Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 - JnanaKarmaSanyasa Yoga - Sloka 34

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission.

Supremacy of Knowledge 34-39

1 Gita Sloka every day - Chapter 4 -JnanaKarmaSanyasa Yoga - Sloka 34

Tat viddhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya I

Upadekshyanti te gyanam gyaninah tattva darshinah II sloka 34

तत् विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया ।

उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनः तत्त्व दर्शिनः ।। श्लोक ३४ 

Seek that enlightenment by prostrating, by questions and by service; the wise, the seers of truth will instruct you in that knowledge.

A commercial attitude maybe paying elsewhere, but never in the realm of the divine knowledge. Even the secular study gets sanctified if the relationship between the teacher and the taught  be wholesome. But the bond between the two in spiritual enlightenment is ever sacred. The disciple prostrates before the master as a mark of making himself over to the other. He adds to his attainment by raising submissive questions pertaining to the real and the non-real, bondage and freedom. Through a reverent personal service he offers himself as oblation in the sacrificial fire of the personality of the master. The body speech and mind of the disciple are in this way dedicated to the bestower of knowledge.

The master in his turn is all mercy to the disciple. He has no motive other than propogation of spirituality. As a burning lamp lights another, an enlightened soul can carry light to another competent enquirer. Spiritual fulfillment take place in this way.

Of what avail are prayer and devotion to an aspirant who views his master as a mere human being ? The disciple ought not to hold his master as a man. Before getting the vision of the deity, the novice sees the form of the guru as a preliminary. This form metamorphises into the deity.  The disciple therefore understands that god & guru are one and the same. The master awakens the spiritual consciousness in him. More than that, he leads the intiiated into the brahman itself. 

if the  aspirant is earnest about spiritual enlightenment, the lord sees to it that he comes in contact with an enlightened one. Seek and the light is sent to you

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa