teachers as gurus to build a prosperous, powerful & moral india by dr t.h. chowdary * director,...

Teachers as Gurusto

Build a Prosperous, Powerful & Moral India

ByDr T.H. Chowdary

* Director, Center for Telecom Management & Studies* Chairman, Pragna Bharati (Intellect India), AP

* Former Information Technology Adviser, Government of A.PChairman & Managing Director

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd., BombayT: +91 (40) 2784-6137/6667-1191(O) F: +91 (40) 2789-6103/6667-1111 (O)

[email protected]

Talk @ National Institute of Technology, Warangal: 5 Sept 2006

THC_CTMS S311_Sept06 2

A Happy Teacher

• A teacher is happy when excelled by his pupil

A father is happy when excelled by his son• What does a teacher do

– Agnaana timiraandhasya

– Gurur brahma….

• We hold a of human being as– Amriyasya Putraah….

– Aham Brahmasmi…


How to realise this potential

• Samskaaras:

• Birth, naming, Aksharabyaas, Yagnopavith, Marriage, conception (seemantham) (Prahlada, Abhimanya), death……

• Home: Parents: Grand-parents in times of Yore; Dining Table as Class-room now


School

• Gurus: Not teacher, coach, tutor, guide but guru like Sandipani, Krishna # Drona

• Guru: Piteva putrasya, Sakheva sakhuah, priyah priyaah

• Guru: my gurus:• Nidamarthi Satyanarayana Murthy• Rev.Fr.Jerome Desouza• Lt.Col.Samuel Paul


Vidya: Bharatiya vidya

Chaduvani vaadagnundagu

Chadivina sadasadviveka chaturata kalugun

Chaduvaga valayunu janulaku

Chadivincheda ninu naaryulodda chaduvumu thandri

- 7th Skanda, Bhagavatamu


What is education (1)

• Education is a liberating force, enables the individual to rise form mere materiality to superior planes of intellectual and spiritual consciousness .

• Education gives us accumulated lessons of heritage to carry it forward to posterity .

• The past is our foundation, the present our material, the future our aim and summit. Each must have its due and natural place in a national system of education.

– Sri Aurobindo


We want that education by which

character is formed,

strength of mind is increased,

the intellect is expanded and by which

one can stand on one’s own feet.

Education is the manifestation of the

perfection already in man

- Swami Vivekananda



Education is the process of individual mind

getting its full possible development ……….It is a

long school which lasts a life time

- Dr. Zakir Hussain

I firmly believe the efficacy of the education as a

panacea for our social evils

- Dr.B.R. Ambedkar



Education in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Art 26 (1) Every one has the right to education, education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available an d higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.


Vidya, great wealth…..

Vidya nigoodhaguptamgu vittamu, roopamu purushaalikin

Vidya yasassu bhogakari, vidya gurundu, videshabandhuvun

Vidya visishta daivatamu, vidyaku saati dhanambu ledilan

Vidya nripaalapoojitamu, vidyanerunganivaadu marthyude?

- Barthrihari


Values in Bharatiya Vidya

• Na vittena Tarpaneeyo manushyah

• Atmana vindate Veeryam

Vidyaya vindate Amritam

• Isa vasyamidam Jagat

• Parasparam Bhavayansah Sreyo

Paramavaapsyatha


What Values (1)

Aatmaupanyena sarvatra samam pasyati

Itite gnaanamaakhyaatam.......

Guhyaat guhyataram mayaa

Etadaseshena vimrasya yathechasi, tathaa kuru

- Bh.Gita 18:62

No dogma freedom to think and act


What Values (2)

• Respect for elders & others – Matru devo bhava…….Sravan Kumar…….

• Lokasangraha• Patriotism (& nationalism)

– Jananee Janma Bhoomischa Swargaadapi Gariyasi......– Kacha’s example


Tolerance: (True and False)

• Sarvadharman parityajya maamekam saranam vraja• Yo yo yaam yam tanum bhaktah sraddhayaa• Sarvadeva namaskaarah naraayanam prati gachati ....

• “I disagree with what you have to say but I shall defend to death your right to say it” - Voltaire, French philosopher and

inspirer of the French Revolution .

• I am in the right. You are in the wrong. When you are stronger, you ought to tolerate me for it is your duty to tolerate the truth . but when I am stronger, I shall persecute you for this is my duty to persecute errors.

- St. Augustine .The most venerated Christian scholar and propagandist for Christianity.

• Krishna to Arjuna


Co-operate; Net-work• Om Sahanaavavatu, sahanu bhunaktu

• Sahaveeryam Karavaavahaih• Tejasvinaavadheetamastu

• Maa Vidvishaavahaih,• Om! Shantih, shantih, shantih!

