How Gurukulam Learning Differs from Regular Education, Part 2
What I Learnt from Our Sacred Texts
The mahāvākya aham brahmāsmi and this spectacular knowledge released me from all ideas of smallness and complexes regarding myself. The means to acquire this clarity is first to acquire adhikāritvam, the eligibility to comprehend this subtle truth and by listening to śāstra, gurumukhāt, i.e. hearing the words of śāstra from a qualified guru. No, not by reading and theorizing, that will put us back in the same path of doubt and habitual error as before and not really help us move past our mental shenanigans.
Here, in this study, there is no separate theory and practical – this is it, I am the whole, that is all there is to know, but it is reiterated repeatedly, ad nauseum, because we are constantly doubting that this statement can actually be true and end up behaving more or less as our small self dictates.
Our śāstra tells us that there is no separate philosophy or path to know oneself, advaita vedānta is a complete vision, everything else is its subset, it includes everything that we know and do not know. But for all this to be clear, we must first lead a life of dharma, a life full of fulfilling our duties and responsibilities like Rāma, we must develop love for him who is vigrahavān dharmah, he who embodies dharma. The famous mantra from the Kali Santaraṇa Upaniṣad, which can be chanted anywhere and does not need strict adherence to stipulations otherwise associated with other mantras, tells us how leading a life of dharma (embodied by Rāma) leads us to joy and fulfilment, ānanda (embodied by Kṛṣṇa) :
हरे राम हरे राम , राम राम हरे हरे
हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण , कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे
hare Rāma, hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, hare hare
hare Kṛṣṇa, hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, hare hare
This is easier said than done, to emulate Rāma is well nigh impossible but we can try. We can reach him through bhakti. In our relationships, in our dealings and transactions we can incorporate his righteousness. Only then will we find Kṛṣṇa who is all joy forever, one leads to another, how can there be ānanda without dharma? Any life devoid of dharma is sure to lead to disenchantment and misery. This was taught to us very clearly by our gurus. My clarity on this issue and my love for Rāma grew in the gurukulam. Previously given the education I received and the milieu I was in, I was not too fond of Rāma, assuming the worst of him without actually understanding what he stood for and how he lived his life, but after appreciating the role of dharma in my journey, I realized that I could not get through life without Rāma. This here is a wonderful bhajan by Maharajapuram Santhanam composed by my guru Pūjya Svāmīji Dayananda Saraswati (founder Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, AVG) which helped elevate my love for Rāma. Once we know that we must live our lives in accordance with dharma and we do, the next step is to know ourselves, as we are now ready for the great reveal! Vedas themselves say that they are pramāṇa i.e. means of knowing oneself, we might think this is fanaticism, but who else says I will tell you about yourself! There is no talk of ātmā in any other extant body of literature or religion with a pedagogy to match.
परीक्ष्य लोकान्कर्मचितान्ब्राह्मणो निर्वेदमायान्नास्त्यकृतः कृतेन
तद्विज्ञानार्थं स गुरुमेवाभिगच्छेत्समित्पाणिः श्रोत्रियं ब्रह्मनिष्ठम्
parīkṣya lokānkarmacitānbrāhmaṇo
nirvedamāyānnāstyakṛtaḥ kṛtena
tadvijñānārthaṃ sa gurumevābhigacchet
samitpāṇiḥ śrotriyaṃ brahmaniṣṭham
Now the Vedas (Munḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12) tell us that one must study what the śāstras say via a qualified Guru – and ‘qualified’ is described as ‘śrotriyam brahmaniṣṭham’ – one who is trained in śāstra and who is involved only in teaching about śāstra vākya while revelling in the Self. Who is a guru, how to select a guru, who to learn from, all this is described in great detail, so we do not have to worry about how to look for an appropriate guru. What they convey is that it is the teaching that is important, not so much the personality of the teacher. Most of the time we are taken in by a teacher’s accent, knowledge in secular or current affairs, impressed by the teacher’s vocabulary or the attention they shower on us, there is a danger of being attached to the teacher or of transference of our issues onto the guru. I learnt that none of this counts when it comes to knowing oneself. In fact I was told off many a time when my curiosity got the better of me; one does not ask personal questions of the teacher. This is considered taboo so as to avoid unhealthy dependencies and transferences onto one’s guru which happens a lot in a gurukulam setting.
