Dadmob