HOW TO STUDY
Dear
Reader, let me tell you a story, maybe apocryphal, about a scholar who had
thoroughly studied the Bhagavad Gita for many years, considered himself an
expert, travelled far and wide delivering discourses on the teachings of the
Gita and was widely acknowledged as an authority on the subject.
The
scholar’s ultimate desire was to deliver a discourse on the Bhagavad Gita at
So he
went to
On
hearing of the scholar’s erudition and fame, the King of Benares invited the
scholar to deliver a discourse on the Bhagavad Gita in his court.
All the
wise men of
Just as the
scholar started to speak the King interrupted him and told him to read the
Bhagavad Gita one more time in the evening and deliver his discourse the next
day.
The Scholar was furious but he had no choice but to comply with the king’s wishes.
As he
read the Bhagavad Gita with full concentration in the evening the scholar found
some new meanings in the Bhagavad Gita and updated his speech accordingly.
Next day
the same thing happened – the moment the scholar began to speak the King
interrupted him and told him to read the Gita once more and then come the next
day to give his lecture.
And again
as the Scholar read the Gita he comprehended some new wisdom – something he
hadn’t perceived before.
So he incorporated his new findings and proceeded to deliver his talk.
Once again
the same thing happened – the king interrupted him and told him to again read
the Gita once more before he gave his discourse.
And once again,
while reading the Gita that evening, the scholar discovered some new wisdom in
the Gita.
This cycle went on for days and days till the scholar realized how ignorant he was and how much more there was to learn from the Bhagavad Gita that he gave up the idea of delivering the discourse and decided to totally devote his entire life and focus his full efforts on the study of the Bhagavad Gita.
Days
passed, and suddenly one morning, when the scholar was deeply immersed in his
study of the Bhagavad Gita, the King went to the scholar’s house, sat before
him with folded hands and requested the scholar to enlighten him about the
teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.
VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve 2009
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
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