Guru poornima

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Role of teachers and what we owe to them: Sandipani, which means “Sage of Gods”, was a guru of Lord Krishna and Balarama. The Sandipani Muni ashram is located 5 km from Ujjain railway station (Madhya Pradesh). The area near the ashram, known as Ankapata, is popularly believed to have been the place used by Lord Krishna for washing his writing tablets. The numerals 1 to 100 found inscribed on a stone are believed to have been engraved by Guru Sandipani. Near the ashram is the Gomti Kund, a staircased water tank where Krishna supposedly summoned all the holy waters from various centres so that his old Guru, Sandipani Muni would not have to travel other holy places.

After completion of education, once Krishna and Balarama came to meet their Guru and finding him very sad and with drawn seek to know the reason. They get to know that their Guru’s only son has been taken by a Rakshasa by name Shankasur owning a conch named ‘Panchajanya’ to a place called Prabhasa Thirtha.  Knowing this, Krishna and Balarama go in search of Shankasur and kill him after a terrible fight and bring back their Guru’s son.

Some scriptures say that their Guru asked this favour as Guru Dakshina immediately after the completion of their education. Well, these things don’t matter to us. What is important is that Krishna pays his ‘Guru Dakshina’ even at the cost of his life. Even Krishna who is considered the Lord of the world pays his due to his Guru as ‘Dakshina. 

Jesus Christ before going around giving his sermons, goes to John the Baptist for getting ‘baptized’. At that time John the Baptist recognizes Jesus as the Saviour and says ‘You have come to resurrect us. I am baptizing everyone in your name and proclaiming your arrival. How can I baptize you?’. Jesus smiles and replies ‘Don’t we both know that you were my master (meaning Guru) in my previous life and in that right you can baptize me even now’. Even when a ‘shishya’ surpasses his Guru, he remains the ‘student’ to his Guru.

Guru Dakshina is thus just not the fees that you pay to your Guru. When you know that your Guru is in pain, trouble, need, to do everything in your power to deal with it, do away with it and to get your Guru out of it is also ‘your duty’ and should be paid as ‘Guru Dakshina’ and not as a ‘help’ or ‘favour’.

When I am preparing tea or arranging for lunch, students come and ask ‘can I help you?’. You can’t ‘help a teacher. That person is teaching you. You ‘serve’ that person. Moreover, here the lunch or tea is for them so they actually are serving (i.coi taking) for themselves, so where is the question of helping me or serving me? It is a very small thing but very important as it forms the basis of our definition of ‘who we are’. Listen to your words and know their meaning and see if they make any sense. In short, ‘know thyself’! Because, all this is your karma and that decides your destiny. Looks farfetched? But it’s true. Trust me, I am not exaggerating….

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