The guru
What makes learning from a teacher different from collecting information?
The Gītā places approach, inquiry and service beside the teacher’s seeing of truth. The learner is neither passive nor self-authorising: questions and disciplined reception work together.
A textual description of learning does not verify every person who claims authority. Identity, lineage, conduct, competence and accountability require evidence beyond a title.
Beginner
What is asked of the learner?
Student
What qualifies the teacher in the verse?
Teacher
Where does responsibility remain?
Begin with a passage, not a summary
Keep three layers separate
What does the selected source explicitly say?
What conclusion follows, and what assumptions are required?
Explain it in plain words without making the claim larger.
Make the understanding visible
Rewrite one vague question into a precise inquiry with context, prior study and the decision it affects.
Explain, reopen, correct
Explain why inquiry and service need not be opposites.