Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9.55

c9.55

But the mastery of texts was only the first step of learning. The more important step was the mastery of their meaning. As Sāyaṇa puts it by quoting the dictum "*Dṛishṭau prāpti-saṁskārau*", the mastery of texts, *akshara-prāpti*, is followed by *artha-bodha*, perception of their meaning [Introduction to Rigveda Commentary]. This mastery of meaning was a difficult and prolonged process, the result of severe thinking and concentration. Pupils had to undergo a proper discipline for it and are described as being *vratachāriṇaḥ*, practising vows. Yāska, as we have seen, interprets this *vrata* or vow as a vow of silence and meditation by which the pupil has to realize the truths imparted to him through the texts. The period of this silent meditation is likened to the season of slumber into which frogs fall till they are quickened into activity by the rains. The pupils also, after achieving enlightenment, burst into activity in discourses (*vāchaṁ avādishuḥ*) as teachers. Yāska describes this process of learning by stating that the Ṛishis by their *upadeśa* or teaching lead their pupils to become *Śrutarshis*. They become "seers" of Truth after "hearing" it from the lips of their teacher.