Satyakama Jawali…OSHO

Sannyas has to be a real break away. A loving surrender to the new....

Satyakama Jawali...

Satyakama Jawali…

I would like to explain to you that that name belonged to an ancient seeker.

He was also in the same category as Adi Shankara. When he was just nine years old, he asked his mother, "I would like to go to a forest monastery and learn all about myself, before it is too late."

The mother said, "My son, you are creating a difficulty for me. But if you have decided, then I will not stand in your way. Just one thing you have to remember: in that forest monastery the first question that will be asked will be, `What is the name of your father?' — and I don't know the name of your father.

When I was young, being poor I used to serve in many houses, and I have been sexually abused by so many rich people. I was so poor I could not fight back, neither was anybody ready to believe me. Those people were powerful, and my whole concern was you. I don't know who your father was out of so many people who have forced me to make love against my will.

"So when you are asked in the university, you have to say the simple truth. Your name is Satyakama, and your mother's name is Jawali. As far as your father is concerned, your mother has said that while young she has been abused, exploited by so many rich people, so she does not know who exactly your father is. …

So please call me not by my father's name, call me by my mother's name. My name is Satyakama, my mother's name is Jawali. You can call me Satyakama Jawali."

He went to the forest university. And the first thing the calpati of the university, the head of the university asked him was, "What is your caste?"

He said, "I don't know."

"Who is your father?"

He said, "I don't know. I asked my mother, and this is the story she has told me…. You can call me Satyakama Jawali."

The old man could not believe that a mother could be so truthful as to say this to her own son, and the son also could be so truthful as to repeat it to a stranger without feeling any guilt or any humiliation — with utter dignity, with absolute acceptance, whatever is the case. The old man must have been a man of immense understanding.

He said, "You are accepted, Satyakama Jawali, because at the age of nine you are so truthful. And your mother is also great. Her respect for truth is immense. You don't know your caste… I know your caste. You are a born brahmin" — the highest caste in India — "because of your truth. I can deduce logically that you must belong to the highest caste. You are accepted." This Satyakama one day became enlightened.

OSHO