ॐ सह नाववतु ।
सह नौ भुनक्तु ।
सह वीर्यं करवावहै ।
तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषावहै ।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
Om, may He protect us both (teacher and the taught).
May He look after us both to enjoy (the fruits of
scriptural study). May we both exert together (to find the
true meaning of the sacred text). May our studies be
fruitful so that we acquire lustre. May we never quarrel
with each other. Om Shanti! Shanti!! Shanti!!!
One of the prominent Vedic mantras from Taittriya upanishad, it is recited on a daily basis in many households. Though the mantra asks for a benedictions for teacher-student duo, a deeper thought over it throws some light on Indian Pedagogy and its origins.
Bhartiya Darshans have always conceptualized Knowledge/Gyaan as inherent dharma/guna/quality of Atma. A human being takes birth with knowledge as his innate characteristic however, it this Gyaan is covered due to a veil of ignorance (Agyaan). This one proposition of Bharatiya Darshans had such a deep impact on our tradition.
A Guru's role was thus, removing the veil of ignorance rather then imparting knowledge from a higher level to a lower one. Many of our scriptures like Bhagwad Geeta, Upanishads, Bhagwatam are a conversation between Guru and a Shishya. A Guru in these scriptures is seen as the one who stimulates the Shishya to contemplate on a point, connect dots for a better understanding, dwell deeper in it by asking appropriate questions.
Probably this is the reason why Guru Gita describes the word Guru as,
गुकारश्चान्धकारस्तु रुकारस्तन्निरोधकृत्।
अन्धकारविनाशित्वात् गुरुरित्यभिधीयते।।
'Gu' stands for the darkness of ignorance and 'Ru' stands for remover/dispeller, thus the word 'Guru' means ' remover of darkness of ignorance'.
A simple aphorism of our Darshan shastra had such major impact on our pedagogy. It made the Guru-shishya relationship more cohesive and interdependent. The Shishya served the Guru out of reverence, not out of fear; Guru Dakshina was given at end of education to express gratitude, not as an exchange against knowledge given.
Its even more interesting to compare the word ' Guru' with the contemporary word 'Teacher'. According to Cambridge dictionary, 'Teacher' denotes 'a person who instructs or trains others'.When human being is considered to born as 'tabula rasa (blank slate)', its obvious that he has to be instructed, trained and taught everything anew.
Dr. Karan Mittal
MBBS, M.A ( Sanskrit, Clinical Psychology)
M.Sc ( Counselling Psychology), PGDCH
