Honoring and saying thanks to teachers is, indeed, a most beautiful thing. Good teachers cherish immense confidence and belief in the potential of their students to succeed. They convince us that we can do anything we set our minds to, and they keep pushing us to our limits until we achieve them. Good teachers don’t let us stop at one thing. They continuously encourage us to explore and learn new ideas and concepts.
Most times, just at the time that they graduate, students in the western world honor their teachers in a number of ways. They may give them greeting or gift cards or buy them gifts. Students in the Vedic-Hindu world are somewhat different. On the day of graduation, they resolve not to eat any hard, salted, spicy food. They take a shower, wear clean clothes, sit in their teachers’ company for the performance of Havan, and then at the appointed time, they touch their teacher’s feet with both hands and head. In so doing, the student acknowledges his teacher as
Acharya: the one who systematically equipped him with genuine ideas of knowledge,
Kshetra-vit: the one who showed him a path in life for him to walk on,
Guru: the one who helped him overcome untruth, darkness and death,
and after the student bows to his feet, the teacher blesses him, saying: Speak truth, walk the path of virtue, never forget what I taught you, and treat your mother, father, teacher and guest in a godly manner.
By corollary, it would mean that, unlike what happens in today’s Hindu world, one cannot be, nor even seek to be, a Guru if he does not know and/or he does not teach. The idea that a Guru can transform you by merely touching your head to infuse so-called energy in you does not at all sync with the Vedic tradition. Such an idea finds no mention in the Hindu scriptures. This is the reason that Vedic-Hindu teachers, like Swami Shankaracharya and Rishi Dayananda, placed all emphasis on being taught by bona fide teachers. So, on this day, come join me in bowing
1. to God as the world’s first Teacher, for He gave Vedic wisdom at the beginning,
2. to the first Rishis – Agni Vayu, Aditya and Angiras – for having received Vedas from God,
3. to the long line of subsequent teachers that include Maharshi Brahma, Maharshi Manu, and others,
4. to Rishi Valmiki and Krishna Dwaipayana Veda Vyas who gave us the Ramayana and Mahabharata,
5. to the unknown Acharyas who gave us the Upanishads,
6. to the six Acharyas who gave us the six Darshanas,
7. to Adi Shankara who saved Vedic Religion from atheism,
8. to Goswami Tulsi Das who gave us the story of Shri Raam in vernacular, and
9. to Rishi Dayananda Saraswati who gave us the encyclopedic Satyarth Prakash.
Namah Parama Rishibhyo – Namah Parama Rishibhyah
Salutations To These Rishis Again And Again!
DR SATISH PRAKASH
Dr Satish, Guruji, studied in India where he obtained his doctorate. He is mostly based in Guyana. He visits USA occasionally. He was in NY for the Arya Conference held on Thursday thru Sunday July 18 thru 21. Pix shows his graduation ceremony for PhD and seated for flight to Guyana.
