Ancient Preceptor (Guru) And Disciple, V/S Modern Teacher And Student

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By: Mohd. Salim Khan, Associate Editor-ICN 

Sahaswan/Badaun: God has made man’s relationship with him and his relatives to live & to mannage their affairs to co.operate each other easily in the world. The most precious heritage of nature was made in the form of parents, siblings and other relationships were gifted in our bag.  On the success of any person, his parents, brothers and sisters, &  other relatives are very glad, but there is also a relations between these which is not related to blood relation and natural but it has been certified on the basis of love affection and loyalty for centuries.  The relation that continues to be fulfilled is that of teacher and disciple.Teacher is the only person who is glad at the success of his student after his parents.In this world, only and only one father is such a person who wants his son or daughter to see more educated and serve the country by occupying an even higher position. than he. Except the father of a child there is only teacher is the person who wants to see his students to see sitting on high dignity more than he.In the rest of the relations the adultration is felt somewhere. The relationship between teacher and disciple has been of high quality of love and respect for centuries. There have also been such disciples in this world who have defined the relationship of the teacher and the disciple as having a higher order by performing the high moral service & to be dedicated towards their teacher. In the history of our great country India, there are many such examples of  highest quality of love and service of teacher and disciple, which the student of today can understand what kind of students were before them. In this article of today, I am trying to make  a small effort to show the love, affection and service of the highest quality between the teacher and the disciple.
When something is to mention or to say about the teacher and  the disciple, the name of Swami Vivekananda cannot be  avoided. In my previous article Swami Vivekananda, ”The Legend of India,” I have a high level of respect for Swami Vivekananda and his Guru Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.  The love and service sentiment was described when Swami Vivekananda’s Guru Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was in the last moments of his life, because of cancer there was a lot of pain in his throat and blood sputum and spit was coming out of his mouth, Swami Vivekananda  was serving his beloved teacher in a state of illness with reverence.  One day another of his disciples turned his face towards Swamiji, looking at him with inferiority complex.On seeing this, Swami Vivekananda, while teaching the lesson of service of the Guru to his classmate, drank the spit box filled with blood and sputum, kept near Guruji’s bed.  Swami Vivekananda’s matchless love and respect and dedication towards his Guru is unmatched in itself.Even today the students are inspred by the high moral values and teachings of Swami Vivekananda.
While describing the infinite love and respect between the teacher and the disciple, I would like to tell my readers about a disciple who despite being the King of  great nation INDIA , respects his Guru as a disciple, with love and affection.  His heart was filled with code & who rulled over India about 49 years from 1658 to 1707, I would like to tell my readers an incident of Aurangzeb Alamgir, the sixth emperor of the Mughal dynasty, who ruled this great country of India.  Once the teacer of Mughal emperor reached his court to meet Aurangzeb. The soldier standing at the door stopped Aurangzeb’s teacher and said to him,” where are you going sir ?”  His preceptor said I want to meet Aurangzeb.  The soldier said to him, ”Sir you are taking the name of the emperor  in front of me.”  Aurangzeb’s preceptor said, “Yes, I am taking the name. Go inside and say to Aurangzeb, an old man is calling you after taking your name.”  The soldier got nervous and started thinking who is this person who is so fearlessly calling the name of the emperor.?  The soldier went to the court fearfully and politely said to emperor Aurangzeb, ” Your majesty, an old man is calling you by taking your name.”  Aurangzeb immediately rose from his throne and said, ” My name can be  taken only  either by  my  respected father or my respected preceptor. He atonce reached at the gate, embreced his old & torn wearing clothes preceptor  This anecdote is quite big, I will ever narrate the whole anecdote in my article written on Aurangzeb.  This is to say that despite being a king, the respect Aurangzeb had for his preceptor (teacher)  in his heart is exemplary in itself.
