Five Vedic scholars once got together to discuss Brahman. The five men were Pracheenasala, Satyayajnya, Indradyumna, Jana and Budila. Their discussion was inconclusive. So they approached
Uddalaka for instruction about Vaisvanara Atman, said M.K. Srinivasan, in a discourse. Uddalaka’s knowledge in this respect was incomplete. So he took them to King Asvapathi. When Asvapathi saw the six Vedic scholars approaching, he thought they wanted some gifts from him. A king before giving charities had to say: “In my kingdom, there are no misers; there are no drunkards; there are no thieves. Come, let me honour you with gifts.” Asvapathi made the mandatory declaration. The six men said to him that they were there for knowledge of Vaisvanara Atman. The king promised to tell them about it the next day. The six men came to him the next day, bringing with them sacrificial sticks as offering.
The king did not accept the sacrificial sticks which they brought, and he did not formally initiate them as his disciples. He simply accepted them as his pupils and taught them what they wanted to know. The six rishis who had come to him seeking knowledge were all scholars in their own right. They had only come to him to fill some gaps in their knowledge. Yet, they had come to him humbly, with no trace of pride in their demeanour. They had approached him as would any novice, as yet uninitiated into Vedic study. Their humility was rewarded when the king accepted them as disciples. There is yet another moral to the story. Social status is no determinant of knowledge. The king was not from a traditional Vedic family, and yet because he had knowledge of Vaisvanara Atman, those who had studied the Vedas took instruction from him.
