The Role of Books and Teachers in Shaping a Student's Journey
Questioner: The first question today comes from the U.S. The participant has been listening to you for a very long time now. She asks, “Namaste, Acharya ji! Does knowledge of Vedanta comes from listening, with the presence and the teachings of available master or can knowledge be also grasped without the master's life presence or any kind of direct help? Can the knowledge be had by listening to the videos and reading the master's words?”
Acharya Prashant: You see, theoretically yes. It is possible to have that knowledge from books, theoretically as it is possible. You see, today I was in the Gita press shop here in Rishikesh. Several hundred titles they had, right? And that shop somehow was so that most people seem to know me. So, there was this young man. And he came to me, and he said that he has been reading spiritual texts since long but he does not seem to comprehend them. And so I took him to a certain part of the shop and gave him two books that I know would help him.
That's the situation, you see. Firstly, there are so many books. And often what the books are saying is not much in agreement with what the other books are saying. The books contradict each other. You do not get to begin with the right book because there are different sects, communities, streams and they seem to give importance to different kinds, different categories of books; all books appear important. And if you randomly start with something it is not necessary that it will be the best text for you. So firstly, there is so much of literature. What is it that you must begin with?
Secondly, even if you lay your hands on the right book it is not simple to comprehend what the book is saying. You were today with me and you were flipping through the pages of the Bhagavad Gita. And you asked me, ‘What is this about adhibhūta, adhidaiva and adhiyajña?’ And even as I did explain that to you I realized that moment, that it would be very difficult for you to get it on your own or to get it purely through a translation. Because the translation was available to you, the translation was very much there; the translation didn't help.
So that's the situation, you see. Theoretically yes, it is possible that merely books may suffice. In my own life, I must clearly tell that I have relied a lot on books. So, I would be the last person to say that books on their own cannot help. They have helped me and I'll admit that. But do books help everybody? Again, an ideal answer would be ‘Yes’. A practical answer is ‘No’. Even in a normal educational school you require a teacher on top of the books, no? The students have their books and the students have a teacher; it's a combination that clicks.
Next you said, ‘Can videos suffice?’ Well, videos are probably a little more useful than books, in the sense that in videos you have not only words but also visuals. So, they are a little more useful. And then a little more useful than even the videos are interactive sessions, like the one we are having right now. You are watching me through a video medium but are interacting with me real time, right? And even better than this online interaction is face-to-face interaction. Alright?
So these are levels of communication with the Truth. The first level is the text. Then, there is the video. Then, there is an online kind of virtual interaction. And then, there is the face-to-face thing. And I'll repeat, I am in no way saying that books alone can't suffice. You see, books are the bedrock. Even if there is a face-to-face interaction, it has to be assisted, aided by a book; like it happens in a classroom. The teacher is there and the student is there, and in between the teacher and the student is the textbook.
So, the textbook is of course always important. Any form of teaching that does not include a textbook is extremely prone to duplicity and also mischief. You do not know what is going on. The book lends a certain authenticity, authority, credibility; because the words are not flimsy things. They are not like our thoughts or ideas or opinions; they don't change overnight, right? Two people are talking to each other, trying to convince each other of something, very forcefully let's say. Next day you might find that these two people have themselves changed their positions, their ideas.
That cannot happen with a book. A book comes into existence after a lot of thought. It is something set in concrete. It is not ephemeral, perishable, momentary. It is frozen in time; a bit like the Truth, not changing with time. But if a person is teaching the other, then his thoughts or ideas can change tomorrow. Therefore, the quality of the content that a book communicates to you is bound to be higher.
We talked of these four levels of learning, let's say Vedanta. In each of these levels, the book plays a very important role. So it is not, ‘Whether the book is important or not?’ The book is absolutely important. The question is, ‘Is the book sufficient by itself?’ It is always important, but not always sufficient. Sometimes you require, something plus the book. The book you would always require. The text is an imperative, unconditionally. But with the text you sometimes also require a perceiving consciousness who can know the fact of the student's life, who can look into your eyes and read your mind. That's something the book cannot do, but the living teacher can do. However, as I say this, I must warn you: a living teacher who does not bond with books is a much more dangerous proposition than learning from books alone. We have said, ‘Sometimes books are important but not sufficient.’ So we have a problem, right? The books do not always suffice on their own—but this problem is a small problem. The big problem is a teacher who has nothing to do with books. Books without a teacher is a small problem, teacher without books is a huge problem. Are you getting it?
Books without a teacher—the problem in the sense that you will have difficulty in comprehension and you may take a long time coming to realization. So that's the problem. And that's a small problem because all that is happening is that your task is becoming difficult. What could happen in two years will probably take ten years. But a far-far bigger problem is to be with a teacher who contradicts books or is not with books or condemns books. Here it's not a question of two years versus ten years; you are never going to arrive! In fact, your task is being made more difficult. It's not that you are progressing slowly, now you're not progressing at all; you are regressing. You are not advancing, you are retreating.
So the best thing is books plus teacher, in a nutshell. In a nutshell the best thing is books plus teacher, but if you can't have books plus teacher, have books. Best is books plus teacher, but if you can't have books plus teacher, have books. The worst thing is to have a teacher sans books. That's worst. Unfortunately, this worst option is exercised by most people. Getting it?
