Teacher-student relationship

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Teacher-student relationship (An Article from the Religious Section of The

Hindu taken with permission: "Copyrights 2000 The Hindu & Tribeca Internet

Initiatives Inc.")

 

With the enormous spiritual powers and deep knowledge gained by their

austerities and penance, sages were in a position to identify students who

would be eager to grasp what was transmitted and propagate the same. They

were provided with the vision to assess the disciples' capacity. If they

anticipated that a few would shine very well, they never hesitated to welcome

them. The students too admired the skill of their masters and rushed to their

midst. Their relationship was compared to the affection of a cow to her calf

and vice versa. In respect of those to whom spiritual guides chose to give

``initiation'', they used to test their sincerity and whether they had given

up desires and anger.

 

A teacher once asked the servant to empty the contents of the dustbin on a

student. The latter got annoyed and threatened to beat her. Next time when

the experiment was repeated, he only scolded her. On the third occasion, he

was absolutely calm and the teacher certified that he was fit to receive

lessons. The Mahabharata refers to the attitude of two groups of the same

family, one bent upon destroying the other because of jealousy and hatred

while the other group was wedded to virtue. All of them were trained in

archery, wrestling and other martial arts but their grandsire wanted them to

undergo advanced training using the power of the Mantras and it was then an

expert in all the Vedas and also in ``Dhanur Veda'' (archery) arrived.

 

The Kaurava group thought him to be an ordinary teacher and failed to give due

respect whereas the Pandavas extended him all honour, revered him and

welcomed him. Sri K. P. Arivanandam, in a lecture, said Drona, from a humble

family, and Dhrupada, a prince, studied under the same teacher and they

became so attached to one another, that the latter assured the former that

when he ascended the throne, he would give half his kingdom to the other. On

one occasion, the poor Drona was compelled to seek just a cow from King

Dhrupada to feed his only child with milk.

 

There cannot be greater measure of grief for parents than denying even an

ordinary demand of their child. But Dhrupada, drunk with power and surrounded

by other wealthy persons, declaring that friendship could exist only between

equals, not only declined to recognize him as his classmate but advised him

not to pester him. Stung by his haughtiness, Drona vowed to take revenge on

him by training a young man who would defeat him. Drona imparted instructions

to both the groups but Arjuna turned out as an expert and Drona got his vow

fulfilled through him.