Gaudiya siddhanta - ebooks - ISKCON desire tree
Gaudiya siddhanta - ebooks - ISKCON desire tree
Gaudiya siddhanta - ebooks - ISKCON desire tree
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naitad abrahmano vivaktum arhati<br />
samidham saumyaharopa tva nesye na satyadaga iti<br />
"Once, Satyakama, the son of Jabala, asked his<br />
mother, 'I want to live as a brahmacari. Which dynasty<br />
(gotra) do I belong to?' Jabala answered, 'My son, I do<br />
not know which dynasty you belong to; in my youth I<br />
served as a midservant in various places and at that<br />
time begot you as my son. Therefore I don't know<br />
which gotra you belong to. My name is Jabala and your<br />
name is Satyakama. Therefore you should say that<br />
your name is Satyakama Jabala.' Thereafter<br />
Satyakama Jabala approached Haridrumata Gautama<br />
and said, 'I wish to live with you as a brahmacari.'<br />
Gautama replied, 'O gentle one, which dynasty do you<br />
belong to?' Satyakama replied, ' I do not know which<br />
dynasty I belong to. I askd my mother and she said, 'I<br />
begot you as my son when I was wandering in my youth as a maidservant. Therefore I do not know<br />
which dynasty you belong to. My name is Jabala and your name is Satyakama. So I am called<br />
Satyakama Jabala.'Gautama then said to him, 'My dear son, no one other than a brahmana can speak<br />
such truth that you have spoken. Therefore you are a brahmana, and I accept you. O gentle one, go<br />
and bring wood for sacrifice.' Jabala replied, 'I am going right now to bring wood.' Gautama said, 'Never<br />
divert from the truth.'<br />
In his commentary to the Chandogya Upanisad, Sri Madhvacarya says —<br />
arjavam brahmane saksat<br />
sudro'narjava-laksanah<br />
gautamas tviti vijnaya<br />
satyakamam upanayat<br />
"A brahmana possesses the quality of simplicity, and a sudra possesses the quality of crookedness.<br />
Knowing this fact, Gautama gave upanayanam to Satyakama."<br />
Although there was no evidence that Satyakama was born from a brahmana family, Haridrumata<br />
Gautama accepted him as a brahmana simply on the strength of his brahminical character.<br />
Satyakama is not the only example we can find of a person born in a lower varna<br />
achieving the status of a brahmana. The son of Maharaja Gadhi, Visvamitra, became a brahmana by the<br />
strength of his austerities —<br />
tapata sarvan diptaujah<br />
brahmanatvam avaptavan<br />
"That effulgent one (Visvamitra) performed all kinds of austerities and attained the position of a<br />
brahmana." (Mahabharata, Adi Parva, Chapter 174)<br />
Also in the Mahabharata (Anusasana Parva, Chapter 30) we find the example of Maharaja Vitahavya<br />
who also became a brahmana —<br />
evam vipratvam agamad<br />
vitahavyo naradhipah
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