9/17/2009 4:07:02 AM Shamshad Elahee Ansari
In response to four previous comments which cant be viewed on the site due to some technical reasons:
Rejoinder to Dr. Sarkar Haider : The Great Teachers of Humanity
-: Shamshad Elahee Ansari :-
Teacher’s day which is celebrated in Sovereign India to mark the birth of Second President (1962 to 1967) Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan is the result of his own wishes when his student wanted to celebrate his birth day, Dr Radhakrishnan advised them that let it be celebrated as a Teacher’s Day rather than his personal Birth Day. Since then, we Indian celebrate this day as a Teachers day.
The irony is that, we cease to celebrate it once we are out of school and the state festival ends itself without leaving any significant mark on our lives. It’s a being celebrated in a technical and mechanical ways in the entire nation. But, Dr. Sarkar Haider proved it wrong and we know he is not a student of a school rather, he is an established cardiologist of Bareilly City (U.P.). He has actually spilled the beans at New Age Islam, an extension of debate on Sufism for sure where he has been contributing his valuable thoughts from a long time. It’s all due to his passion for something which is much more distinguished (search for truth) than his own time consuming profession. Only a true and ardent, truth seeker can have such beautiful gems in his mind for their Gurus in this modern, industrial, capitalist world. Many thanks to Dr. Haider, that he stirred our mind to remind us about great teachers of mankind.
India is known for its golden heritage of Guru-Shishya tradition. In ancient India, education was not a universal concept like we have it today. It was the duty of Guru to find a suitable disciple amongst his students who were privileged to get education. All our religious heroes (except Bhakti Margi Sufi & Saints of medieval age) are from ruling class and they were the one who had the right for education as they had to run the show (read state affairs).
‘Patrta’(ability) was the main criteria to impart the knowledge. The ancient tradition of Guru-Shishya is almost non-existent in our times and seems to be an irrelevant concept which could not adapt to the requirement of the modern age civilization.
If we look into these traditions minutely, we find two types of Gurus in our lives. One is the teacher who trains us professionally, right from Nursery to any Professional Institute or University and the second one is required for our spiritual guidance. Second one is optional for almost 99% of human beings while first are mandatory which you can hire, whom you can pay for their services, now the money is involved in gaining the knowledge. In ancient times, money wasn’t involved, teacher was giving his 100% to their wards and all the expenditures were born out by the society (read Taxila University 6th century BC, oldest in human history). Dr. Radhakrishnan belongs to the first category of teacher but he tried to celebrate and commemorate the second category of teachers on ‘Teacher’s day’. Dr Haider’s article is a fabulous tribute to the Gurus of the humanity who addressed whole humanity. We (and my preceding generation) have some respect for our Professional teachers but it’s not same in the next generation at all. It should not be, because we paid for it and demanded education for our wards so there may not be any selfless, genuine ‘Shrddha Bhav’ for teachers anymore.
The first kind of teachers are very important one for 99% of the pupils since they are the one who instills the first lesson of values. Unfortunately, as it’s rightly said "Good teachers are costly, but bad teachers cost more.” The prevailed thoughtlessness in our society is the result of this catastrophic cost which we are paying around the world these days.
The second category Guru is optional and they are rare, there is no money involved in it, it’s the choice of Guru and his Shishya. It’s entirely a separate issue altogether. Dr. Haider’s main emphasis is on this category only. Quest for truth has no religious color, it’s a realization of a self when he/she reach to a conclusion that the meaning of life is something different from the way he/she lived so far. Buddha (563-483 BC) had this problem and he met every available Guru but was not satisfied so he did it himself without teacher. He left his palatial palace at the age of 29 and received enlightenment at the age of 35 year after a rigorous meditation exercise. His last words to his disciples were, not to follow any leader, but to follow his teachings i.e. ‘Appa Deep Bhavo’. Mahaveer (599-527BC) is the other example who attained ‘Kevalya’ after 12 years of meditation without Guru. Sometimes, Shishya chooses his guru, like Vivekananda did in India; it was he who selected Ramakrishana Paramhans as his teacher after many years of confusion. Same did Chuang Tsu (4th century BC) in China when he reached to his master who was sitting facing a wall since nine years. He said, ‘I am here, turn toward me otherwise I will cut my head and keep before you’. His master turned his face toward him as if he was waiting for those moments only. On many occasions, master chooses disciples all of a sudden by reading aura. Annie Besant and her colleague Blatvaski saw young boy; Juddi Krishnamurti on the beach of Adyaar, Madras after reading his aura and went to his father, a government employee to receive the custody of the boy. We know what happened later, he was the youngest chief of Theosophical Society of India which he later defunct. He is considered to be a reincarnation of Lord Buddha.
Dr. Haider missed two important Gurus in his write-up. I would like to add them. Indian history can not be concluded without making a reference to Chanakya (350-283 BC), the Machiavelli of India, though his contribution is not spiritual (he is from the first category of teacher), but his political and economic contribution to the human civilization can not be ignored. Chandra Gupta Maurya implemented his blue print and the vast Indian-nation state is the result of his geographical conquest what is known as India in modern times. Chanakya was the main architect of India on the face of this earth.
The other great spiritual mystic personality is Lao-Tsu (6th Century BC) of ancient China who was forcibly asked to write what he knows by then Emperor, while he was leaving China from western borders. The result is known as one of the greatest book of knowledge ‘Dao De Jing’ (The Way). This book is the mother of Taoism. Apart from these twos, there are many Zen teachers in Japan who has influenced Japan and Korean peninsula greatly.
The pain of the present world is that it’s virtually ‘Guru Viheen’ (Teacher Less) at this present. The command is annexed by Bin Laden,Hafiz Saeed, Fazal-ur-Rehman, Betullah Mehsud like extremist person or like Asha Ram Bapu, Dr. Nayak type ‘katha wachak’(story tellers) who do not have any spiritual revelation, experiences etc. Most of the so-called Religious leaders/teachers are merely a drama, a bogus third grade repetition of dead words only. More and more emphasis is being laid down to revive old religion which has lost all fragrance and relevance to revive spiritually dead human corpses. More they try to revive, more they get reaction from fellow religionist thus making this world a play ground for bigots who are killing people without any remorse to save their own so-called religion. Everybody is more concerned to save their religion rather than saving man-kind. Religion was supposed to guard humanity but the course is set on reverse now. Mankind seems to strive saving religion, what a tragic situation we are into?
Six billion peoples on this planet have the most genuine, revered prayer for such a Guru who could guide them for peace, harmony and tranquility of the society at the minimum, and salvation for few at least.
September 7, 2009
Dubai-U.A.E.
In response to four previous comments which cant be viewed on the site due to some technical reasons:
Rejoinder to Dr. Sarkar Haider : The Great Teachers of Humanity
-: Shamshad Elahee Ansari :-
Teacher’s day which is celebrated in Sovereign India to mark the birth of Second President (1962 to 1967) Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan is the result of his own wishes when his student wanted to celebrate his birth day, Dr Radhakrishnan advised them that let it be celebrated as a Teacher’s Day rather than his personal Birth Day. Since then, we Indian celebrate this day as a Teachers day.
The irony is that, we cease to celebrate it once we are out of school and the state festival ends itself without leaving any significant mark on our lives. It’s a being celebrated in a technical and mechanical ways in the entire nation. But, Dr. Sarkar Haider proved it wrong and we know he is not a student of a school rather, he is an established cardiologist of Bareilly City (U.P.). He has actually spilled the beans at New Age Islam, an extension of debate on Sufism for sure where he has been contributing his valuable thoughts from a long time. It’s all due to his passion for something which is much more distinguished (search for truth) than his own time consuming profession. Only a true and ardent, truth seeker can have such beautiful gems in his mind for their Gurus in this modern, industrial, capitalist world. Many thanks to Dr. Haider, that he stirred our mind to remind us about great teachers of mankind.
India is known for its golden heritage of Guru-Shishya tradition. In ancient India, education was not a universal concept like we have it today. It was the duty of Guru to find a suitable disciple amongst his students who were privileged to get education. All our religious heroes (except Bhakti Margi Sufi & Saints of medieval age) are from ruling class and they were the one who had the right for education as they had to run the show (read state affairs).
‘Patrta’(ability) was the main criteria to impart the knowledge. The ancient tradition of Guru-Shishya is almost non-existent in our times and seems to be an irrelevant concept which could not adapt to the requirement of the modern age civilization.
