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As the Indian mind ... advances westward towards inevitable conquest, it must inevitably carry with it Yoga and Vedanta for its banners wherever it goes. But in order that the victory may not be slow, it is necessary that whatever India has to offer should be stated to the West in language that the West can understand... Europe will accept nothing which is not scientific... Undoubtedly, for practical purposes the West is right....

Indian knowledge possesses such a scientific basis, but ... expressed only in broad principles, compact aphorisms. The aphoristic method has great advantages. It prevents the mind from getting encrusted in details and fossilizing there It allows a science to remain elastic and full of ever new potentialities for the discoverer. No doubt, it has disadvantages. It leaves much room for inaccuracy ...

For this [reason], among other more important reasons, the Indian mind has thought it wise to give a firm and absolute authority to the guru...
In Europe, the manual replaces the guru; the mind of the learner is rigidly bound by the written rule and detail not by the more adaptable and flexible word of the guru.

Jayadeva aShTapadis (realaudio) sung by M. Balamurali Krishna