PURPORT

The Vedic literature instructs: tasmad gurum prapadyeta jijnasuh sreya uttamam. An intelligent man must be very inquisitive to know the transcendental science deeply. Therefore one must approach a guru, a spiritual master. Although Jada Bharata explained everything to Maharaja Rahugana, it appears that his intelligence was not perfect enough to understand clearly. He therefore requested a further explanation. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (4.34): tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya. The student must approach a spiritual master and surrender unto him fully (pranipatena). He must also question him in order to understand his instructions (pariprasnena). One should not only surrender to the spiritual master but also render loving service unto him (sevaya) so that the spiritual master will be pleased with the student and explain the transcendental subject matter more clearly. A challenging spirit before the spiritual master should be avoided if one is at all interested in learning the Vedic instructions in depth.