Comment by rramadass
The following two quotes from Martial Arts have been quite helpful to me in motivating my study efforts;
The Master shows the Gate, but it is the Student who has to walk through it.
To show one the Right Direction and Right Path, Oral Instructions from a Master are necessary but Mastery of the Subject only comes from one's own Incessant Self-Cultivation.
There is also a great inspirational story in the Mahabharata of "Ekalavya" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekalavya) who became an exceptional archer through self-training.
Eklavya inspires a life-long learning philosophy and his presence seems to be a celebration for the masses. In this EklavyaParv, the motto is 'You Create Yourself" and the legend of Eklavya is a testimony that is forwarded by many thinkers as well. The discipleship that Eklavya represents is the best for a student and enables one to be the creator of one's own destiny.
Adapting to current times, "The Master" can be a "Good Book" and you can have "Many Masters" but the effort and learning has to happen within the Student.
Source: I self-taught myself Martial Arts (JKD, Karate, Taijiquan) from books when i was young. Decades later when i did join a dojo to study under a Master, i was one of the top students with good skill and power.
> [...] my Rebbe was the geologist of the soul. You see, there are so many treasures in the earth. There is gold, there is silver, and there are diamonds. But if you don’t know where to dig, you’ll find only dirt and rocks and mud. The Rebbe can tell you where to dig, and what to dig for, but the digging you must do yourself.