Source: TW
Traditional emphasis
Arya tradition places importance on the right coupling of teacher and student – not every student is right for every teacher & vice versa. This is a custom-made pair. For exoteric matters, this might not matter that much – as long as there is sufficient compatibilty & competence on both sides, one can learn procedures from the teacher.
However, behind the procedures is a “meaning” that might be termed “esoteric”. For the transmission of this esoteric aspect of the teaching one needs that match to be nearly perfect & it has to proceed for most part in secret for as we have partly explained here. This knowledge can only be grasped when a special switch is turned on. Without that being the case, the teaching will seem like gibberish; hence, it would be inappropriate to put it out in public.
Where such a transmission differs from the West Asian unmAda-s is that it accepts that the switch cannot be turned on in everyone by the same devices. This secret teaching is an important part of the transmission particularly in scriptural matters, but it could also be in other matters like warfare, math & philosophy. Hence, tradition tends to use the doubly semantic word upa-ni-Shat for such teaching (e.g., chANakya in the context of war).
Esoteric knowledge
Those who don’t acquire such esoteric knowledge tend to conflate it with the necessary apparatus inside which it is embedded. Thus, they become like the legendary donkeys carrying the sandalwood unaware of the scent or value of their load. Thus, they might know the bhujA-koTi-karNa-nyAya & be able to solve all manner of problems with it but fail to see its implications for the foundations of geometry.
Intellectual approach
The match between the teacher and student is a critical issue. What guNa-s are considered great in a student might not work with every teacher. Consider a teacher who likes to teach Euclidean geometry starting with the axioms. He says,
- A point is that which has no part;
- A line is a breadthless length.
Imagine a student whose guNa is hypercuriousity & need to understand everything. He might get caught up right there asking what the hell those axioms mean & never get past it. Such a pair might be incompatible though they might work OK with others.
saMskAra-readiness
Source: TW
Sometimes, an aspirant goes through all the saMskAra-s diligently but attains little from the teachings he receives. This may be due to his mental insufficiencies, or due to wrong choice of “sAdhanA” or not encountering the correct teacher for him. If it is the last, then his saMskAra-s will undoubtedly hold him in good stead when does encounters such a teacher. Suddenly, things that were dense mysteries will be illuminated. However, if he lacked the appropriate saMskAra-s & perhaps even the futile abhyAsa, he might not have “made it” even if he did encounter the right teacher. This is an important aspect of the H tradition – the matching of the right student with the right teacher – the two could spend their whole janman without finding each other.
Imagine a raikva +++(commoner teacher of King Jānaśruti)+++ who remained under the cart with no vistors!
Beyond IQ and loyalty
One key thing that may be inferred from H tradition is that not all student-teacher pairings are fruitful even if they might be compatible in terms of IQ. A student might be very interested in what a teacher might have to offer but that is also not enough.
Similarly, a teacher might find a high intelligence or loyal student a good vessel for his teachings, but that is not enough. There has to be a deeper enmeshing of the personalities of the two for the interaction to yield results, as mentioned in the upaniShad of yajurveda.