When the Guru and the disciple are mentioned, then in such a situation, if there is no mention of Guru Dronacharya and the disciple Eklavya, then that reference (mention) and article will be incomplete.  As we all know that Guru Dronacharya was the preceptor (guru) of the Pandavas and taught Arjuna the art of archery.  Guru Dronacharya had blessed Arjuna that no one can compete with Arjuna in   archery.  Eklavya, a child belonging to a Bhil caste.  He pleaded with Guru Dronacharya that Guru Dronacharya should make him his disciple but Guru Dronacharya refused to make Eklavya his disciple, saying that he only teaches archery to the princes of Hastinapur.  Even after hearing this, Eklavya did not give up and made an effigy (idole) of Guru Dronacharya and accepted him as his guru and started practicing archery in front of that effigy.  Who can change the destiny i? Talent is not the property of any rich person, & many times it stays ahead of the palace even after staying in the hut and it was  happened with Eklavya and Arjuna, Eklavya became proficient in archery while practicing.One day Eklavya was practicing archery and a dog was barking loudly and would create a hindrance while he was practicing, Eklavya used his talent and  he stopped the dog’s mouth with his arrow.  When Arjuna saw that dog, he was amazed and wondered who is more skilled in archery than him.  He immediately came to his mentor, Guru Dronacharya and was afraid of him saying that you had blessed me that no one can compete with me in archery  and on the other hand you made someone more skilled than I,  by making him your disciple. On hearing this, Guru Dronacharya was very surprised and he said to Arjuna, “This is your illusion, I did not make anyone else my disciple”.  On this, Arjun said, then who is such a person who is so adept  in archery, who can stop the sound of a dog with his arrow.  Guru Dronacharya went to the place where Eklavya was practicing of archery.  Seeing Guru Dronacharya, Eklavya touched his feet and on his asking, Eklavya told Guru Dronacharya that he stopped the dog’s mouth with his arrow and made an effigy of Guru Dronacharya and considered him his preceptor and practiced archery.  Guru Dronacharya was very impressed with Ekalavya’s skills  and he also realized that Ekalavya is more proficient in archery than Arjuna.  Since Guru Dronacharya had blessed Arjuna that no one could defeat Arjuna in archery. He said to Ekalavya, “Ekalavya, if you consider me your preceptor will you not give me  reward of a preceptor (Guru Dakshina).”  Eklavya bowed his head and said to his Guru, Guruji, please you order me what you want. Guru Dronacharya asked Eklavya to present him the thumb of his right hand as a reward (Guru Dakshina).  Demonstrating service and devotion towards his Guru, Eklavya immediately cut his right hand thumb from the dagger and placed it at the feet of Guru Dronacharya. Such a devoted disciple of his Guru is a source of inspiration for us today.  The disciple, who cut his thumb in the pages of history as Guru Dakshina at the feet of his Guru Dronacharya, surpassed Arjuna, who lived in the Palace, living in the hut.  This incident teaches us no matter,  how the preceptor (Guru) should behave towards us, but under no circumstances should we disrespect the  preceptor (Guru)  and in any case follow the orders of our preceptor (Guru).
In fact, the environment of the house and the etiquettes given by the parents to their children contribute greatly to install in the heart of the disciple a feeling of respect and love for his preceptor (guru). Such kind of period has passed when the princess of royal families used to study in the seminary (ashram) or hut  made of straw and madrasas located in the forest (jungles). The parents of the children especially prayed to the preceptor for their children’s etiquettes to be done daily routine work by their children so that their children in life can learn how domestic tasks are done and the children studying in seminaries, ashrams and madrasas would do the daily tasks of their preceptor (Guru ji) such as arranging water for bathing.  To suppress the feet, lay the food sheet (dastrakhan) while eating and  to arrange water along with the food items at the  food sheet (dastarkhan) not only to arrange water for the preceptor but also to keep water in the toilet for his teacher.  It was the responsibility of the disciples and all the disciples used to do it with great pleasure.
The great Mughal emperor of great nation India, Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar kept away his heir Noor-uddin Mohammad Salim from the silky veil of his mother empress Jodha bai & from the luxaries of the grand  palace just because so that Noor-uddin Mohammad Salim could become a skilled commander.  This Noor-uddin Mohammad Salim later became known as the Mughal emperor Jahangir and the justice of Jahangir became more famous than his name.  The pride of the preceptors  (gurus) of earlier times would have been so strong that, no matter for the common people, but the children of the emperors as well as kings  themselves used to go to the seminaries (ashrams) and (madrasas) to study.
I got my primary education in Delhi and studied from class 1 to class 10 of C.B.S.E Board Delhi.  My respected father late Afad Ali Khan was in job  at Hamdard wakf laboratories (Dawakhana) in Lal Kuan Ballimaran, Delhi.  At the time, I was a student of class 6, our class teacher was Mr. Kalicharan Sir. At that time he used to live in a rented house.  For some reason, Kalicharan Sir had to change the house two or three times. Within a span of 3 years, our teacher changed the house two or three times. As I have been very close to my teachers since childhood and this situation remains as far as possible even today.  I try my best to get in touch with my teachers. Although I am very anxious  to meet and  to see the teachers who taught me in Delhi, but due to the transfer process I cannot meet them and most of  the teacher must have retired but even today whenever I go to Delhi, I must go to the school from which I got my early education sitting on the ground. How much am I glad to see that school can only be felt. Although the school building is no longer the same, the new building of the school has become very much in that place.  Whenever our class teacher Mr. Kalicharan Sir used to vacate his house, he used to call other students of our class instead of laborers to transfer the bag & baggage  of their house from one place to another.  I remember that I and other classmates of my class such as Muheen-uddin Pawan Tyagi, Surendra Kumar,  Naseem Ansari, & Ali Ahmad used to gladly carry the house hold things of my head from one place to another and kept it on my head and  put it on the destination. we  did not even think that our sir is getting us done with this work.  In words, the joy we received at that time by lifting the items of our teacher’s house on our heads cannot be described.  Regularly at the interval to bring tea from the hotel to our teacher, if he needs to give water to the teachers, thinking of these small things.Today my heart is praying to God that I wish that those days come back again.
