Question: Vasistha gave names to each of the four brothers after their birth. Vasistha stated that Satrughna means one who kills enemies. The satru he killed are the six formidable enemies — lust, anger, greed, envy, illusion and pride. Is there any pastime or detail on how he overcame these six enemies?
Answer by Romapada Swami:
First Reply –
The words of an acarya are deliberate and never fail, as the acarya is dear to the Supreme Lord who is satya-sankalpa and the Absolute Truth personified. Vasistha is that acarya who, as the seer of the truth or tattva-darsi gave the name Satrughna. We repose our faith in the words of such Tattva-darsis, so they might reveal truths to us. It is a loving reciprocation between Vasistha and the Supreme Lord that he manifested the truth of the name Satrughna
- Overcoming Envy: Satrughna had no envy towards Laksmana for getting Rama’s seva. This mood of a servant of a servant is possible by being free of enviousness
- Overcoming Greed: Satrughna had no greed for the kingdom nor any limelight for position, and yet got the rulership of Mathura after killing Lavanasura.
- Overcoming Anger: The true usage of anger is against those who are antagonistic towards the Supreme Lord. Like Hanuman expressed his anger against Ravana and the raksasas, Satrughna exhibited it against Manthara when he reprimanded her after he returned to Ayodhya and found out that Rama and Laksmana had been sent to live in exile. He dropped his anger when Bharata urged him to do so, else Sri Rama wouldn’t be pleased with them both.
4&5. Overcoming Illusion and Pride: One who can see himself as a servant of a servant has no illusion. Pride arises from a sense of (false) identity. “Jivera svarupa” is an identity as the eternal servant of the Lord. Even more glorious is to see one’s identity as the servant of the servant. Bharata took Satrughna by love (nita), whereas Ravana took Sita by force. Being bound by love means that he has no illusion of his identity in relation to Bharat and Rama.
- Free of madness (mada): Like his brother Lakshmana, Shatrughna too is like salt – unseen yet present to give relish to Sri Rama’s pastimes. He never covets any limelight throughout his manifested pastimes spanning the 11,000 years Sri Rama (and His brothers) exhibited.
Additional Reply –
From the commentary of Govindaraja, the biggest ‘enemy’ that Satrughna conquered was his Rama Bhakti, which otherwise would have been an obstacle in serving Bharata, who Satrughna saw as a devotee of Lord Rama.
In other words, for Satrughna to display such focus in his love, dedication, and sincerity towards Bharata, he had to overcome his unstoppable Bhakti towards Rama. Since Satrughna was able to address that ‘obstacle’ called Rama Bhakti, he was thus able to be so devoted to Bharata. We have to take this in positive terms, in the following context – namely, to show love and service attitude to be a servant of servant of servant of a devotee (or of a Guru), one has to reconcile one’s Rama Bhakti, which will otherwise could provide an obstacle in service of the Lord’s devotee or an Acarya
