Honesty & Devotion

Satyakama was anxious to gain spiritual knowledge from Sage Gautama. He asked his mother what his lineage was. She said that soon after he was born, his father died and that she had not asked him his gotra. So she told her son to tell Sage Gautama that he was Satyakama, son of Jabala, the latter being his mother’s name. So Satyakama told the Sage what his mother had instructed him to convey. The sage was impressed with the boy’s honesty and accepted him as his pupil, said M.K. Srinivasan in a discourse.

Sage Gautama told the new student that he would have to look after a herd of cows before he could receive instruction, and the boy was entrusted with the welfare of 400 head of cattle.

Satyakama vowed that he would return only when the number in the herd touched one thousand. He was a boy who kept his word. So Satyakama returned only when the number of cattle in the herd touched one thousand.

It took him some time to increase the size of the herd, and pleased with his devotion and dedication to his self assigned task, the chief bull of the herd volunteered to instruct him about Brahman and told him about one quarter of Brahman. Agni, then volunteered to tell him about another quarter. A swan then taught him the next quarter. A diver bird then taught him about the remaining quarter.

Thus, at every stage Satyakama was instructed by those who volitionally sought to instruct him, showing how deserving a recipient of Brahma Jnana Satyakama was. These were rewards that came to him because of his truthfulness and his obedience to his guru. The story shows that to receive Brahma Jnana, these are the qualities that are required, not social status or wealth.