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by Jayaram V
A unique tradition born out of necessity
One of the most unique and ancient traditions of Hinduism is the
tradition of Guru
or Master. A guru is considered in Hinduism as God
himself in human form and accorded the highest respect in the social
hierarchy next to parents. A student is expected to pay utmost
respect to a Guru and please him so that he would qualify himself to
earn his grace and obtain spiritual knowledge.
Hinduism is a complex religion with no central authority and no
govering body to codify and regulate all the teachings. The religion
has been sustained and nourished for centuries by the tradition of
the master and disciple (guru shishya parampara), where the master
would take up the responsibility of passing on his own verfied and
experiential knowledge and the textual knowledge of the sanatana
dharma to his trusted and tested disciples who would continue the
same process down the line. The religion survived and strengthened
its roots through this process for centuries and survives even today
on the same principle. Modern technology today offers the facility
of printed books and self-study courses and guides. But from a
practical and spiritual point of view, true understanding of the
Hindu scriptures can be known only through the grace and blessing of
a guru.
Gurukula was the place where the master stayed with his family
and students and continued his tradition of teaching to the
aspirants the subjects in which he had mastery. Practically, they
were private schools, admission into which depended upon several
factors, in the beginning personal merit and in the later days caste
and family background.
In the olden days knowledge was passed on from one person to another
in the form of oral teaching and memory intense repeated recitation.
There were no written scriptures in those times and so only memory and a
knowledgeable guru served as the main and authoritative sources of
reference. Even after the emergence of a written script, very few people
had access to or could afford to possess written literature. Besides,
the scriptures discouraged imparting the religious knowledge to the
unqualified, ignorant and untrained minds, due to the possibility of
such knowledge being misused for harmful and selfish purposes.
So the only way knowledge could be passed on from one source to
another was through personal contact or oral communication. Both
necessity and circumstances established the master disciple tradition as
a convenient and reliable method of preserving the religious knowledge
and ensuring its continuity. But memory and oral communication being
such unreliable instruments of education, certain safeguards became
necessary to ensure continuity of knowledge and preserve the scriptures
from being corrupted through bad memory or sheer carelessness.
Qualifications of the guru
The first and most important safeguard concerned the character and
personality of both the student and the master. The scriptures expected
the Guru to be a person of highest moral, mental and spiritual
standards. Without inner awareness and necessary spiritual
enlightenment, claiming the seat of a master was considered an immoral
and socially unacceptable act as an unqualified person would not only
corrupt himself, but also lead the students astray with his ignorant
teachings and inadequate preparation. A student was also expected to be
of a decent character, with a lot of good karma and earlier preparation
from the previous births and possess a decent family background. Unfortunately
over a period of time, this requirement degenerated into a caste based
qualification.
Types of gurus
The gurus came in all forms, hues and sizes depending upon what the
students or
their parents were looking for. There were simple school
teachers and priests who performed the rituals for the local community
but also practiced teaching the local student as secondary occupation.
There were scholars specialized in particular scriptures or branches of
lower religious knowledge such as performance of sacrificial offerings,
construction of the ritual places of worship or performance of
certain very rare type of yagnas. There were professional or vocational
trainers, heads of the guilds, rich merchants, artisans and adepts in particular
fields of knowledge such medicinal plants, medicine, surgery, astronomy,
art, architecture or metallurgy, who also acted as gurus, having gained
social approval, fame and name through their personal popularity or
creative works or the royal patronage. Parents, especially the head of
the family, often acted as a guru for the children in the house hold.
Kings and nobility had their own line of family gurus, both
spiritual and otherwise, who enjoyed a kind of life long exclusive
privilege to teach the children of the royal household. And finally
there were the highly enlightened, spiritual masters, who lived most
obscure lives, shunned the civilized society and remained secluded from
the humdrum of the common life. Those who had spiritual yearning would
venture out seeking such enlightened masters and serve them for years
unconditionally in order to earn their confidence and receive the highest
knowledge. Though mostly it was men's show, women also often acted as
gurus, rarely in the spiritual world, but generally in selected fields
such as art, dance, music, or the art of love making.
A guru need not always had to exist physically or in the real world.
Sometimes a guru could be a symbolic or religious personality. He could
be an imaginary human or celestial being. He could be a personal deity,
an idol or image of god or God himself. Whatever the method might be,
the most important requirements in the relationship between a student
and master were unconditional love, trust and mutual respect.
Ekalavya, a tribal warrior, unable to get his personal attention,
considered a clay image of Dronacharya as his guru for the purpose of
training. He truly believed him to be his guru and practiced archery in front
of the image. Because of his immense faith in his method, he succeeded
in becoming one of the best archers of his time, second to none acutally.
The sad part of the story was that Dronacharya was not at all pleased
with the behavior of his student and demanded his thumb as a fee in
return.
The student's responsibilities and code of conduct
The students were expected to spend several years in the service of
their gurus, before they became qualified and started on their own.
During this time of studentship, they were expected to perform different
types of duties and services to their masters and their entire
households. Without this service, which also included pure physical
labor, it was difficult for the student to get closer to his master and
receive his grace and teaching.
The Hindu dharma shastras or law books prescribed a strict code of
conduct for the students while they served their gurus and received
education from them. A student was expected to maintain a dignified
relationship with his or her master, surrender unconditionally to his
guru, develop unquestionable faith in the teachings of the guru
and pay utmost respect not only to the guru but also his entire
household including his wife and children. Under under no circumstances
should a student marry or engage or even think of engaging in improper
relationships with the members of his guru's household.
A guru subjected a student to different tests before elevating him to
the next level of learning, introducing him to a new subject or
scripture or declaring him as qualified. The tests were not standard
tests that we see in today's schools. They were designed specifically to
test each student's capability and skills, depending upon latter's
specific individuality, mental and emotional makeup and extent of
learning. Once a student joined the school of a guru, the guru had full
control over the life and activities of the student until he left the
place.
At the end of several years of service and personal learning,
when the time came finally for the student to leave the master, he or
she was expected to pay fees to the master in the form guru
dakshina. It consisted of whatever the Guru wanted from the student as a
fee: some service, personal vow or promise, any material or spiritual
reward or a commitment to uphold a certain school of thought or
tradition. And we have already talked about Ekalavya, whom his guru
asked to give his thumb as a fees in return for using his image as a
guru.
Significance of the guru-shishya parampara
The tradition of master and disciple played a significant role in the
preservation of Hindu dharma and the passing of the scriptural knowledge
and rich traditions from one generation to another and contributed
greatly to survival and continuity of Hinduism even during the most
turbulent times. If we have to cite one reason which contributed to the
survival of Hinduism for thousands of years, we can confidently cite
this particular tradition of guru and disciple. Hinduism did not have
a
central authority like church to regulate its affairs. There is no one
central scripture like the Bible or Koran. There is no particular
defense that we can bring in to safeguard the religion from vicious
attacks aimed to cast doubt or aspersions or convert people to other
faiths. But despite these threats to its survival, if Hinduism continues
to be a major dominant religion of the world today, we can attribute the
credit to this particular tradition of master and discipleship.
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