A king had a great scholar in his court who was said to be a very learned man. The king, who was interested in spiritual things, once asked the scholar to give a discourse on the Bhagavad Gita. The scholar started explaining each verse in detail, at the end of which he used to ask the king, “Sir, have you followed the real meaning of the verse?” to which the king used to reply, “Panditji, you must understand it first yourself.” The scholar did not like this reply and went on wondering why the king was using these words in his reply. In the course of the studies, he came to realise that the key to the Bhagavad Gita was renunciation of the self, and then he understood that perhaps the king was asking whether he had understood this very important principle contained in this book. This brought about a change in his life and he actually renounced his worldly home and took to the life of sannyasa. When leaving his home he sent word to the king that he had understood the meaning of the Gita and was, therefore, unable to continue the discourse.