I am thankful to Allah that I have got an auspicious opportunity to work in ICN International Media group, due to which I am remembering through my article those golden moments of student life and my respected teachers who made me deserving that today  I am working as a teacher as well as  an Associate Editor in reputed organizations like ICN International Media group.  The teachers who taught me in student life such as Dixit Sir, Satish Sir, Kalicharan Sir, Bhagwan Das Tyagi Sir, Hoti Ram Sir, Nagar Sir, R.K. Singh Sir, Prempal Sir, Batra Madam, Bhardwaj Madam, Harikesh Kuntal Sir, OP Garg Sir  , Haeeif Sir, Jaitley Sir, our Principal Kishanlal Sir, Rampal Sir, Principal Suresh Chandra Mishra Sir, Dabirul Hasan Sir, Naseem Ahmed Khan Sir, Yatish Chandra Saxena Sir, Puttu Lal Sir, Chiranjilal Sir, Jaane Alam Sir, Vijaypal Sir.  I offer my best regards to all these respected teachers and pray to Allah Ta’ala for his long life with health and remain happy wherever they are.
If anyone is the biggest contributon to my training and education, then it is my respected mother.  Mirza Shafeeque Fatma, because of her  I have been able to stand among the educated people. I am missing one of  my childhood incidents, when I was the students of 3rd standard. One day my class teacher Dixit sir was absent in the school. Our Head teacher came in the class and said,” Today Dixit sir is absent so your class will be taken by Sateesh sir. On hearing this I was afraid because Dixit sir was very polite by nature & Sateesh sir was veru strict. Sateesh sir was famous for physical punishment of the students.My classmate Jamal added more fear saying this.” Salim, Sateesh sir will beat us and due to this unnecessary horror I ran away from the school alongwith my class mate Jamal. Reaching home my respected mother asked me,” what happened, Is the school closed today? I spoke the truth everything. My  father was very polilte but my mother was very strict. It was Friday and Friday was the weekly of my father. My mother atonce ordered me to go back to school. Under the shadow of fear & horror, and weeping I went to school with my father. Reaching school my father told Sateesh sir,” This child had run away due to your fear, please allow him to sit in the class and not to punish him. After completing the period Sateesh sir beat me with his stick. I came back to my home weeping & annoyed at my mother but inspite of it my parents did not  go to school to lodge any complaint to the head teacher in case of my punishment. Personaly I narrated this incident if now-a-days any teacher punishes the students only for his interest then the guardian of the student came to school to lodge the complaint in the favour of his ward.During the period last 20 years there is great declilne among most of the relations.   My mother’s desire was to make me an engineer, but circumstances did not allow me to study engineering, but I am thankful to Allah Ta’ala that HE  joined me in teaching, I could not become an engineer but Alhamdulillah  the students taught by me,are serving the country by becoming engineer, doctors and lawyers, which is a pleasant feeling for me.  If the teacher has the most precious heritage, then it is  respect with which he does not compromise in any situation.
The Caliph (emperor) of Baghdad, Harun al-Rashid, enrolled his son in a madrasa for training and education (education and etiquettes).  After some time, Emperor Harun al-Rashid went to the seminary to meet his son.  At that time his son’s venerable mentor was doing wuzu.( A small bath before offering the Namaz)  The son of Emperor Harun al-Rashid was pouring water into his hands with a water pot.His mentor was washing his feet with water. On seeing this,  the Caliph  Haroon-Al- Rashid called his son to him and said to his son, “Son, you should pour water on your master’s feet with one hand and wash the master’s feet with the other one .” The  Caliph and the kings had trainned & etiquetted to their children due to which the children of the emperors used to respect their mentors like their parents.
