ಬೆಳೆದು ಹರೆಯದವರಾದಾಗ
In the traditional Gurukula way of teaching or modern way of teaching, the teacher has always held a respected and an important position in the students’ life.To define knowledge in conservative way - To attain and gain knowledge the only means one can find is the “Guru” or teacher. Where a person possesses the wealth of knowledge and is generous enough to share that wealth with the society, the place becomes a Gurukula on its own. A person with penchant for knowledge has to reside at the feet of Guru and gain knowledge. He should have the courtesy to stretch his arms in front of the Guru for knowledge. One has to submit himself to the Guru for knowledge. Purandara Dasa (one of the leads in Dasa Sahitya) has said – “You have to be a slave of your Guru to attain salvation” (ಗುರುವಿನ ಗುಲಾಮನಾಗುವ ತನಕ ದೊರೆಯದಣ್ಣ ಮುಕುತಿ).
Shishunala Shareef Saheb, one of the Sufi Saints from Karnataka, says, “There are 2 kinds of Gurus in our life. The first Guru is materialistic and the other is spiritual Guru. The teaching you get from first is – if you subtract 3 by 9 the answer is 6 and according to the latter say it’s 0.”
The gist is very simple and interesting. Kama (fleshliness), Krodha (Anger), Mada (Pride), Matsara (Jealous), Moha (Fascination) and Lobha (Greed) which are called Ari-Shadwarga or 6 enemies of human. And these 3 are an outcome of 3 materialistic things – Woman, Money and Wealth. Out of these 9 if we beat the latter 3 the remaining 6 would disappear from our life on their own.
That said, the Spiritual Guru would help you build the divine spirits of Love, patience, forgiveness, dedication to work, being altruistic to lead a happy and peaceful life.
Next to Parents, it’s the Guru who has the most important and respectable place in everyone’s life. Once a child is born, it’s the duty of the parents to take care of that Kid till it grows up to youth. But, a major responsibility would lie on Guru’s shoulder to make that young bud into respectful, responsible citizen of the World.
गुरुब्रह्म गुरुर्विष्णो गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरा
गुरु साक्षात परब्रह्म तस्मैश्री गुरुवे नमः ॥
Guru is considered as representative of the Trimurtis, namely, Brahma (The Creator), Vishnu (The Caretaker) and Shiva (the Destructor) – creates Divine Thoughts in the minds of his students, takes care of his students and ensures that they take the right way of living life, and destructs the ignorance, bad habits and thoughts from Students mind and ensures that his student is a gift to his State, Country or to the World.
“आनो भद्राः कृतवोयन्तु विश्वतः”– which means we should let the superior thoughts to flow from all around the World. We should have broad and open mind to inherit the knowledge from any person, from any corner of this world at any point of time. Adi Shanakaracharya says – “It does not matter if the person who has knowledge is a Brahman or chandal. He becomes a guru only if he has the will to share it and you have the will to earn it.”
In the Vedic period, the Guru used to pray आनो ब्रह्मचरिभ्य स्वाहा॥ - where they pray to the God to send good students to him to share his knowledge. They would feel proud if the Shishya (Student) is able to challenge the Guru and beat him in the challenge (शिष्याद इच्छेत् पराजयं ॥)
If you have the eyes to see it, the entire world and the nature we live in themselves are the biggest Gurus. You learn almost or everything from the Mother Nature. The Mountains teach us stability; the Mother Earth – Patience; from the Sun, the Stars, the rivers, the Cow (गोमाता) and the trees, we learn benevolence; Sobriety from the Oceans; Ants teach us the art of Savings and unity; loyalty and satiety from the Dog – In this manner we learn the values of human life from animate and inanimate things around us. In this regard the world is a huge University with infinite amount of knowledge in it and the nature is an ideal of all Gurus. Next to nature the Books are the greatest Guru for anyone who admits it.
On the occasion of Teacher’s Day – I would like to dedicate this article to all the teachers of India who has shouldered the responsibility of building the future of a vibrant and glorious country. This is a tribute to your great work and my sincere thanks to you all.
Secularism! What a fabulous word in Indian Democracy!! But, when you ask someone what it means, most of would answer Secularism is being neutral in terms of religion. But does that explain the basics of Secularism?
In my school days I had learnt in the books of History and Civics which said – Secularism is tolerance, and respect towards other religion and people following particular religion. Secularism is something which India has been following from the Vedic period. There has been a saying that India believes from ages – “Vasudeva Kutumbakam”, which means the world is a family.
The name “India” was inherited from the word “Sindhu” one of the sacred epic river. People from this part of the world were called “Hindus”. Gradually, the Greeks, the Mongolians, the Mughals and many of the foreign invaders entered India and set their base in India. They also bought religious leaders into the country, who introduced Islam to the Indian soil. Many weaker section of the country got converted to the Islam and followed the preaching of Mohammed Paigambar.
The era of East India Companies started with the entry of Portuguese, French, Dutch and the British. In the course of time the Companies tried to set a monopoly in the market. Then, they discovered the invaluable wealth that India has and fell in the greed to conquer it. Gradually, they started conquering the small states that prevailed in India and finally became the Kings of India. As always, Darwin’s Theory – “Survival of the Fittest” showed its existence again. The British became the undisputed Kings of the Great India (Other than small parts of India like Pondicherry which remained in the hands of French and Goa in the hands of Portuguese) – Thanks to our impotent rulers of that era. Gradually, the Christian Missionaries stated flowing into the country and started their preaching by Jesus.
The 2 paragraphs above show how we respected and entertained other religions which were not originated from India (though there are different schools of thought who still believe Christianity and Islam are one and the same, Christianity is another version of Buddhism – but none have got a solid proof yet). India adhered to the belief it had on “Vasudeva Kutumbakam”, currently known as Secularism. It is also called “Dharma Sahishnu” which means tolerance towards other Dharma or Religion.
But, what is Secularism today? Where it stands in India today? It has just become a game plan to create Vote Banks for most of the Political Parties to win the race of General Elections. A country which had driven the thought of “The World is a Family” is not able to make itself a family. People are fighting on the grounds of religion, caste, creed and what not.
What is the reason for this? The Christian Missionaries and the Masjids who are frequently trying to attack the ancient Hinduism, if not physically but playing mind games. Secularism says tolerance to other religion. But the Christian and Muslim leaders are not tolerating the existence of Hinduism and trying to convert people to their religion and they as well as the people who support them are called the Seculars. Any effort to stop this or protest this is called communalism. The organization like VHP, Bajarangadal and organizations which support these like RSS and BJP are called communalists. These organizations are just trying safeguard and correct mishaps that have happened in the past.
The day people understand this truth the Secularism finds its true meaning. Our nation can progress to the level it deserves. It’s time for every rational citizen to decide what is right and what is wrong. The Secularism should be the key to unity and not divide and rule. People who have read and understood the Indian History in the right sense will know the consequences of Divide and Rule policy of the rulers. Dear Indian, wake up and give the call of unity and support the person (physical or virtual) who aims for Unified India, Vibrant India, Glorious India!!!
