Is reading scriptures enough?

Once a college professor went to meet a Saint. Trying to impress the Saint, the professor said politely, “Sir, I am fond of reading scriptures. I just finished reading Ramayana and Srimad Bhagwatam. Now, I started reading Mahabharata. It is such a wonderful scripture. It is very interesting and teaches a lot of beautiful lessons in life”

Saint remained unimpressed, and uttered, “What will you call someone who is always busy in opening the wrappers – grasp the sweet and keep it aside. Then begins to open next wrapper?”

“I would call it a time waste, Sir”, replied the professor.

“My dear friend, you are doing the same. Words of a scripture are just a wrapper around the gist or purport or a deep spiritual message. Reading scriptures is good, but not for satisfying the intellectual hunger, not for impressing others and not without a goal. Firstly, you should have a clarity of goal about why are you reading the scriptures and then only you should spend time on reading the scriptures.”

The man remained baffled and silent. The Saint continued, “What if a student begins to go to the library and begin reading books one by one – without interacting with other students without guidance from professors and without any goal? Do you think such a student will succeed?”

“No, Sir”, the man replied in a low voice.

“Just like for a student, it is important to spend time in a school environment, interact with other students and take guidance from professors. It is not enough to just spend time in the library reading books. Similarly, for a true seeker, in order to progress on the spiritual path, in order to gain the inner understanding and wisdom, it is very important to interact with other seekers and act according to the guidance of the Saints. Scriptures and Saints can just show the way, but the true seekers are required to travel on the path on their own. The words in the scriptures are just the wrappers around the deep purport.  A wise child not only open the wrapper but also attempt to enjoy the sweet. Similarly, a wise seeker not only spend time in reading the scriptures, but then sit in the solitude to repeat the words of wisdom – this is called Manan. And then perform a deep analysis and rejoice in the deep meaning of those words and try to make it part of your experience – this is called Nitya-dhyasana. This spiritual knowledge only begins to blossom when you begin to perform Manan and Nitya-dhyasana. Then only you get to eat the real sweet wrapped in the words of scriptures and begin to rejoice in the experience the Ananda of the Aatman.