This year Guru Poornima is today, July 10th. Guru Poornima is also the birth anniversary of Maharishi Ved Vyasa, the Maharishi who compiled The Mahabharata. It is also the day when Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath. Actually Bharat should be celebrating Guru Poornima as Teachers Day. We have the long standing tradition of Gurukuls and our Upanishads clearly explain who should become a Guru. But that debate is for another day.
On this Guru Poornima day, I wanted to share a few excerpts from my Master’s discourses, these are relevant to the concept of Guru or as we loosely call them, teacher.
The following excerpt is taken from Osho’s discourses on Vedanta – Seven Steps to Samadhi, the Sixth discourse is titled With the Grace of the Sages.
“….. In India in the days of the Upanishads the teacher was the center, and the real thing was not what he was teaching; the real thing was what he was. Just his presence was a deep phenomenon; it helped the person to grow. He cared, he loved, and teaching was secondary, teaching followed.
That was also not very important. The important thing was to be near a person who was grown- up, who was really an adult. So the way, the method that was followed was really one of the most intricate systems ever developed in the world.”
“……When the son had reached fifty and was ready to pack to go to the forest, the father would be seventy-five and he would have renounced life. Now he was an old, wise man; he had lived life.
And this man would become the teacher. At the age of seventy-five he would move to the forest, he would create a small school around him, he would become the teacher. And this was the thought:
that only an old man can be the teacher, because how can one who has not lived life be a teacher?
How can one who has not known all – the good and the bad both; one who has not moved through all the ways that life gives you, the right and the wrong both – how can he be a teacher? Only one who has been through desires, who has known the intensity of desires and the foolishness also, who has been into sex and who has gone beyond sex – only such a man can be a teacher, only such a man can teach life.
It was inconceivable that a young man could become a teacher. It was inconceivable. How can he become a teacher? He has not been through life, he is not yet seasoned. One must be with old, wise men, in their care, just near them; such men who can explain what right listening is, right remembering is, right conduct is, right contemplation is, right meditation is. And you cannot explain these things just by reading and studying; only a lived experience can make you capable of teaching.”
Hinduism’s ashrama system – Brahmacharya (Student life); Grihastha (Householder); Vanaprastha (Literal translation is Forest Dweller, but in reality it was to get out of business/earning member status) and finally Sannyasa (renunciate). It’s approximately divided into 25 years each. Basically, when your child completes his education and is ready to start earning and creates a family of his own, the father must stop being the bread winner and move into being a student of his inner world. So the forest was about meditation, knowing oneself and learning the scriptures.
What a beautiful system it was !! No young men becoming Gurus. It was important that one who has gone through all different experiences and transcended them, becomes the teacher.
Unfortunately like with everything else, Education has just become a means of preparing a child to earn well. The original meaning of the word Education has been forgotten – to prepare a child to “live” well. But there are pockets of change and hopefully, we course correct quickly enough. We may not be able to fill the schools with teachers who are old and experienced, but we can certainly fill our schools with teachers who are gifted, well informed and love to teach. There are many such teachers all over Bharat. Deep gratitude to all of them.
I was fortunate to have one such teacher in Vidyasagar Sir. Have written about him – To Sir With Love. Thank you Sir.
This Guru Purnima, I wanted to thank someone who has helped me and many other people to live without popping pills for every single ailment. Rajan Mahendra, the founder of Aarogyahaar is on a mission to help people stay healthy. He helps you focus on the psyche-mind-body connection and thereby find relief for everything from a headache to even cancer. May his Gurus bless him with deeper knowledge so that he can share it with more people. Thank you Rajan 🙏🏿
And for my Master, whose lotus feet I couldn’t touch when he still in the body, I touch my forehead today and every single day in deep gratitude. I know you are leading me to the right learnings, and putting me on the right path every minute. Your grace is showering like the moonlight today. Thank you Master 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
Disclaimer – I post excerpts from Osho’s books and discourses and sometimes share his quotes. In most of the posts, the link to the full audio or full transcript is given. Osho is the Master, and to understand him, please listen to him or read his books. These excerpts are my limited interpretations with my limited understanding. Nothing original and I could be totally off the mark. The highlights and italics/bold font is also done by me.