KATHAM️
Today, the 5th September 2020, Saturday, India celebrates Teacher’s Day to mark the birth anniversary of its second President of independent India Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who was born on 5th September 1888. He was a firm believer of education and well-known philosopher cum statesman. Above all, he was an outstanding and respected teacher.
Let me wish Prof. Dr Dineshkumar Harursampath a ‘Happy Teachers’ Day! He deserves many more accolades for his dual role as an accomplished academic Educator and as a spiritual Guru through his awakening Katham. As a teacher, he pulls students to perform outward, but as a Guru, he makes everyone look inward.
Among all the creations, only the evolution of human progress is phenomenal. Who is responsible for such a transformation? Teachers! Scriptures describe the examples of outstanding teachers such as Dronacharya, Vishwamitra and many more. The teachings of Dronacharya have shown Arjuna to Arjuna and guided him to win the battle with his own teacher. What more is needed to showcase such exemplary teachers?
Showing gratitude to teachers has been a ritual performed from the Vedic ages. The practice of ancient India’s ‘Gurukul’ education system and adaptation of Guru-Shishya “parampara”, have created a divinely educational system wherein, teachers instill moral values, discipline and sense of confidence in their pupils. After the completion of the learning process, pupils paid some tribute to their Gurus to commemorate their selfless service.
Being a noble profession, the art of teaching creates all other professions. It is no wonder; our Hindu culture has always grouped “Matha, Pitha, Guru, Daivam” into one, and without them, there is no life. If we could delete the teachings of our teachers from us, nothing of us will remain.
Whatever be the price we have paid for our teachers is less significant compared to the priceless treasure we got from them. The values our teachers live by and the values they impart to us are exemplary. They derive fulfillment from creating people and are committed to passing such values to the next generations.
Great teachers make the low-grade students good and average-grade students brilliant. Inspiring teachers always produce inspired students. They leave a little fragrance in us and live in our hearts forever. What we are today is because of our teachers.
On this memorable ‘Teachers Day’, let us rise up and be thankful once again to our beloved teachers!
Dineshkumar Harursampath
Srī A. V. Srīnivāsan Chinna thāthā, I’m completely bowled over by your kind, generous & profound outpouring towards all our 👩🏫 teachers 👨🏫 on this 132nd birth anniversary of one of the most remarkable teachers, President Dr. Sarvepalli Rādhākrišnan. Unlike for children’s day, we’ve an absolutely apt personality’s birthday 🎁 to commemorate teachers’ day!!! Katham is a shining example of a forum for the simple wisdom of unity in diversity, with its motto of striving to be here now. Though formal teachers like me are celebrated today, the honour today has to really go to all of us receptive students, without whom teaching/teachers have no significance or meaning. To get the pulse of the young katham readers & parents, I had asked a V grade kid what she'd like to read on teachers’ day. And she said "write about cartoons, games, my favourite God Kršnā etc., in fact anything but studies & advices, which we anyway get in plenty all the time!" So instead of highlighting the do's & dont's for students, I thought it'd be better to share a few thoughts for us parents & teachers to make kids' lives more enjoyable!!! Unconditionally enjoying life to its core is what makes a kid a kid. We celebrate Krsna's naughtiness but ironically condemn our own kids' & students' naughtiness. Krsna is so adorable primarily because of his ability to creatively express his naughtiness. There's creativity even in his apparent destruction. You see that in the PM's demonetisation drive as well as the BBMP's highly laudable anti-encroachment drive too. Kids are bundles of bursting energy and all that we need to do is just expose them to creative avenues to spend that energy. Hence, we should actually facilitate their natural inclination to enjoyment, or at least avoid coming in its way. My tips for elders, parents & teachers here would rather be four myth busters! These are intentionally delivered in an open forum accessible to your wards as witnesses! Myth no. 1: Hard work VS effortless work! How many of us students have not been told to work hard? None!!! Almost everybody is told to work hard. How many of us have been told that there's no substitute for hard work? Almost everyone! Hard work can transform to effortless work, if only you love your work! Did we teachers and trainers get tired working for hours on end day after