Ya Ya Ya .

- Utathya's mouth opened but no words came out. He had been chanting "Ya Ya Ya."

- ‘Respect doesn't come from having a learned father,It comes from being wise yourself.’

- Jivram Joshi

O nce upon a time, there was a learned Brahmin named Devadatta.

He had a son named Utathya.

As time passed, Utathya grew older.

When he turned seven, his father began teaching him.

But instead of studying, Utathya started crying.

No matter how much his father explained, he refused to study.

His father thought:

"My son is still too young to understand.

When he grows up, he'll become wiser."

But Utathya had only one routine -

Eat when hungry and roam around the rest of the time.

Years went by, and Utathya turned 15.

Again, his father explained:

"Son, you must study.

A person without education is like an animal.

No one respects an uneducated person.

They cannot earn a living and remain poor and unhappy.

Please study."

But Utathya still said,

"I'll do anything else, but I won't study!"

His father gave up trying.

Later, both of Utathya's parents passed away.

Utathya was now all alone.

By 25, he was a young man.

But no one called him, no one let him sit near them.

He wandered from place to place, eating whatever he found.

One day, Utathya had been hungry for two days.

He hadn't found any food, and his stomach was in pain.

On the third day, while wandering, he came to a place where food was being served to guests.

Everyone was sitting in a row to eat.

Utathya sat there too.

But his appearance was messy. 

His hands and feet were dirty.

He hadn't bathed in many days.

One guest asked,

"Hey! Why are you sitting 

here? Who are you?"

Utathya replied,

"I'm hungry."

Another guest said,

"If you're hungry, go over there - they give food to poor beggars."

Utathya said,

"I'm not a beggar. I'm a Brahmin."

Everyone laughed,

"A Brahmin? Looking like that? So dirty and ill-mannered?"

Utathya said,

"My father was Devadatta from the village of Nandagiri."

Someone asked,

"If you're a Brahmin, what did you study?"

Utathya said,

"I never studied."

Everyone shouted,

"Then how can you be a Brahmin?

If the son of uneducated parents becomes educated, he is a Brahmin.

But if the son of wise parents remains ignorant, he is still just a fool."

Someone added,

"He must be crazy. Feed him with the beggars."

They pushed Utathya away.

Utathya felt deeply insulted.

That day, he realized -

Respect doesn't come from having a learned father,

It comes from being wise yourself.

"I will study and become knowledgeable!" he decided.

So he went to a teacher and requested to learn.

But even when taught, he kept forgetting.

If he learned A, he forgot B.

The teacher said,

"Your mind has become dull.

You're not able to learn."

Utathya went to another teacher.

Tried hard again, but still couldn't remember anything.

The second teacher also gave up.

But now Utathya was determined.

"No matter what, even if I grow old, I will learn!"

He wandered from teacher to teacher,

Tried to study, but kept forgetting.

One day, a teacher gave him a single line of a poem to memorize.

Utathya was repeating that line while walking by the river.

He remembered the first two words, but forgot the third.

He closed his eyes to concentrate.

So focused on remembering,

He didn't realize he was walking straight into the river.

He slipped and fell in.

His eyes opened as he hit the water.

And he grabbed onto the bank and climbed out.

A sage nearby saw this and rushed to help.

He asked,

"Young man, why did you fall in the river?"

Utathya explained everything.

The sage said,

"From childhood, you've been wandering and lazy.

So your mind became dull.

Had you trained it early, you would've learned.

Now, no matter how hard you try, you will not become learned." 

Utathya cried, "Then what 

should I do?

I don't want to live like a fool.

Better to die than live such a life!"

The sage replied,

"That's also foolishness.

God has given you life -

You must live it fully.

If you can't find a way yourself,

Then seek advice from wise people."

Utathya asked,

"Then you tell me how I can live a good life."

The sage said,

"To live happily, you must first become wise.

You may not gain knowledge through study.

But you have a deep ability to concentrate - use that.

Don't seek false or dishonest ways.

Speak the truth, live simply.

Build a hut near the river.

Grow fruits, flowers, grains.

Eat what you grow or gather.

Use tree bark to weave clothes.

Live honestly and truthfully.

Don't eat or use what others give you.

Bathe daily, sit in meditation.

Chant any letters that come to your mind.

If you live like this, happiness will come from within.

True peace comes from truth and honest living."

The sage left.

Following this advice, Utathya built a small hut by the river.

He grew his own food, wove his own clothes, and lived alone.

Every day, he bathed and meditated, chanting letters he remembered.

Ten or twelve years passed.

People began calling him Satyatapa - "One who lives by truth."

One day a hunter came chasing a wild boar.

The boar, frightened, ran into Utathya's hut.

Utathya was about to start meditating and saw the boar.

He immediately closed his eyes and sat down.

Moments later, the hunter came running.

He asked,

"A wild boar just ran this way. Did you see where it went?"

Utathya's mouth opened but no words came out.

He had been chanting "Ya Ya Ya."

He paused.

He thought:

"If I lie, I sin.

If I speak the truth, the boar will be killed - another sin.

If truth causes harm, it's better to stay silent."

Still, the hunter pressed him again and again.

Angrily, he shouted,

"Why aren't you answering me?"

Then suddenly, as if blessed by the goddess Saraswati,

Utathya spoke these wise lines in Sanskirt:

"Ya pashyati na sa brute

Ka brute sa na pashyati"

("One who sees, does not speak.

One who speaks, does not see.")

"The eyes saw the boar, but eyes cannot speak.

The tongue can speak, but it did not see -

So how can it say anything?"

Then he added:

"Aho vyaadha! Swakaaryaat kim prichchhasi punah punah"

("O hunter! Why do you keep asking me the same thing for your own selfish work?")

Hearing this, the hunter thought:

"This sage is talking nonsense. He must not have seen the boar."

And he left.

From that moment, Utathya's mind awakened.

He started speaking beautiful verses naturally.

Now, whatever he thought or said, came out as poetry.

Satyatapa Utathya became known as a great, wise man -

Both truthful and learned.

Moral

True wisdom and peace do not come only from study but from inner truth, sincerity, and self-discipline.