Let us now have a look at the working style of modern teachers and students.  It cannot be denied that in today’s modern world, compared to the ancient times, in every aspect there has been a tremendous decline in moral qualities, love, affection and sympathy, leaving only the relationship of parents.  The relationship of the present-day teachers and students has not been saved from the flames of falling moral standards.  Since I am a teacher myself and thank God, he connected me with such a respectable profession in which respect is very much.  The teacher is called the creator of the nation and it is true that a person of any business in the world, whether he becomes a government or non-government employee, becomes a teacher, becomes a doctor, becomes a lawyer, engineer, journalist, lecturer  Become a professor, become a university’s vice chancellor, become a PCS IPS IAS officer, become a Chief Justice of the High Court or Supreme Court, become the Chief Minister, become the Prime Minister, or become the President. All above mentioned dignities holding person leads the way through the gate of the school and  the person who occupies the posts of these peaks moves only by holding the finger of the teacher.
After giving birth to their child, the parents hand over their child to the teacher to build their child’s golden future like raw and soft clay, and the way a potter gives raw and soft clay a beautiful appearance with his hands.  In the same way, a teacher holds the hand of that innocent child, teaches him to write and teaches him to read.  Parents feed their blood and raise a child, in the same way a teacher burns his blood and creates a bright future for his student.  The word  I have used to burn blood is so many times that even after explaining it repeatedly, the student does not understand, in such a situation, the teacher gets angry, which is human nature and in that case the teacher’s blood starts burning.  Overcoming anger does not tell him that I will not teach you.  After such hard work and dedication, when any teacher’s student becomes educated and respected citizen of the city, then that teacher is not less happy than the parents of that child.  In this changing period, there is a famine of moral values in the students. It is very sad that some students have to fall so far from their character that they are ashamed to salute or greet their teacher later.  And if he sees his teacher coming from the front in any street or in the market, either goes right to left or bends his neck and there are some rude students who stare their teacher’s eyes.  They leave without saluting or greeting.  It may be that such a student is in the misconception that by saluting me or saying hello, he will become small.  Such rude students put questions on the etiquettes of their parents along with them.  As a teacher I personally felt that the students of the village have more respect for their teacher than in the city.
The students are not only responsible for the decreasing moral values between the teachers and the students  but the teachers are   also responsible for this. Personally, I am not hesitant to write this fact that some of the teachers of today have called themselves commercial (businessmen). Teaching work can never become a business.  This is a great work of nation building that can not be compared to anyone’s business.  It is a matter of great regret that in some schools, the students are forced by the teachers that if they do not join the paid coaching classes at their appoited destination from the teacher of the concerned subject then they will be failed and this  is not a  threat, in fact  the poor students  whose parents just can’t survive are  to be failed in the subjects. Such teachers who take salary from the government of 50 thousand to 80 thousand per month and after that, there is an undue pressure on students to study tuition.  In such a situation, even poor students, whose financial condition of the family is very pathetic, are threatend to study tuition.  Such greedy teachers not only lose their respect from the heart of the students but also kick on the stomach of educated unemployed persons who take care of themselves and their families by private tuition or home tuition.  I  do not oppose teaching tuition of any government / non-government teacher, yes I strongly condemn teachers who force students to read tuition by saying that if you do not read tuition from us then you will be failed. if any of the student wants to study tuition willingly from the teacher of his or her respective subjects, then there is no harm to join the coaching classes, but in the guise of getting numbers or passing or failing in practical, the student should not be exploited.  The way students are being financially exploited under the guise of coaching is absolutely wrong.  In an hour  80 students in a big coaching hall is not only difficult but impossible because neither science has made so much progress nor human nor any teacher has any magic stick  Those who recently rotated the stick on the heads of 80 students sitting and understood the grammar  of Englsh and the formulas of Maths.  The way we throw a ball to the wall, then that ball comes back towards us at the same speed, in the same way the rule of the world is if we have our younger brother whether he is our student, younger brother, friend or neighbor.  And, if we want to get honor ourselves, then whether we like it or not, we have to respect our younger because it the fundamental right of younger to have respect like elder one. No research centers of any medical science  are  able to discover that we can get mango by planting Acacia tree. (Babool tree)
                “As we sow, so we will reap.”
As we all know that clapping does not ring with one hand, mutual cooperation is very important to have mutual harmony and respect for each other in order to keep any relationship of the world healthy and healthy.  Often small things break big relationships or say that there are distances in the relationship whether it is between student and teacher, between friends or between relatives
           ”Just analyse your heart, beloved sir
             The distances have some reasons. “
These are the personal views of the author, if there is any error in this article or any word irritates the heart of any respected reader, the author apologizes for the same.

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