Chapter 16 — Greatness of Shri Guru

Literal. While the disciples are away on pilgrimage, a Brahmin who has previously offended his own Guru comes to Shri Guru seeking knowledge. Shri Guru reproaches him: you cannot have knowledge if you have offended your Guru. He tells the embedded Dhoumya narrative — the rishi Dhoumya at Dwarawati who tested his three disciples (Aruni, Baid, Upmanyu): Aruni lay across the canal break with his body to redirect water to the field; Baid yoked himself alongside the buffalo to pull the cart; Upmanyu, told not to drink milk from calves, drank rui-plant latex which blinded him, then was rescued by reciting the Ashwinikumar mantra. The Brahmin, hearing this, repents; Shri Guru places his hand on the Brahmin's head and his sins are forgiven.

Symbolic. Service before knowledge — the disciple's body, time, and attention are the price of admission. The Brahmin's earlier offense is repaired only when he has internalized that the offense was the substance of his failure to learn.