Guru Dakshina

[salimondo]

DRONA IS ONE of two great teachers in the Mahabharata. A dirt-poor brahmin retained by the court of Dhritarashtra to civilize the young lizard princes and their equally rambunctious royal cousins, he was almost impeccable, which is good because his first task was to beat his students into submission (the master whose butt you can kick is not your

Comments

[phygelus]

1. Has anyone learned anything new any other way?

I keep coming across references lately to Plato's Meno, which I think has some relevance here. I suppose I should reread it: it's been a long while.

2. It's easier to see why Drona does that than why Ekalavya agrees. I suppose the idolization was necessary. It's odd when someone does it with a living person, isn't it?

3. Ekalavya, of course, though I doubt I'll ever be as good as Arjuna. Drona is more ruthless and clever though: he is not moved sentimentally by Ekalavya's practice. It's a good exercise here to think like Drona.

4. ?

I'm Thumbs Deep in Theatetus Myself

[salimondo]

1. Nice! And yet if everyone has to build a clay Drona in order to absorb what the meat one is telling us, Ekalavya errs by abandoning the idol the minute meat Drona steps foot in the forest. He still seems thirsty for the "real" Drona, who exploits this to remove a competitor

Genius finds a way

[phygelus]

1. I don't mean to devalue the role of a flesh-and-blood teacher, I'm glad you got that. I intended also, that the only way you learn something that was not known to anyone else before is through a similar process.

I think the more relevant question here, do Drona's other students get something out of their relationship that they couldn't learn on their own? Genius finds a way, but not everyone is like Ekalavya. Most people are better off with a good flesh-and-blood teacher.

2. One certainly sees it in the relationships between Crowley and his students.

3. This is one way dead people are convenient, especially if they left stuff behind like books.

4. Are they in the business of making experts or not? What about those who are not going to become experts, anyway?

The Best Schools

[salimondo]

1a. Thanks for the clarification -- learning what nobody knows is indeed a different problem than finding a guru; we all have our techniques for calling up our clay guru who does have the answers. Ekalavya seemed to have learned archery tricks that not even the "real" Drona could teach. He was one dangerous individual

appropriate

[phygelus]

FRATER PERDURABO was very unfortunate in not having magical teachers to explain these things to Him. He was rather encouraged in unsystematic working. Very fortunate, on the other hand, was He to have found a Guru who instructed Him in the proper principles of the technique of Yoga, and He, having sufficient sense to recognize the universal application of those principles, was able to some extent to repair His original defects. But even to this day, despite the fact that His original inclination is much stronger towards Magick than towards mysticism, he is much less competent in Magick.