Story 164 - The Way to Learn

There was a man, Yudhishthira. He was the heir-apparent to the throne of India. There is a story related of his boyhood.

He was reading in school with his younger brothers. There were many brothers. One day the Head master, the Examiner came to examine those boys. This Head master came and asked them how far they had advanced, and the younger boys laid before the master all they had read. When the time came for this boy, the master put the usual question to him, and the boy opened the Primer and said in a cheerful happy tone, not the least ashamed, "I have learned the alphabets, and I have learned the first sentence." The master said, "Is that all?" and pointed to the first sentence. The master said, "Have you learnt anything more?" The boy said hesitatingly, "The second sentence." The prince, the dear little boy, said this cheerfully and happily; but the master was exasperated, because he expected him to apply himself to possess, high knowledge and great wisdom, and not to be snail-slow. The master asked him to stand before him. He was very cruel and thought "To spare the rod was to spoil the child." You know professors think that to break rods upon children moulds them, and the more rods they break the better moulded are the children. That condition of mind made the master very cruel, and he began to beat and thrash the boy, but the latter kept his calm: he was cheerful as before, he was as happy as ever. The master beat him a few minutes, but found no signs of anger or anxiety, fear or sorrow on the beautiful face of the prince, and his heart relented, even as stones might have melted, so to say, looking at the boy's face. The master reflected and said to himself, "What is the master? How is it that this boy who by one word can get me dismissed, who is one day to rule me and the whole of India, is so calm? I am so severe on him and he does not resent it in the least. 1 was harsh to the other brothers and they resented it, and one of them took hold of the rod and beat me; but this boy preserves his temper. He is cheerful, calm and quiet." Then the eyes of the master fell upon the first sentence which the boy had learned.

You know, in India, the Primers do not begin with dogs and cats.. In India Primers, begin with beautiful advice. Now, the first sentence after the

Alphabets in the book in Sanskrit was "Never lose your temper, never get annoyed, have no anger." The second sentence was "Speak the truth, ever speak the truth." The boy had said he had learned the first sentence, but he hesitatingly said he had learned the second sentence. Now, the master's eyes fell upon the first sentence, "Lose not your temper, have no anger," and then he looked at the face of the boy. One eye of the master was on the boy and the other eye on the sentence in the book; then of the meaning of the sentence flashed through his mind. Then the face of the boy told the meaning of the sentence. The face of the boy was the incarnation of the sentence written in the book, "Never get angry." The calm, placid, bright, happy, cheerful and beautiful face of the boy brought home to the heart of the teacher the meaning of the sentence, "Never get angry."

Heretofore the master had transgressed; he had learned the substance of the sentence originally through the lips. Now did the master know that this sentence was not to be talked out like parrots, but could be lived, could be carried into effect, and then he realized how little was his own knowledge. He felt ashamed within himself that he had not learned the first sentence when a boy had really learned it. You know the boy, by learning a thing, did not mean learning it by rote; but by learning he meant practicing into effect, realizing, feeling, and becoming one with it. This was the meaning of learning to this boy.

No sooner did the master understand the meaning of learning than the stick fell from his hand; his heart relented. He took up the boy and clasped him in his arms and kissed his forehead; and then he felt his own ignorance and his lack of practical knowledge to such an extent that he felt ashamed of himself, and he patted the boy on the back and said, "Son, dear Prince, I congratulate you on having truly learned at least one sentence. I congratulate you that you have properly learnt at least one sentence of the Scriptures. Ah! I do not know even one sentence, I have not learnt even one sentence; for I get angry and I lose my temper: anything will put me in temper. O my son, pity me, you know more, you are more learned then I." When the master spoke thus, when he cheered the boy, the boy said, "Father, father, I have not yet learnt this sentence thoroughly because I felt some signs of anger and resentment in my heart. When I received a five minutes thrashing,

I felt signs of anger in my heart." Thus was he speaking the meaning of the second sentence; thus was he speaking out the truth, when there was every temptation to conceal his inner weakness, on an occasion when he was being flattered. To reveal by his own acts the weakness, lurking in his soul, the child proved that he had learned the second sentence also, "Speak the truth." By his acts, through his life, he lived the second sentence.

This is the way to read things; this is the way to learn Vedanta, live Vedanta, practice Vedanta.

MORAL: The way to learn a thing is not to commit to memory only but to put it into practice in daily life.

Vol. 1 (344-346)