Salutations to the Guru
Guru Shishya Parampara is a tradition in India that leads to an inseparable bond between who teaches and the taught. India celebrates Teachers’ Day every year on 5 September, the birth anniversary of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Teachers’ Day is when students express their gratitude to the teachers. It is a day when students become teachers, and teachers become students. In the journey of learning in life, one comes across many teachers. For those who are lucky, some of the teachers remain mentors for a lifetime. If you are fortunate, you will have Gurus guiding you forever. The observation reminds all the students to pay tribute to all those selfless, committed, and dedicated souls who gave everything they have to nurture and mentor to help each other realise their potential and make their dreams a reality.
Salutations to the Guru, who revealed the power of timeless, infinite truth
to me and which transcends the Universe
– from ancient scriptures
Guru Shishya Parampara is a tradition in India that leads to an inseparable bond between who teaches and the taught. India celebrates Teachers’ Day every year on 5 September, the birth anniversary of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a great scholar and celebrated son of India. The observation goes back to Dr Radhakrishnana suggesting to his students, in response to their request to celebrate his birthday as a special day, to observe his birthday as Teachers’ Day, sowing the seeds to celebrating Teachers Day on 5 September.
Dr Radhakrishnan was born near the border of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. His education happened in small towns (Thiruttani, Tirupati and Walajapet). He depended on scholarships to complete his education. Dr Radhakrishnan started teaching at Madras Presidency College and became Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University and Banaras Hindu University. He also served as faculty at Oxford for 16 years. He was recognised by being knighted (1931) and awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1954. One of the less-known contributions of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan is that he is one of the founders of HelpAge India, an NGO for the elderly and underprivileged in India.
Teachers’ Day is when students express their gratitude to the teachers. It is a day when students become teachers, and teachers become students. Dressed up and imitating their teachers, students take classes with junior students.
One of my students sent a nice Teachers Day wishes and shared information that I found very relevant. A person who gives information is ‘Adhyapak’ (Teacher), who imparts knowledge along with information is ‘Upadhyaya’, the one who imparts skills is ‘Acharya’, Â and the one who can awaken the wisdom in you, leading you from darkness to light is ‘Guru’.
In the journey of learning in life, one comes across many teachers. For those who are lucky, some of the teachers remain mentors for a lifetime. In a world becoming more materialistic and student-teacher relations confined to the four walls of the classroom, celebrating ‘Teachers Day’ is a reminder that the ‘Teacher’ role goes beyond academic learning. The observation reminds all the students to pay tribute to all those selfless, committed, and dedicated souls who gave everything they have to nurture and mentor to help each other realise their potential and make their dreams a reality.
Teaching should not be a profession. It must be a passion.
Only then can education move from the imposition of facts to the exploration of the truth.
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
Toons: Reema and Anusha
Logs: Sai Baba
ToonLogs was posted on the same topic and can be accessed at:
in 2020: https://niascomm.in/2020/09/04/teachers-day/
In 2021: https://niascomm.in/2021/09/06/teachers-day-2/
