It was early morning. The trees were bathed in the morning sun and the birds were singing. In the house of the great Brahmin Udalaki, a disciple of the famous Master Yajnavalkya, they celebrated the return of his son Svetketu, who had returned home after many years of study from the Master's house.
His father met him at the door, hugged him, but felt that something was lost in Svetketu. There was something present that shouldn't have been there: an elusive arrogance, an elusive ego. This is what my father least expected. He sent his son to the forest university so that he could live with the Master and dissolve himself and his ego there. Only in this case could he feel the taste of existence.
There was a rumor that Svetketu became the best student, that he had won the greatest award. And so he returned, but Udalaki was not happy. Yes, Svetketu received the highest award awarded by the university. He achieved a high level of education and came loaded with great knowledge. But something was lost, and the father's eyes filled with tears.
Svetketu could not understand this and asked:
- Is something wrong? Why aren't you happy?
And the father asked:
- Having studied all the sciences, were you taught by that One?
“I studied everything that was possible there,” said Svetketu. - I studied all the sciences, arts, languages.
And he began to list the names of all the sciences of that time.
But the father was still sad. He said:
- But were you trained by the Chief?
Svetketu was somewhat irritated. He returned home thinking that he now knew everything. At the university he was the best student, and it seemed to him that his parents should be proud of him. But here his old father met him, and he was not happy, but on the contrary, he was crying and talking about something mysterious. And the son said:
“Please, father, don’t speak in riddles.” What do you mean by this - “This is one thing?..” Tell me exactly! What do you mean?
- Do you see that tree over there? - said the father. - Go and bring his seed.
It was an oak tree. When the son brought the acorn, the father asked:
— What does a tree grow from?
- From this seed, of course.
- Is this a big tree from a small seed? Cut it open and see what's inside.
The seed was cut, but there was nothing inside except pulp. And the father said:
“Do you see this life-giving emptiness from which a large tree grows?”
“I can mean it,” Svetketu answered, “but I cannot see it.” How can you see emptiness?
And the father said:
- This is the One I was talking about. Everything came from Him, everything was born from this creative Void, and one day it will dissolve again in it. Go back and learn the Void, because it is the beginning of everything, the Source. And the Source is also the goal. Go and learn the Basics, the fundamentals. All that you have learned is memory, intelligence, knowledge. Teach no-mind, no-memory. Learn awareness, learn understanding. This is the goal of your training, otherwise you will not penetrate into the innermost essence. Understand that a seed is nothing more than a container of emptiness. When the grain grows into the ground, emptiness begins to flow into the tree. The goal of your training is the Source of Life. Find Him, know Him, become Him. Let emptiness flow through you.
Svetketu was upset and said:
“I learned everything that my Master taught me.” But he never told me about this One.
Udalaki said with tears in his eyes:
“Then go back, because everything you learned is rubbish.” Come back! There have always been only real brahmins in our family. And a brahmana is one who has cognized the Truth.
The celebration was interrupted, the music died down. With tears, Udalaki sent his son back without giving him a single day to rest at home.
The distressed young man went back. Returning to the Master’s house, he approached him and asked:
“Why haven’t you taught me the One thing my father asked me all these years?” Why? All these years were wasted! And my father thinks that everything I have learned is nonsense, because I do not know myself. My father said, “If you don't know yourself, you don't belong to yourself. Go back and, before I die, become a real brahmana.” Therefore, Master, teach me this One.
The master laughed and said:
- This One cannot be taught. Yes, you can catch this, but you will have to learn it yourself. And if you insist, then the situation can be created. There are forty cows in our monastery, take this herd and drive it into the forest as far as possible. You will return only when there are a hundred of them. Look after them and avoid contact with people. Cows will be your friends and your family.
Svetketu went far into the forest with the cows and lived there for several years. At first he really lacked communication, and he talked to the cows, quoted the Vedas to them by heart, talked about astrology, but the cows were not very interested in this. And gradually he stopped speaking.
Years passed, the number of cows reached a hundred, but during this time Svetketu completely forgot that he needed to go back. He forgot that he needed to count them. They roamed freely, and he no longer tried to drive them further into the forest, and gradually the cows left the forest.
When Svetketu came with a hundred cows to the Master’s house, he and his disciples came out to meet him, hugged him and said to the disciples:
- Look at these one hundred and one cows.
But the students noticed:
“There are exactly a hundred cows here, one is Svetketu.”
Master said:
- He disappeared, he is no more. Look into his eyes, they are as innocent as the eyes of a cow. He became One.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru