India has been a land which worships it’s teachers. This practice is being followed right from the Vedic Age. In that age, human life was divided into four categories- Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha and Sanyasa. The stage of Brahmacharya refers to student life, which continues till each student attends the age of twenty five. During this period, the student resides in the home of the Guru. They keep Guru’s home clean and beg for alms to survive. They excel in various fields of theoretical and practical education during this period. The students have a deep respect for their gurus.
How can we forget the legendary story of Eklavya and Dronacharya? This legend is a perfect example of how one worships their Guru. Dronacharya was the teacher of the Pandavas. His favourite student was Arjun who excelled in the art of Archery. Eklavya was a poor boy who was also very sharp at archery. He wanted Dronacharya to be his teacher but he refused citing the reason that he was not royal blood. So Eklavya built a statue of Dronacharya and continued practicing archery. When Dronacharya realised that he was better than Arjun, he demanded his thumb as Guru Dakshina which he willingly gave. This shows his sense of respect for his Guru.
One may listen to the dohas of Kabir to understand how important the place of a Guru is in our life. “Guru Govind dau khade, kake lagoo paye, balihari Guru aapne Govind deo milaye.” The meaning of this doha is that if my teacher and God is present at the same time before me, I will touch the feet of my teacher first before he introduced me to God. Another doha of his compares the Guru to a potter who hardens the clay from outside to give it a good shape from within.
Hence India is a land which has always revered it’s Gurus. However, the respect today is dying away. We take our teachers for granted today. The day which is celebrated to mark the birthday of Radhakrishnan is losing its sheen nowadays. He had stressed the importance of a teacher. However, for many teacher’s day is just another day of celebration or holiday. We forget that teacher’s instill values in us and mould our character to make us better human beings and responsible citizens of our country. They act as our second parents and also share our woes if we trust them. Today, let us do something special for our teachers. Let us not allow their efforts to go waste. Wishing all our teachers a happy teachers day.