day to make the lives of our students successful? No, not at all, because we loved what we did. Did we as students get tired rehearsing our performances, let’s say for a school annual day, innumerable times. No, because we loved it. So, let's take this forward to everything that we do. Let’s tirelessly do what we love & love what we do effortlessly. Myth no. 2: God-fearing VS God-loving! This myth arises due to the misunderstanding of the concept of God as someone sitting far away & judging us. In reality, irrespective of which religion one follows or even if one were a so-called atheist/rationalist, there is a four-fold principle one ought to realise and rise in love with: omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience & eternity. The "carrot & stick" policy of yesteryears has given way to "realising the carrot halwa in every carrot" policy today. So no more fear of God please! Only love of God. Anbe Śivam. Myth no. 3: Focus VS awareness! How many of us have been told to concentrate on our studies or focus on our work? But today, focus & concentration are losing their battle VS awareness & deconcentration. Yes, meditation is a good start but, if done appropriately, it should lead you to a meditative state of life always instead of a few minutes of meditation once in a while! And that perpetual meditative state is nothing but the complete awareness of everything in & around you to tap what's best for all involved. Myth no. 4: Depth VS breadth! How many of us have been told to study more for an "important" subject in detail? Many indeed. However, in the battle of Depth VS breadth, the winner has already been declared for this age: And the winner is "breadth of exposure, followed by depth in field of individual choice." It’s said that the mother is the first teacher 👩🏫 & father is the first guru 👨🏫. Take my own example. I owe almost all my success to the trust, patience & freedom given by my dad to choose whatever field I wanted to specialise in. So, despite many doctors & police officers in the family, I was allowed to choose & in fact encouraged to be what I wanted - an aerospace 🚀 engineer 👨💻, a professor 👨🏫 & a spiritual seeker ever willing to share it all with fellow seekers. When we get to do what we like, we automatically excel in it. And I wish the same for everyone of you on this profound day celebrating all our teachers, which is the entire world 🗺 jagad & hence the term Jagadguru. JaiHind, JaiViśwa, JaiViśwaGurudevā!
Asha Raghavan
Sri Srinivasan,another enlightening write up. Let me share my thoughts as a teacher.. I have worked in 4 schools ...no regimentation in any of them...that makes it a joy of learning. Only one facet is 'learning'. A teacher establishes a rapport with her students by being a philosopher and a guide. I am pragmatic when I write... standing and teaching, having eye contact with the children, patiently listening to a child, not snubbing a child, no touchin a child. A teacher may not know the answers to their questions.Saying, "I will come back with an answer" builds confidence in a child. The above are classroom decorum to be followed. To extrapolate a teacher's role, make them responsible citizens, to respect environment( eg, when going into the sanctuary, they should be clad in dull,earthy coloured attire to camouflage). Teaching them survival skills is part and parcel of education. We took the children to Gopalaswamy betta.The place where we camped had no restrooms in the whole village. Teenagers, (boys and girls) manged efficiently, not losing their dignity, not grumbling..well they were briefed about this! I am going off at a tangent.. I pray that all of these ideals will reach down to the kids in the remotest cornerof the world. Above all, Bhagavan Krishna ia the best Teacher.
Asha Raghavan
correction...managed, not manged
VINYAS M
Fantastic thoughts gurugale👏🙏
R.Gokul Krishnan
Neatly written. Indian education needs Guru Shishya Parampara in the coming days as it is the only way our entire youth of the Nation will be displined and also be progressive in this westernized era. Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah.
Shivkumar S
Good thoughts... nicely articulated. Teachers make better future.
Divya Shankar
Very nice article reiterating the role of teachers in shaping young minds!
viv bab
Very Nice write up by Srī A. V. Srīnivāsan as it gives a glimpse of 'Gurukul' a vedic education system. In BTW excellent myth busters by Prof Dr. Dineshkumar in his comment.
Vivek Pachaiyappan
A well written article about the teacher’s role in showing us the path.
Parthasarthy Anandakumar
Mr A.V. SRINIVASAN has penned well about the teachers. Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan had said"True Teachers are those who help us to think ouselves".Teachers day writing are very memorable and thoughtful.