Lecture: The Student’s Loyalty in the Guru-Śiṣya Tradition

In this second exploration of the guru-śiṣya tradition, we examine unconventional wisdom sources through narratives from India’s epic literature: Dattatreya finding teachers in nature, Lakṣmaṇa learning from his enemy Rāvaṇa, and Bhīṣma offering wisdom from his arrow-bed. These texts (400 BCE-1000 CE) emerged when traditional knowledge transmission expanded to embrace direct experience. For modern practitioners, these stories validate learning outside formal structures and demonstrate how wisdom appears in unexpected places. As yoga communities navigate questions of authenticity and innovation, these narratives remind us that the tradition has always encompassed multiple pathways to wisdom, offering frameworks for transforming everyday experiences into sources of insight.