We are asked to accept the guru as is, not probing into their antecedents, because, how does that matter in the long run? Finally, in this study when the student is ready the student gets up and leaves the guru, there is no personality cult here. It is alright to adore one’s guru but then there is always a chance of being emotionally dependent and not realizing one’s own Self which is no different from one’s guru’s. The guru of śāstras emphasizes the value of teaching over the teacher.
How does this guru, the teacher, teach this? Through teaching the nature of sat: abādhitam sat, that Truth is non-negatable. It is anadhigatam, Truth is that which cannot be known by any other means. It is trikālaepī tiṣṭhati, Truth is available at all times and in spaces, there is nowhere and no time where it is not. Hence I too am the Truth right here and now. This knowledge releases us from all fear of missing out or we only live once syndrome as we are never negated, we always will exist, as sat cit ānanda. Thus this body/ being doesn’t need validation anymore. If we give this knowledge to children it creates a tremendous amount of self confidence in them, and whatever their outer realities, their inner core remains undisturbed and free.
Our culture is concerned only about the absolute Truth and that Truth expresses itself in various beautiful ways in an auspicious manner; satyam śivam sundaram. From the way we dress, to how we speak, to how we interact with one another there is a gentility, a nobility that is hard to miss. Such a sātvika simple living high thinking state is aspirational in a gurukulam setting. All the foreigners at AVG would switch to wearing cotton dhotīs, sporting a śikhā or wearing handloom sāris, and better still set munḍus during their stay. We were right next door to Kerala and the hot and humid weather encouraged us to be dressed in whites and cottons. This is seen in many other āśramas too, where dressing as per local customs is the norm. Flowers in their well oiled plaited hair, and tilaka on their foreheads, was a natural outcome at Anaikatti. So much so that wearing anklets and toe rings to glass bangles and all the finery associated with solah śṛngār would be on full display within days of joining a course.
When this is so easily achievable and is in tune with our local customs and conducive to developing a sātvika personality, why is it that we are weaning away from such a look so easily? We do not oil our hair anymore, nor do we sport tilakas or bindis, we cut our hair short, men and women alike, for ease and comfort, and leave it open, ‘bobbed’ for a ‘modern’ look. But then how can we adorn ourselves with flowers? No one seems to ask this all important question! The exchange between nature and humans is never as aesthetic as when we put flowers in our hair.
We tend to wear only western clothes in the name of convenience – as though sāri clad construction workers let sāris get in their way while working – and we seem to increasingly prefer to eat mostly non-Indian food, ordering the same in English all the while, and conversing in it even in a group setting which speaks our mother tongue. If culture may be reduced simplistically to boṭṭu, kaṭṭu, māṭa – i.e. Telugu for; how we look, what we wear, and what we speak, then we can safely assume that most of urban India is culturally no longer Hindu. Although Truth is absolute and does not really care about such matters, we must not lose sight of the fact that we are not revelling in the absolute Truth……yet.
If and when we do end up there then none of this will matter, until then we ought to do everything in our power to align ourselves with habits and customs that encourage stability and assuredness. This will help us in appreciating subtle ideas and not focus too much on the physical body or the material world. A constantly changing fashion scene which is concerned only with the ephemeral is not the best space to indulge in if one is engaged in self discovery. Studying our texts will give us the necessary self confidence to shrug off our colonial burdens and resort to a more indigenous lifestyle. Instead what is happening currently due to lack of self esteem and needing constant validation – which is due to lack of adequate knowledge of Self and the unanswered existential questions – is that society has turned overtly sexual and crass.
