Satya Kama  and Jvala  pt 2

All Glories to HDG Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami

All Glories to HDG Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada

Satyakama asks his mother Jvala,' I am going to attend the gurukula as a celibate student but you have to tell me the caste I was born in order to relate to my mentor.'The mother replied,' ,son I do not know the caste in which you were born as a servant while performing my task as a servant in my youth I obtained you so I do not know your caste but you can tell that I am Satya Kama the son of Jvala.'Sankaracharya who has written that your father passed away when you were young is not at all mentioned in the main verse. The fact whether Satya Kama 's father had passed away or whether he had taken sanyassa  or where he had gone is not mentioned in the main verse. There is no proof that the commentator had any communication with the subject  Jvala so we can safely say that was a concoction on his part. As the direct meaning of the Sruti is there there is no necessity in hardship of concocting new things.The direct meaning of the Sruti is called Abhidha and the secondary meaning is termed as lakshana .As the verse from the Sabda Siroprakashmani ,jahatsvartha ajahatsvartha nirudhanikovidah--- which stipulates that any number of secondary meanings cannot replace the primary in the interpretation of the verses of the Sruti but only when the direct meaning is not possible otherwise this will lead to great error. For those who follow the proper disciplic succession do not agree with the statements of Sankara as opposing logic from scriptural statements. For a scholar with great intelligence and ingenuity can contort the original meanings of the scriptures with these secondary meanings .In that context the actual meanings will be not be able to be understood at all properly. Madhava acarya has quoted that that from the Sabda Sakti annals in that place where the primary meaning is implied there is no room for any secondary meaning. In the place where there is no village there is no question of any boundary. In the place where there is no father there is no question of production of any children. A undefined substance which only has one implied understanding ,in that place what will any secondary meanings prove?In that sense instead of searching numerous secondary meanings it is best to take to the direct and revealed meaning of a word.The original verse runs bahuvaham caranti  paricharini yauvane  tavamalabhe  sahasam etan na veda yedagotratvam .Sankaracharya gives his commentary: that in my husbands' house I was  busily engaged in serving the in coming guests and in such menial service and therefore I had no time to think of my original caste and when I was young at that time I gave birth to you. In Annanda Giri's commentary we can find more concoction as follows: I was very much busily engaged in serving guests in my husbands house so I never did ask any question regarding my caste  also because I was very young at that time .I did not ask my father because he had passed away at that time .Before i was shy to ask my father and after that I was overcome my sorrow at his passing that I had no time to ask any body else regarding my caste. Here we can see Ananda Giri seems to be showing some scholarship no doubt about that but the question remains that even after Javala became married and now taken on the caste of her husband after her son reached the age of eight years old there was never a time that she had an opportunity to ask her husband regarding her caste of birth. Nonetheless during the time of her marriage that time she was definitely not serving guests  and there is no question that she clapped her ears when the priest was chanting the sacred mantras especially as dhruvam asi patilkulam dhruvam bhuyasam=== meaning O Dhruva you are immovable  !I am the wife of so and so devashrama and my name is --- and my caste is -----(here the wife states the caste of her husband at that time)so there is no question that at that time of chanting Vedic mantras that she could not understand the caste of her husband. During the time of giving a daughter in marriage it is customary to announce the caste to the  bridegroom, father and grandfather of the match.How is it at that time any commentator can say that she was deaf or because she was a woman she did not give heed nor was able to chant the said mantras.?In those previous times there was no question of either such foolish priests or locals as compared to the present time.Those days the women was definitely able to chant the mantras and were even able to understand the meaning of such mantras. Secondly according to the commentator ,Jvala was very religious minded woman attending to her duties as with her household work she was doing her household duties. Still even being that religiously inclined she was unable to know neither her husbands name nor his caste!Some can rase the argument that Javala was not born from the first four kinds of righteous marriages so at that time there was no chanting of Veda mantras .But if Jvala had been married from the lower types of marriages as the Gandharva, Rakshasa ,Asura and Pisacha then she would have been considered fallen from religion as for the Brahmans the first four are the most suitable. After that Asura-Gandharva -Kshatiya ,Kshatriya -Rakshahsha,Vaisya-Sudra-Asura are all compatible but the last as Saisacha-Asura is forbidden. Next Javala had a son which means that the Garbhodhan ritual had to be done During this ritual in the chanting of the mantras one's caste has to be mentioned.So does this means that she  did not know her caste not only that she did not know her husbands name nor any high ranking elder of her clan. Ananda Giri mentions in his commentary that Jvala was so over come by grief  by her husbands  death that she did not consult any learned elder regarding her caste. Then the question is raised how did Jvala not knowing the caste of her husband perform the last rites and the annual yearly offering for the deceased.?Or is that she was so busily engaged in serving the guests that she had no time to do the customary rites for her husband. Here however one may try to protray Jvala as a chaste good lady still one she is going against the Vedas in her actions. Madhava Pad in Manu Samhita has clarified that it is the character and nature of a person  that is best in determining the caste of a person meaning that a brahmana is by nature very simple while a sudra 's character is cunning by nature was the main reason that Gautama decided in awarding the brahmana rite to Satyakama. He said that I do not know which caste I was born in and such truthfulness can only be found in a brahmin and not possible in one who is  not a brahmin.Baladeva Vidyabhushana affirms this fact that  satya kama admitted ,'I do not know which caste I was born with' and that was that Gautama to decide that he was certainly not a non brahmin and that prompted him to award that brahminical rites to Satyakama. The fact is Jvala sent Satya kama to his guru telling him to repeat that I am the son of Jvala .Usually the son always takes the caste  and the name  of the father or some reputed person in his family line but here Jvala did not even know the name of her husband if not she would have mentioned the name of her husband or some respected elder in her clan in the proper etiquette .If  the commentator were to say this is not proper then at the time of her marriage it is necessary to chant the I am the wife of so and so and also  the respected  initiator of the  respective clan.If it was true that she was engaged in serving guests as a dutiful wife  religiously then she must definitely know her caste and the renowned person in her clan. Some examples are Bhadwaraj ,Angiras,Cyavan ,Bhagava ,Jamagdnya. Therefore a twice born woman in case of any vow or ritual has to be able to state her caste and the initiator of her clan. A chaste  wife is always hearing the name of her husband and caste and the renowned dynasty she is from. But according to Ananda Giri  she .had no knowledge of the name and caste of her husband so she sent her son to announce that he was her son .Now this type of identity in ancient times will be the cause of suspicion.For if it was true that she was the  chaste widow of a respectable man than how is it she did not know the name and caste of that man? S atyakama in approaching the Acarya very simply mentioned that his young mother while  serving many guests gave birth to him and that  he did not know his caste as his mother had tod him just say I am the son of Jvala. To any right thinking man this would  lead him to conclude that possibly his mother was very loose in her relationships but the boy's simplicity and honesty became very apparent. this was exactly what Gautama reflected and concluded that this boys 'nature was that of an brahmana without doubt. However the Commentator giving up the direct meaning and was trying as best to prove that the mother was chaste in myriad ways  which does not fit with the facts .The verse  in the Sruti regarding  the nature of the brahmana as honesty is what they did not concentrate upon.

Arjavam brahamana sakshad sudro anya arjavalakshanam  gautamas  shtiti vijnaya Satyakamamupnayat