Once there lived a sage called Dhaumya and he had three disciples, Upamanyu, Aaruni and Vedan. Once Dhaumya Muni, on a rainy day, sent Aaruni to block the excess water flowing to the rice fields so that the crops could be saved. Aaruni tried his best to build a small dam with the available things in the forest to prevent the water reaching the fields. He used a lot of mud and stones and all his attempts became futile. He did not know what to do and suddenly a good idea came to his mind. He decided to lie down adjacent to the opening through which water was gushing and use his own body as a small dam. To his surprise, it worked very well and he could completely block the water flow.
After some time he started feeling cold and tired. But he decided to lie down there so that he could fulfill the wish of his most respected Guru. All the difficulties melted away when he thought about his love and respect for his beloved Guru. So he remained there all night.
Whole night Aaruni did not come back to the heritage. Next morning, extremely worried about the safety of Aaruni, Dhaumya Muni and the other two disciples set out in search of him. They came near the fields and started calling Aaruni. Then Aaruni jumped out from where he was lying, ran towards the Guru and prostrated at his feet. Then he explained to Guru how he stopped the water flowing to the fields during the rain. Guru was very pleased with the love and respect of his disciple towards him. Then he blessed him saying that he would be very famous and would be known by the name "Uddalaka". Also all the knowledge including the knowledge of the self (brahmajnaanam) would be dawn on him and with these blessings he sent Aaruni home as an enlightened person.
In those days knowledge was imparted very differently. When a disciple pleased a self-realized Guru, that blessing and good will of the Guru were enough for the disciple to gain the ultimate knowledge. The relationship of the Guru and disciple was divine and sincere. From this story we can see that Aaruni did not need any more training from the Guru because Guru had imparted the ultimate knowledge to the disciple who well deserved to receive it.
We have to remember that this happens only when the Guru is a Mahaathma and the disciple is sincerely earning for the blessings of the Guru. Disciple should be able to take the words of Guru or Guruvaakyam as Vedavaakyam, and obey it as Aaruni did.
With ananthakoti namaskaaram to Vedavyaasa Muni who narrated this story and Mahabharatam for us!
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