How I look and what I wear ought to be mangalam auspicious, when I apply a boṭṭu, wear ornaments, wrap a locally woven handloom on me, I evoke śrī, the goddess of prosperity. My bindi represents the īśvara within, the antaryāmī, the angusṭhamātrah puruṣa in its pūrṇatvam. I decorate this body, which is a temple, housing that divine with jewellery and well ironed clothes, not wearing torn clothes which are now the rage, as that would incur the wrath of alakṣmī plus showcase my own tāmasika laziness, and tie my hair neatly so that my energies are contained not scattered, and my open hair does not cause hygiene issues either. And of course I adorn myself with seasonal flowers, for their fragrance, for what it does to calm my nerves, and for the sheer beauty and joy of it.
At the gurukulam it was a relief not to conform to certain ‘modern’ expectations regarding one’s appearance, which meant it did not matter if we dyed and set our hair a certain way, nor did it matter if we did not do our manicures or pedicures, urban style and fashion took a backseat to ease, comfort, local customs, and our own growing clarity regarding our true nature. The body was given a holiday for the most part, which is how it should be, to give us ample time and mind space to concern ourselves with more pressing aspects of life.
How is none of this taught either at home (of course no grandparents, no stay at home parents) or in school (of course ‘secular’ education)? What we are taught in the name of education is accumulated knowledge in academic institutions, which is essential too, but where is the actual learning? Where is the transformation of the individual? Where is the making of an adult from a child?
To make life easier and to live a meaningful and sane life one needs to learn the Truth about oneSelf as Svāmī Tattvavidananda ji says (and he paraphrases Svāmī Ramatirtha here); when there is accumulation of knowledge and no learning then it is like food eaten and not digested, and he (Svāmī Ramatirtha) called this mental dyspepsia.
We must be taught to differentiate between parā and aparā vidyā early on, to prevent such mishaps. Our sacred texts clearly delineate them. There is the knowledge of the Self and then there is the rest…..only with the parā well internalized can the aparā be handled with ease. In days of yore all men irrespective of jāti attended a gurukulam or the village school (The Beautiful Tree, Dharampal, 1995) and learnt of such life changing truths before branching off to their respective area of study within their communities. Knowing who I am helps us look at the world very differently; without neediness, without competitiveness, without anxiety and without uncalled for fear. We relax in our beings and are happy people, a pleasure to interact with. How can I learn to be the same you ask?
At the dining hall, we had weekly duties to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. If there is one thing that we can emulate from a gurukulam and teach our young citizens in regular schools, it would be this. Now serving others is not easy. One has to serve with love and attention even when one is hungry (oh yes, you are not allowed to serve on a full stomach). One has to be neat and tidy about it, not messing up. Some want to eat less or more, of this or that, others dictate how much. Sometimes they ask for the last roṭī or laḍḍū you were eyeing hungrily but you must serve anyway! Serving teaches us patience, postponement of gratification, it teaches us to give-in to others’ demands, to accept their wants and to cater to their whims. Serving makes us adjust, makes us generous, and leaves us less self centered. By feeding others, we end up feeling satiated ourselves. It is a strange feeling! Serving our ācāryas was even tougher. We had to stand guard, not talk, observe who wanted what and accordingly serve, as most sanyāsīs will not speak while eating and will not ask for more. It is a guessing game and quite stressful too. When two or three sanyāsīs are eating together, who do you serve first, as per seniority or on a first come first served basis? It is nevertheless a privilege to serve meals to one’s guru.
It is not that being served is any less of a teaching moment. Accepting what is given, not wasting what is on the plate (annam na paricakśīta from the Taittirīya Upaniṣad), enjoying what is offered, finding taste and nutrition in it, not being critical or dissatisfied (annam na nindyāt tat vratam from the Taittirīya Upaniṣad), not seeking something else constantly; the dining hall thus was the centre of a praxis of īśvarārpaṇa and prasāda buddhi. What is most inspiring is the fact that the dining hall is also always open to anyone who walks in, students, teachers, workers and villagers alike, as food is always cooked in abundance (annam bahu kurvīta from the Taittirīya Upaniṣad).
Authored by Kavita Krishna Meegama. Published by Brhat.