Message from Secretary

A Message for the Teachers of the Future

Dear Teacher,

You will teach in classrooms we cannot yet picture, with tools we have not yet invented. Your work is older than any of them. Our tradition understood it long ago, and it gave it a name that holds more than the word "teacher" does.

गुरु: the one who removes darkness

गुशब्दस्त्वन्धकारःस्याद्रुशब्दस्तन्निरोधकः।
अन्धकारनिरोधित्वाद्गुरुरित्यभिधीयते॥
(Advayataraka Upanishad)

The syllable "gu" means darkness, and "ru" means the one who removes it. The one who removes darkness is called Guru.

Machines will give your students more information than any generation before them has had. Information is not light. You will still be the one who turns knowledge into understanding.

The gift of sight

अज्ञानतिमिरान्धस्यज्ञानाञ्जनशलाकया।
चक्षुरुन्मीलितंयेनतस्मैश्रीगुरवेनमः॥
(Guru Gita)

To the one who opens the eyes of a person blinded by ignorance, with the salve of knowledge, salutations to that Guru.

Teach your students to see for themselves, not only to remember what they were shown.

Learning is shared

आचार्यात्पादमादत्तेपादंशिष्यःस्वमेधया।
पादंसब्रह्मचारिभ्यःपादंकालक्रमेणच॥
(Subhashita)

A student gains one quarter from the teacher, one quarter from their own intelligence, one quarter from fellow students, and one quarter in time, through living.

Do not carry the whole burden alone. Your part is a quarter, and it is the quarter that lights the other three. Make room for curiosity, for friendship among learners, and for patience.

Questions are sacred

तद्विद्धिप्रणिपातेनपरिप्रश्नेनसेवया।
उपदेक्ष्यन्तितेज्ञानंज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिनः॥
(Bhagavad Gita 4.34)

Learn the truth by humility, by sincere questioning, and by service. Those who have seen the truth will teach you knowledge.

In every age, real learning begins with a student who dares to ask. Welcome the hard question as warmly as the right answer.

Teach with character

विद्याददातिविनयंविनयाद्यातिपात्रताम्।
(Hitopadesha)

Knowledge gives humility, and from humility comes worthiness.

If your students leave cleverer but not kinder, something has been missed. Let your own conduct be the first lesson. Students will forget much of what you said, but they will remember who you were.

A prayer for you and your students

ॐसहनाववतु।सहनौभुनक्तु।सहवीर्यंकरवावहै।
तेजस्विनावधीतमस्तुमाविद्विषावहै॥
ॐशान्तिःशान्तिःशान्तिः॥
(Taittiriya and Katha Upanishad shanti mantra)

May we be protected together. May we be nourished together. May we work together with great energy. May our study be illuminating, and may we never quarrel. Om, peace, peace, peace.

Note the word together. The teacher and the student walk the same road, one a few steps ahead, both still learning.

Whatever the classroom looks like in fifty years, a child will still sit in it, uncertain and full of promise, waiting for someone to believe in them. Be that person.

गुरुर्ब्रह्मागुरुर्विष्णुःगुरुर्देवोमहेश्वरः।
गुरुःसाक्षात्परंब्रह्मतस्मैश्रीगुरवेनमः॥

With deep respect,
A fellow traveller on the path of learning