• May we protect ourselves together, experience/ enjoy together, perform valorous deed together, not quarrel among ourselves, may our learning be brilliant.

• Peace, peace, peace !!! ( for all, everywhere, all the time))


Student or Vidyarthi

• Study what teacher/master/tutor tells

Or

• Seek ( from the Guru) knowledge, wisdom, Buddhi, viveka

• Idam te na atapskaaya, na-abhaktaya kadaachana

Na cha asushrooshave vaachyam

Na cha maam yoh abhyasuyati

-Bhagavad Gita 18.67

• Nachiketa, Dhruva…

• Bhimrao Ambedkar


How do we learn?

Paadam gurubhyah

Paadam brahmachaaribhyah

Paadam swamedhayaa

Paadam kaalakramenacha

• Life-long learning for

Life-long employability


A GURU

• The job of the master is not merely to bequeath a store of knowledge to his pupils but to instill in them a thirst for truth and inspiration and drill them in proper methods of research.

• 70% of living Nobel Laureates are teaching in US ‘Varsities


What happened to Bharatiya vidyaa?


Macaulay in British Parliament

" I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.”


Macaulay's famous Minute of 1835

"We must at present do our best to form a class of persons, Indians in blood and

colour, but English in taste in opinions, in morals and intellect”


Macaulay de-Indianises education

• Macaulay’s (in) famous note in1838 to discard the

Indian system of education and introduce the

British system to produce “a class of people,

Indian only in colour and blood but British in

tastes, values, views and thoughts…”

• Pt.Nehru proudly told John Kenneth Galbraith that

he is the last Englishman to rule India.


Build a great nation-state:Bharat


What Makes a Nation Great & Epoch Maker

• The British centuries• The American century• Wealth; Economic Power• Military power & Willingness to deploy/project it

around the globe• Knowledge Production R&D• Spirituality- Ethics, morality

Gita Rahasya ( Lokamanya Tilak)


Post –Liberalisation Bharat

• GDP Growth - Real Hindu rate now

• Booming Exports - I.T, BT, KPO & services

• Home to many Fortune 500’s R&D

• Reservoir of Talents


World afflicted by “clash of civilisations”

• The intolerant Semetic religions at each others’ throats

• Axis of Evil – Nuclear Rogue States

• Virtual Caliphate – Global terrorism

• Insurgencies & Regime changes

• Conversion: 3rd Millennium - Asia for Christ


Bharat’s Wisdom “The seeds of war are planted in the minds of men.

Therefore, the defences for peace must be built in mens’ minds

- UNESCO• The world’s intellectuals/ scientists look to Sanatana

Dharma / Eastern Philosophy Ilya Prigogeniev – Theory of Chaos – “Brahma- Vishnu-Mahesa” - Loop• Cosmogony - Bharat’s Postulates & Understanding


Ridding the World of the weight of Evil

• Globalisation• Environment• Seeking & Search for Indian talent• US Seeks our alliance• China-Confucius Institute - Dalai Lama• Japan’s resurgence – No Asian country to go under US hegemony Koizomo’s visit to the shrine for the WW II-dead• Right Education – Vidya• Information Knowledge Knowledge + Experience = Wisdom Buddhi, Viveka


Jagatguru• Om Sahanaavavatu, sahanu bhunaktu

• Sahaveeryam Karavaavahaih• Tejasvinaavadheetamastu

• Maa Vidvishaavahaih,• Om! Shantih, shantih, shantih!

• May we protect ourselves together, experience/ enjoy together, perform valorous deed together, not quarrel among ourselves, may our learning be brilliant.

• Peace, peace, peace !!! ( for all, everywhere, all the time))


Lincoln’s Letter to his son’s Teacher


Lincoln’s Letter to his son’s Headmaster

• Respected Teacher,• My son will have to learn, I know • That all men are not just, all men are not true, but teach him also• That for every scoundrel, there is a Hero• That for every selfish politician, there is a dedicated leader• Teach him that for every enemy, there is a friend• It will take time, I know; but teach him if you can • That a dollar earned is of far more value than five found• Teach him to learn to lose and also enjoy winning• Steer him away from envy, if you can• Teach him the secret of quiet laughter• Let him learn early that the Bullies are easiest to Lick



• Teach him if you can, the wonder of books…• But also give him Quiet time to ponder over the eternal mystery of

birds in the sky, bees in the sun and flowers on a green hills – side • In school teach him it is far more honourable to fail than to cheat• Teach him to have faith in his own ideas even if everyone tells him

they are wrong• Teach him to be gentle with gentle people and tough with the tough• Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when

everyone is getting on the Bandwagon• Teach him to listen to all men but teach him also to filter all he hears

on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through • Teach him, if you can, how to laugh when he is sad• Teach him there is no shame in tears



• Teach him to scoff at cynics and to beware of too much sweetness• Teach him to sell his Brawn and Brain to the highest bidders, but

never to put a price tag on his heart and soul• Teach him to close his Ears to a Howling Mob…. And to stand and

Fight• If he thinks he is right Treat him gently; but do not cuddle him

because only the test of Fire Makes Fine Steel• Let him have the courage to be important • Let him have the patience to brave• Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself because then he

will always have sublime faith in mankind• This is a bid order; but see what you can do• He is such a fine little fellow, my son.

