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 q...