If we look into these traditions minutely, we find two types of Gurus in our lives. One is the teacher who trains us professionally, right from Nursery to any Professional Institute or University and the second one is required for our spiritual guidance. Second one is optional for almost 99% of human beings while first are mandatory which you can hire, whom you can pay for their services, now the money is involved in gaining the knowledge. In ancient times, money wasn’t involved, teacher was giving his 100% to their wards and all the expenditures were born out by the society (read Taxila University 6th century BC, oldest in human history). Dr. Radhakrishnan belongs to the first category of teacher but he tried to celebrate and commemorate the second category of teachers on ‘Teacher’s day’. Dr Haider’s article is a fabulous tribute to the Gurus of the humanity who addressed whole humanity. We (and my preceding generation) have some respect for our Professional teachers but it’s not same in the next generation at all. It should not be, because we paid for it and demanded education for our wards so there may not be any selfless, genuine ‘Shrddha Bhav’ for teachers anymore.
The first kind of teachers are very important one for 99% of the pupils since they are the one who instills the first lesson of values. Unfortunately, as it’s rightly said "Good teachers are costly, but bad teachers cost more.” The prevailed thoughtlessness in our society is the result of this catastrophic cost which we are paying around the world these days.
The second category Guru is optional and they are rare, there is no money involved in it, it’s the choice of Guru and his Shishya. It’s entirely a separate issue altogether. Dr. Haider’s main emphasis is on this category only. Quest for truth has no religious color, it’s a realization of a self when he/she reach to a conclusion that the meaning of life is something different from the way he/she lived so far. Buddha (563-483 BC) had this problem and he met every available Guru but was not satisfied so he did it himself without teacher. He left his palatial palace at the age of 29 and received enlightenment at the age of 35 year after a rigorous meditation exercise. His last words to his disciples were, not to follow any leader, but to follow his teachings i.e. ‘Appa Deep Bhavo’. Mahaveer (599-527BC) is the other example who attained ‘Kevalya’ after 12 years of meditation without Guru. Sometimes, Shishya chooses his guru, like Vivekananda did in India; it was he who selected Ramakrishana Paramhans as his teacher after many years of confusion. Same did Chuang Tsu (4th century BC) in China when he reached to his master who was sitting facing a wall since nine years. He said, ‘I am here, turn toward me otherwise I will cut my head and keep before you’. His master turned his face toward him as if he was waiting for those moments only. On many occasions, master chooses disciples all of a sudden by reading aura. Annie Besant and her colleague Blatvaski saw young boy; Juddi Krishnamurti on the beach of Adyaar, Madras after reading his aura and went to his father, a government employee to receive the custody of the boy. We know what happened later, he was the youngest chief of Theosophical Society of India which he later defunct. He is considered to be a reincarnation of Lord Buddha.
Dr. Haider missed two important Gurus in his write-up. I would like to add them. Indian history can not be concluded without making a reference to Chanakya (350-283 BC), the Machiavelli of India, though his contribution is not spiritual (he is from the first category of teacher), but his political and economic contribution to the human civilization can not be ignored. Chandra Gupta Maurya implemented his blue print and the vast Indian-nation state is the result of his geographical conquest what is known as India in modern times. Chanakya was the main architect of India on the face of this earth.
The other great spiritual mystic personality is Lao-Tsu (6th Century BC) of ancient China who was forcibly asked to write what he knows by then Emperor, while he was leaving China from western borders. The result is known as one of the greatest book of knowledge ‘Dao De Jing’ (The Way). This book is the mother of Taoism. Apart from these twos, there are many Zen teachers in Japan who has influenced Japan and Korean peninsula greatly.
The pain of the present world is that it’s virtually ‘Guru Viheen’ (Teacher Less) at this present. The command is annexed by Bin Laden,Hafiz Saeed, Fazal-ur-Rehman, Betullah Mehsud like extremist person or like Asha Ram Bapu, Dr. Nayak type ‘katha wachak’(story tellers) who do not have any spiritual revelation, experiences etc. Most of the so-called Religious leaders/teachers are merely a drama, a bogus third grade repetition of dead words only. More and more emphasis is being laid down to revive old religion which has lost all fragrance and relevance to revive spiritually dead human corpses. More they try to revive, more they get reaction from fellow religionist thus making this world a play ground for bigots who are killing people without any remorse to save their own so-called religion. Everybody is more concerned to save their religion rather than saving man-kind. Religion was supposed to guard humanity but the course is set on reverse now. Mankind seems to strive saving religion, what a tragic situation we are into?
Six billion peoples on this planet have the most genuine, revered prayer for such a Guru who could guide them for peace, harmony and tranquility of the society at the minimum, and salvation for few at least.
September 7, 2009
Dubai-U.A.E.
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