You have to learn to create a very friendly atmosphere. The teacher should not think that you are stupid. The moment that you feel that your teacher is sitting up there and he talks something and you don’t understand, you cannot learn Upanishads. For learning Upanishads, you’ll have to have an atmosphere, friendly atmosphere where you are calm and peaceful, and the teacher is also teaching you in a calm and peaceful atmosphere so that uninterrupted flow of knowledge is received by you without any interruption. Here, all the time, teacher says, “Oh, friend; oh, friend,” not “Oh, disciple; oh, disciple.” As Krishna had Arjuna, his disciple, as a great friend, disciple should be great friend of the teacher, and the teacher should be great friend of the disciple. Here, the Upanishadic literature says that such an atmosphere should be created, such an understanding should be there between teacher and student. Student should not be used as a slave, and teacher should not be used as someone who is far beyond your reach, sitting somewhere on a pedestal. Why do we not learn from our great leaders? Why Christians did not learn, and were not benefited enough from Christ? Why Hindus were not benefitted from Krishna? Why Buddhists were not benefitted from Buddha? Because they always put Buddha, Christ, Krishna on a high pedestal and never reached there. They started worshipping, “You are our Lord.” The Lord remained there and you remained here, and there is no guidance. Upanishads say, “No.” As a friend you can learn better. You are a student all of life; don’t forget your limitations. You should learn, but in a very friendly way, as a friend. If you are not in good terms with your teacher, if you are not friends with your teacher, why should he teach you? If teacher is not friend to you, why should you learn? You should create that atmosphere. ~Swami Rama Mandukya Upanishad Lecture 5
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 21:39:47 +0000
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