- Abraham Lincoln.


Becoming into a Poorna Purusha

orSthitha Pragna


Culture

• We must add to the sum total of happiness in life• Culture is obedience to unenforceable laws.

Knowing something of everything & everything of something

• The richest man is the one who has the fewest wants

• One man with conviction is the majority . Lincoln, Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi,

• Md.Ali Jinnah ( but thro’evil means)


Culture (1)

• Gentleman: who never inflicts pain upon others• Punctuality, Queuing, Gratefulness• Thummu, Avulintha hasambu, nisteevanamu• Talking on cell phone in lifts, waiting rooms, while

driving & walking & traveling in plane, bus, train…• Telephone Etiquette• Unwanted guest; visiting w/o appointment• Good habits, habits to work for you• Alpudepudu palku aadambaramu ganu


Culture (2)

• …the true measure of man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”

- Martin Luther King


Culture (3)

Time for EverythingTake time for work-

It is the price of success.Take time to think-

It is the source of power.Take time to play-

It is the secret of youth.Take time to read-

It is the foundation of wisdom.


Culture (4)

• Noman is an island, entire of itself• Every man is a piece of the continent…• Everyman’s death diminishes me• Because I am involved in mankind,• And, therefore, never seem to know for when the

bell tolls• It tolls for thee – John Donnne• ( I am not an Island - K A Abbas)


Culture (5)

• The mountain and the squirrel• Had a quarrel• And the former called the latter, ‘ Little Prig! • Bun replied,• You are doubtless very big• But all sorts of things and weather• Must be taken in together,• To make up a year• And a sphere• And I thank it no disgrace


Culture (6)

• To occupy my place• If I am not so large as you• You are not so small as I• And not half so spry• I’ll not deny you make• A very pretty squirrel trace• Talents differ, all is well & wisely put• If I cannot carry forests on my back,• Neither can you crack a mnt.• - Ralph Waldo Emerson


Knowledge (1)

Yaksha Prasna• What rescues man in all dangers? Courage is man’s salvation in danger• By the study of which science does man become wise? Not by studying any sastra does man become wise. It is by association

with the great in wisdom, that he get wisdom.• What is more nobly sustaining than the earth? The mother who brings up the children she has borne, is nobler and

more sustaining than the earth• What is higher than the sky? The father • What befriends a traveler?

Learning


Knowledge (2)

• Who accompanies a man in death? Dharma. That alone accompanies the soul in its solitary journey after

death.• What is happiness? Happiness is the result of good conduct• What is that abandoning which man becomes loved by all? Pride- for, abandoning that, man will be loved by all• What is that, by giving up which, man becomes rich? Desire- getting rid of it, man becomes wealthy


Knowledge (3)

• What makes one a real brahmana? Is it birth, good conduct or learning?

Birth and learning do not make on e a brahmana. Good conduct alone does, However learned a person may be, he will not be a brahmana if he is a slave to bad habits. Even though he may be learned in the four Vedas, a man of bad conduct falls to a lower class.

• What is the greatest wonder in the world?

Every day, men see creatures depart to Yama’s abode and yet, those who remain, seek to live for ever. This verily is the greatest wonder

- Mahabharata


Wise thoughts, sage words

Hats off to the past

Coats off to the future

– American Proverb

Work hard to innovate and solve rather than wait for answers from on high

– Israel Defence Forces


Indefinite perfectibility of man Continuous learning and striving

• People retain 23% of what they hear• People retain 43% of what they sea & hear• People retain 70% of what they hear, see & do

The heights by great men reached and kept Were not attained by sudden flight But they, while their companions slept Were toiling onwards through the night

- Crom well king Charles I “ For Gods sake, go”1 Unmoved


It is better to sit silent and be thought a fool than to stand up and talk and prove you are fool

– Lord Dennis advice to an

young man about to go to

the Bar

When to Speak or be Silent


Of what caliber should you be?

