Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume II - Part 1

Fragment ID: 11348

One has to learn from the master and act according to his instructions because the master knows the subject and how it is to be learnt – just as in spiritual things one has to follow the Guru who has the knowledge and knows the way. If one learns all by oneself, the chances are that one will learn all wrong. What is the use of a freedom to learn wrongly? Of course if the pupil is more intelligent than the master, he will learn more than the master, just as a great spiritual capacity may arrive at realisations which the Guru has not – but even so, the control and discipline in the early stages is indispensable.