Regarding the Language and Grammar of Teachers

[Guest guest]

[Just "thinking aloud". (Or should it be "writing aloud"?)]

 

Clearly, some Teachers, Masters, Gurus, Swamis, Yogis, etc do not have

English as their first language. This gives rise to some confusion at

times regarding the meaning and semantics of their teachings.

 

My Yoga teachers' teacher speaks Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Sanskrit, German,

English, French, Italian, and possibly other languages. This allows him to

provide instruction in Yoga to a wide variety of people inside and outside

India.

 

Although it could be claimed that his spoken teaching is not always

grammatically correct, it is usually difficult to find a better way of

stating the same information in a grammatically correct fashion. What he

says in one sentence might require several paragraphs to state in correct

English, due to the way the information is structured and presented. The

single sentence format is also easier to remember (even years later,

without written notes). He also uses words from several languages within

his teaching when this suits his intended purpose and audience.

 

In addition to the above, the very nature of the subject of Yoga is such

that even someone with an erudite mastery of a language cannot easily,

effectively or adequately describe many of the high level concepts of Yoga

(being beyond merely verbal communication).

 

We can also consider another point of view. Very often, the Teachers who

know a language very well, are often intentionally vague, imprecise,

indirect, devious, etc, initially, even though they could provide clear

teachings. (This even applies to Gods/Goddesses, for example in the

classical/traditional literature.) This is to help the students think for

themselves. Teachers are extremely pleased when a student achieves

understanding of a topic/concept by their own efforts and merits (with

minimal assistance from the Teachers). The quality of the learning is also

deeper than with the "spoon-fed" style.

 

Hari Om.

 

Bhavin.