• God give us men, a time like this demands

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands

Men whom the lust of office does not kill

Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy

Men who possess opinions and a will

Men who love honour, Men who cannot lie

-J.G. Holland


Happiness - a State of Mind

• Aatmaarama• Swaatassukhaya – Tulasidas• Viswanatha Ramayana• Healthy body-• Positive thoughts, Optimism (misanthrope X Philanthrope)• Half full or Half empty• Work as a consecration, swadharma, karmanyevaadhi

Kaarastemaa faleshu kadaachana…

• Share happiness, joy- not sadness, misery


Happiness: (1)

• Stone walls do not a

Prison make

Nor iron bars a cage

Minds innocent and quiet take

That for an hermitage

-LOVELACE to Althea from Prison


Happiness: (2)

• The man that hath no music in himself

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds

Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils

The motious of his spirit are dull as night,

And his affections dark as E rebus

Let no such man be trusted

- Shakespeare in Merchant of Venice


Happiness (3)

• Victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan– Among the life’s dying embers– These are my regrets– When I am right, no one remembers– When I am wrong no one forgets

The woods are lovely, dark and deepBut I have promises to keepAnd miles to go before I sleepAnd miles to go before I sleep

- Robert Frost


Happiness (4)

Character of a Happy LifeHow happy is he born and taughtThat serveth not another’s will;Whose armour is his honest thought,And simple truth his utmost skill;Whose passions not his masters are;Whose soul is still prepared for death,Untied unto the world by careOf public fame or private breath;Who envies none that chance doth raiseNor vice; who never understoodHow deepest wounds are given by praise;Nor rules of state, but rules of good;Who hath his life from rumours freed;


Happiness (5)

Whose conscience is his strong retreat;Whose state can neither flatterers feed,Nor ruin make oppressors great;Who God doth late and early pray\More of his grace than gifts to lendAnd entertains the harmless dayWith a religious book or friendThis man is freed from servile bandsOf hope to rise or fear to fall;Lord of himself, though not of lands,And having nothing, yet hath all.Sir Henry Wotton


Happiness (6)

• “… We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, an d the Pursuit of Happiness…”

- Declaration of Independence, United States of America, July 4, 1776


Happiness (7)

• And a heaven in a wild flower

Hold infinity in the palm of your handAnd eternity in an HourTe Tao of physics

- Fritj of Capra • Life’s battles do not always go

To the strongest or fastest meanSoon or late the man who winsIs the who thinks he canThen welcome each rebuffThat turns earth’s smoothness voughEach sting that bids not sit nor stand, but go!

-Robert Browning


DOGMA OR FREE THINKING

• Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;Where knowledge is free;Where the world has not been brokenUp into fragments by narrow domestic walls;Where words come out from the depth of truth;Where tireless starving stretches its arms towards perfection;Where the clear street of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desertsand of dead habit;Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and actionInto that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.

-Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore


Entitlement, Employment, Entrepreneurship

• “You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.You cannot keep out trouble by spending more than you earn.You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence.You cannot help men permanently by doing for themWhat they could do for themselves.” - Abraham Lincoln

(Source: Freedom First, May 1989)


Success and Risk

• Don’t keep forever on the public road, going only where other have gone. Leave the beaten path occasionally and dive into the woods. You will be certain to find something you have never seen before. It will be a little thing but do not ignore it. Follow it up; explore around it, one discovery will lead to another and before you know it, you will have something really worth thinking about

Alexander Graham Bell


Success

• Sow a thought and reap an act

Sow an act, reap a habit

Sow a habit, reap a character

Sow a character, reap a destiny


Risk and Reward

• I shall be telling with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence

Two roads diverged in the woods and I

I took the one less travelled by

And that has made all the difference- Robert Frost


The Oath Guru Administers

I exhort you as follows:• Speak the truth. • Walk in the way of the duty• Neglect not the study of higher knowledge• Treat they teacher with respect and

gratitude.• And fail not in taking upon thyself the

burden of life


Lives of Great Men

• Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime

And, departing, leave behind us

Foot prints on the sands of time

– Long fellow


Auto-biographies/ Life story of great men

• Lives of great men all remind us we may make our lives sublime and departing leave behind us foot prints on the sands of time.

• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar• Lee Kuan Yew• Henry Ford• Jamshedji Tata, Dhirubhai Ambani, G D Birla• Khrushchev, Gorbachev• Ben Gurion, Golda Mair • Balagangadhar Tilak – Gita Rahasya• Margaret Thatcher• Irvine Shroedinger• Andy Grove• Einstein• Oppenhammer• Betrand Russel • K M Munshi• Rajaji• M C Chagla


Dhanyawad:Thank You

teachers as gurus to build a prosperous, powerful & moral india by dr t.h. chowdary * director,...

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