Teaching is a noble profession. The respect and honor a teacher, a Guru receives, has no parallel in the entire history of mankind. From ancient Rishi’s to Guru’s and modern day teachers the one thing common in this profession is that a teacher is a person who always gives something to the student in particular and to society in general and they have always deserved not only the respect and the honor they get in return but much more than that.
Till very recently, most of the people engaged in the profession of teaching have had to live a more or less frugal and meager life ( not that it has changed much for the majority of people in this profession) as the returns in form of financial rewards for providing one of the most vital of services on earth have been rather poor.
Going back in history to the Rishi-Muni’s of Indian culture to teachers like Aristotle, Socrates, and Confucius all of them lived a very plain, simple and ordinary almost detached-from-worldly-objects sort of lifestyle.
But there is one thing common in the age old Gurus and Rishi’s of yesteryear and a lot of true teachers of the present, and it is the calmness and contentment they possess which makes them look almost alien to the rest of the human race which is always tensed, unfulfilled and hungry for more of practically every thing.
This realization set me thinking! And the thought implored me to ask myself how they manage to be calm and quite and content when financially uncomfortable and finding it difficult to make two ends meet.
The answer is probably hidden in the laws of nature constituted by the creator of life. I will try to explain this law of nature through an example.
There is a large body of water in between Jordan and Israel, into which, through the ages, the river Jordan has been the sole tributary, also rain water has collected regularly. The water body has its shores 422 meters below sea level and so it does not have an outlet for any of this water to flow out. The fact is that it’s just one way traffic; water can flow into it but not out of it. This makes it the largest single body of the most hyper saline water in the world. No life form can survive in it and hence it’s called the Dead Sea.
The water is almost black in color and it’s called the Dead Sea because no marine life can survive let alone flourish in it. The water is dead for the simple reason that it has stopped flowing. The natural tendency of water is to flow and that’s what makes water fresh and alive and life giving; its nature to flow from one place to another. Because this natural tendency is blocked, although there is a high density of minerals in the water of the Dead Sea, it’s still dead and cannot support life.
This very law of nature applies to us human beings too. And the teacher is one of the few people in the world who abide with this law whole heartedly and without expectation.
The Guru, the teacher is always giving. The Guru is forever passing on what ever he gains in the form of knowledge to the students.
He does not hold anything back except probably his own troubles.
He does not expect any thing in return but respect.
He does not ask for anything but for the pupil to use the knowledge for the betterment of one and all.
This habit of giving unconditionally is one of the reasons that we find our teachers calm and content and knowledgeable even though they are on many occasions surrounded by numerous problems.
The question is ,” Can we not give back to our family, society, friends, peers, this world in general, even a small iota of all the riches we constantly receive….?”
“Can We…?”
Ask your self,” Can I…?”
All I can say is that it’s never too late to start giving anything, to anyone, anywhere…
The flow of life must continue unhampered.
So let’s start giving, even if its just a few minutes of time or a sympathizing ear, or a helping hand, anything will do, as long as you do give.
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