Some Feelings..Some Words...From The Heart...

When asked to write an article in a university programme, Nazneen, an ex-student came up with the article about me...and her views about me... Centuries before the birth of Christ the learned sages in the Indus Valley passed on their wisdom and knowledge from one generation to another, creating the immensely revered relationship of a guru (teacher) and a shishya (student). This pure and pious relationship formed the foundation of Hinduism in India and gave rise to the innately prestigious institutions called Gurukuls. Gurukuls were residential schools in ancient India where students spent their entire youth under the guidance of their gurus. The gurus imparted wisdom to their students in exchange for respect and discipline without charging any fees for their service. As modernization took over, Gurukuls faded to extinction. Only ancient stories and fables narrated by grandparents talked about Gurukuls. The discipline in schools became sparse and the respectful salutations reduced to...

The greatest Teacher (Jagat Guru) that Lord Krishna was is so evident in the 2 verses of the Geeta (Chapter 2), where He gives, step-by-step, the ladder of fall of a person leading to his complete perish. The Lord says, “A man musing over some sense-object develops an attachment for them, from attachment arises desires, from desires arises anger, from anger arises delusion, from delusion loss of memory and intellect, from loss of intellect, he perishes.” The starting point is the indiscriminate thought flow we entertain for any sense-object (person, etc.) which is unscrutinized by our intellect and ground reality. This entire ladder of fall is perfectly shown in the Ramayana. Mother Sita was living happily with Lord Rama, both while She was in the palace as well as when She chose to join Him in His exile for 14 years. We are all fine irrespective of the external situation as long as the Lord resides with us. All was well till one day She laid her eyes on a fleeting golden Deer (rep...