The confession of a Teacher

What Teaching Means to Me: The confession of a Teacher-

By Ajit Kumar Pandey

!!!”Gurur Brahma gurur Vishnu gurur devo Maheswarah. Gurur sakshat parambrahmah tasmi sri gurave namah”!!!!

Teaching is not a profession or a means to win bread and butter rather than it is a cult of generating human Values, Moral and Sense of being a good Human being. I do not consider myself a teacher because I am a teacher by profession but because a TEACHER lives inside me.  I believe it would be out of a conservative vision if I say; Teaching is something linked with passing knowledge from one end to another or merely a means to earn bread and butter or even to have an identity in the social strata, but to me, more profoundly, it is to flow values through time in the society. I am a teacher and a pupil of this cult and firmly believe and practice the ethos of this cult.  To the follower of this cult, teaching is making society understand the values of being a value driven social being and to make the society practice the norms of a civilized Society.  Teaching is a commitment and to stand committed is passion; a passion to enjoy pleasure in pain, to gain out of loss, and to stand in the tune of odds. I, selflessly, often pray My Guru to help in incarnation of a teacher with flowing strength, energy and nourishment that HE possesses and helps in keeping the teacher inside a teacher alive. It would be a lie if I disagree from being a professional teacher by choice. I do not hesitate to confess that I am into this profession by chance but I follow the cult of teaching by choice and by the grace of my GURU, I am getting the room to survive.

You must wonder who my GURU is.  I find the impression of my GURU in every walk of my life, I find my Guru in a poor rickshaw puller who in his age of brown hairs with wrinkled faces, pulls the rickshaw and thinks of my comfort. True he earns bread out of it but still teaches me the lesson of hard work without worries and shame. I find my GURU in a child who is natural, innocent, fearless and happy with whatever he has in his hand. I often see my GURU in the eyes of my students who extend their mark of respect for me and teach me the lesson of respecting them in turn. My mother too is my Guru who teaches me the lesson of patience and sacrifice without quid pro quo. I am too little to count the number of impressions of my GURU I find every where. It baffle me quite often with the question, do really I am deprived of my Guru? No! Neither I nor any one here on this materialistic so called civilized society really need to have GURU. What is needed is to have faith and tolerance towards the sufferings. What is needed is to have introspection and finding out the teacher inside we all have. When I question myself being in perplexed state of mind, is it what my Guru expects from me, I get the answer of my query and eventually get the right path to move on.

I often search Saraswati who is the source of wisdom and prudence and pray her to make me awake and to keep me out of the dark of ignorance and false vanity. I am providentially survivor with HER kind, affectionate and divine blessings.  And also SHE is kind enough to pardon me for my arrogance, misconduct and cruelty towards my own life and pride. SHE is our mother and has given me the eyes of wisdom and a mind to use it. But where is SHE?  Why SHE is not seen or felt?  Does SHE really exist or it is my illusion or stupidity to accept what I was taught and tuned and got convinced with wrong impression of Maa Saraswati at my early childhood?  On many occasions, I asked many similar questions to me while undergoing introspection and meditating around similar stupid questions. I did not find the answer of even single such question. Then I raised the same questions in front of the teacher inside me like an inquisitive child.  I got the answer. Maa Saraswati is very much existent and can be felt. The Prudence and wisdom we carry is none but Maa Saraswati living in peace inside each one of us. I can feel HER as and when I look towards the Teacher inside me.

I really wonder who I am; a teacher by profession and by chance or a teacher by choice and by virtue of being in this cult?  And, the time has come when I got realized that latter one is true for me. And now, I should help in making every one to understand that a teacher lives with them. I very humbly request each one of you in teaching to incarnate and get closer to “the teacher” and feel the pleasure out of pain and win out of loss. No wonder if one finds himself a different person with the aura of excellent personification and aroma of fresh air from the Garden of his teacher.

Some times, when one tries to justify an act, (s)he starts acting like an actor. (S)He gets trapped in the conflict of split personality. A true professional teacher is one of them. To me, every one is a teacher by virtue of being an animal with brain and power to distinguish “Right & Wrong”. But one, who is a teacher, should be a teacher in true sense rather than a teacher in professional jargon and senses. In this context, I wonder, how do I justify Guru Dronacharya who took the thumb of Eklavya. Probably, I am either not of that purity of mind & soul to understand the Act of Dronacharya or Dronacharya might have done out of his professional commitment which I can’t justify. Why can’t a pupil like Eklavya recite “Tamshomaa Jyotirgamay”?  How many more Eklavya we want to take birth? Why can’t I stop it now? Two Wrongs never make a Right! The Wrong in the past can’t be carried on under any validation. But is it possible to mark an impression upon the teaching community?

Once Gurudev Tagore recited “ Ekla Chalo Re” and it became “RICHA” { Vedic Mantras} for me to propagate the essence of Teaching Cult. I understand the best way to advocate this cult is to be the role model. And to set a path for the others who can get inspired by the eternal peace & pleasure you enjoy. This is how I want to reach to the mass and pass the message to one and all. I hereby bestow my association with the Teaching Cult to carry high values while practicing it and look towards Teachers to realize it at their own for setting the path-way of reaching the Glories of Guru Cult.

I won’t deny acknowledging my endeavor to go back to our Indian Teaching Tradition and my quest to find the influence of eastern philosophy of teaching where a teacher is the model for the mankind and carries high value dissimilating the knowledge and wisdom to the entire society. Where a teacher followed the strict path of discipline, high moral and set the footprint for his pupils through his key observation of happening in the society, analysis of the events taking place in the periphery and convincing the mass about the reality. He used to make his extensive knowledge and experience instrumental in establishing the logic behind the belief of the society without being in trap of prejudice and biasness. I trust, the role of a teacher is to be a facilitator thereby meaning he should enable pupils to become responsible for their own learning and understanding the values in the society. I do recognize that students learn in different ways and I am committed to including all in the learning process. I often assume the responsibility of building a relationship with students while respecting students for their capability.  When ever I think about a teacher, I remember Aristotle who was of the opinion that a teacher should teach while walking thereby meaning “a teacher should not embrace himself within the boundary of formal education”. I advocate the teaching philosophy of Great Author Rabindra Nath Tagore who was of the vision of multi-dimensional and multidirectional teaching for the Universalization.

I being the disciple of Teaching Cult have started my journey to fetch Purity of mind & Soul and look forward to survive in this acquisitive world. Once, Mahatma Gandhi experimented with truth; now let me experiment with Purity of mind and soul.

Tags: confession, Teacher