Sharanagati
Collected words from talks of Swami TirthaWe should be under proper guidance in order to understand. And how a disciple will understand? By sacrifice. If he sacrifices himself. The best example is given in the “Mahabharata”. I told you the story when Aruni, a young disciple, was sent out by the guru to check the rice field. And you know, the rice fields have little dams to preserve the water. But this time our young brahmachari had seen that the water is escaping, there was a break. So he tried to put the soil back to the dam, to the place, but the water was very strong. Finally he could not do anything else, just blocked the water by his body – in order to preserve the rice for the ashram. And in the evening the guru asked: “Aruni has come back? We sent him to check the field.” They said: “No, Aruni did not come back.” “A, let’s go immediately to find him.” And they went out with torches calling: ”Aruni! Aruni!” A little voice they could hear: “I’m here…” He was almost completely covered by mud, because he was trying to prevent with all means the escape of water. And when the guru saw his dedication, he said: “O my dear son, I bless you all the Vedas to come to you!”
This is the way to acquire knowledge. Don’t take the information, it’s not enough. Transformation is necessary. From an egoist we should become a dedicated soul. This is the transformation that is necessary to obtain the knowledge. This is the sacrifice that I mentioned: svaha! Some sacrifice must be done in order to achieve any spiritual goal.