The Gatekeeper

At the gate of the sacrifice Aṣṭāvakra said to the gatekeeper: We have come to see the sacrifice, sir, and we long to see it. We are two guests who want to enter, and we ask your leave. We have come to see King Janaka and to speak before him. Do not keep us waiting, gatekeeper.

We do what Bandin tells us, said the gatekeeper. Listen to what I say. Young brahmins do not come in here. Only old and learned brahmins come in.

If old men are let in here, said Aṣṭāvakra, then it is right for me to come in. We are old, for we have kept our vows, and we deserve to enter by the power of the Veda. We are eager to learn, our senses are mastered, and we have gone to the end of knowledge. They say a boy should not be despised; a little fire burns too, if you touch it.

Then speak the voice of the Veda, said the gatekeeper. Look at yourself: you are a child. Why do you boast? Winning in debate is hard.

The gatekeeper was daring the boy to prove his learning by speaking the sacred speech of the Veda. Aṣṭāvakra answered instead his taunt about his age.

A body that has grown big is no sign of growth, said Aṣṭāvakra, any more than the swollen knot on a silk-cotton tree. A small, short tree that bears fruit is the one that has grown. The tree that bears no fruit has not grown at all.

Boys learn wisdom from the old, said the gatekeeper, and in time they become old. Knowledge cannot be had in a short time. Why do you talk like an old man when you are a boy?

A man is not old because his head is grey, said Aṣṭāvakra. The gods call a man old who knows, even if he is a boy. The seers did not make greatness depend on years, or grey hair, or wealth, or kin. The one who has learned the Veda is great among us. I have come to see Bandin in the king's assembly. Tell the king, gatekeeper, that I am here. Today you will see me speak with the wise men in debate, and you will see who is high and who is low when all the others are silent.

How can you, a boy of ten, enter a sacrifice meant for the learned and well trained? said the gatekeeper. But I will try to find a way to let you in. Make your own effort as you should.

In the Mahābhārata his age stands both ways: twelve when he learned the truth about his father, and ten here at the gate.