IV: 34

[Krishna Jaya]

Chapter 4, Verse 34

“Those who themselves

Have seen the truth

Can be your teachers of wisdom.

Ask questions of them,

Bow unto them,

And be unto them a servant.”

Father Bede Griffiths:

“Krishna is not talking about an academic knowledge which can be acquired by study, but a wisdom which requires the cultivation of qualities such as humility, receptivity, compassion and surrender.”

Swami Satchidananda:

“This verse shows the qualities of a Chela (student).  Krishna is telling Arjuna:  become who you are by surrendering.  Cry and beg for guidance.  This is the true prostration.  You prove yourself to be a qualified seeker by humbling yourself and asking.  By questioning and service, the wise will instruct you in the wisdom.  They won’t until then. 

Asking doesn’t mean accepting blindly.  A seeker has every right to question, but with humility.  The seeker is the receiver.  The teacher is the transmitter.  Humility allows the seeker to receive.  But after receiving, if there are doubts, or if something is not understood, there is every right to question.  A good seeker will question. 

It is the duty of the teacher to convince the student.  If the teacher can’t convince the student, maybe this particular teacher isn’t the right one for that person.  But to be convinced, students must listen.  If they have previously fixed opinions, and then say, ‘Come on, convince me,’ it won’t happen.  They need to be open-minded. To understand, they have to stand under.”

Sri Krishna Prem:

“True, the Teacher lives within, but we are so used to listening only to the trumpet tones of our own desires that the still small voice in the heart too often passes unheeded.  Therefore, guidance is usually needed from the one who speaks with the same voice as that teacher in the heart in tones that can be heard with the outer ear.  However, there is a danger that blind obedience to an external authority can do more harm than good, destroying self-reliance and so rendering fainter that which is faint already.”