The Knowledge Not Earned

As the Pandavas traveled among the holy hermitages in their exile, the sage Lomasha brought them to a quiet place where, he said, a proud young brahmin had once learned a hard lesson about how true knowledge is won.

"There was a young man named Yavakri," said Lomasha, "the son of a sage, who burned to become learned in the sacred Vedas. But he did not wish to earn his learning the way it has always been earned - by humble service to a teacher, by years of patient study at a master's feet. He thought that too slow and too lowly for a man of his gifts. So he resolved to wring the knowledge straight out of the gods by sheer force of penance, and to make himself a great scholar without ever sitting before a guru. Hear what came of it, son of Pandu, for there is a warning in it for every proud and impatient heart."