We may remember Teachers Day as the day when we decorated the blackboard (or green board, as was in our case), and wished our teachers and thanked them for teaching us well. We may not have understood the importance of teachers day then, as we do now.
Today, we live in different parts of the world, are capable of interacting with multiple cultures and deal with many situations…a lot of these capabilities were seeded by the education that we received in school, and those seeds were tended to by our teachers.
By teachers, I don’t mean only those who taught us in school. As we go through life, we encounter a lot of people who teach us something, and others from who we learn something.
Our today is the collective efforts of all those people, some of who may not even have had any vested interest in giving us knowledge.
And so, today, let us remember all those people who left an imprint on our consciousness, who gave us knowledge, and who helped make us who we are.
Let us join our hands and silently thank them, or reach out to them and thank them personally.
But most importantly, let us realise that we are not here just by our own efforts – our parents, our friends, our teachers and our country – all have contributed to making us.
A famous line from Casino Royale – there are dinner jackets and there are DINNER JACKETS – this, is the latter…
In the same vein, there are teachers, and there are TEACHERS…the level of learning that you reach in life largely depends on which one taught you.
Sanskrit has levels of teachers – depending on the level of knowledge and guidance that they impart.
अध्यापक – Adhyāpaka
उपाध्याय – Upādhyāya
आचार्य – Āchārya
पंडित – Pandita
दृष्टा – Drsta
गुरु – Guru
An Adhyāpaka is one who is able to give you in-depth information, and knowledge. An Upādhyāya does that as well, but also helps you reach a high level of comprehension of the subject. An Āchārya imparts skills, and a Pandita is a subject-matter expert. A Drsta is a visionary and can help you think in that way too, and a Guru is one who awakens.
And these are roles played by individuals, which means that one can be a Pundit in some cases, and a Guru in others. For instance, my karate master was a “Guru” for me, but some consulted him as a Pundit given his expertise in martial arts. He was (and is) also a Drsta for me, especially in my later years.
अध्यापक itself is a derivative of अध्यापन (adhyāpana). The word अध्यापन adhyāpana is a causal word of अध्ययन adhyayana which in Sanskrit usually means learning or reading or studying.
The word अध्ययन adhyayana has three components: अधि adhi, अय् ay and अन ana.
‘अधि adhi’ here is a prefix, and as a prefix it means above, over, beyond. ‘अय् ay’ is a root-sound (connected with the root इ i), which means ‘to go’. ‘अन ana’ is a nominal suffix which turns a verbal root into a verbal noun. So, the word अध्ययन adhyayana means, ‘going above or beyond’.
अध्ययन thus does not mean mere learning – but going beyond what is considered knowledge, into the domain of awareness. Thus, an Adhyāpaka facilitates the student to go beyond books, the instrument of learning, into the realm of awareness, which is supposed to be the true goal of education.
प्रेरकःसूचकश्वैववाचकोदर्शकस्तथा।
शिक्षकोबोधकश्वैवषडेतेगुरवःस्मृताः॥
prerakaḥ sūcakaśvaiva vācako darśakastathā।
śikṣako bodhakaśvaiva ṣaḍete guravaḥ smṛtāḥ॥
The one who inspires, one who informs, one who recites, one who guides,
one who teaches, and the one who awakens, these are the six Gurus to remember.
And what if all these traits are found in one person? What if there is one person who inspires oneself to break barriers in the mind and body, who makes you aware of your capabilities, who, through his powerful speech, awakens the potential that is inherent within you?
There are many black belts who start dojos, but a very few of them teach. Even fewer inspire, and hardly anyone awakens.
But I have been fortunate enough to be a student of Kancho Rakum. From the age of 13, I had just one master, and I didn’t need any other.
Martial arts was only the beginning – Kancho went on to teach us how to live life. How to pursue perfection, how to be dedicated beyond your own conscious abilities…the endless revisions of the first edition of Power Karate resulted in many discarded sheets of paper and an eye for detail that helps me till this day. The sweat from the classes where we pushed our limits still flows, when I push my limits in working with passion, that bus I took to Koramangala for my first class still rides, through my journey of many firsts, only because I am not afraid of learning and trying new things…
And so today, on Teacher’s Day, I remember everything that Kancho has taught me, and thank God that I was brought on this path, and that Kancho held the lamp as I walked. But before God, I would have to thank you, because
गुरौ न प्राप्यते यत्तन्नान्यत्रापि हि लभ्यते, गुरु प्रसादात सर्वं तु प्राप्नोत्येव न संशयः॥ – Whatever is not obtained from the Guru, cannot be obtained from elsewhere, with the grace of the Guru one indeed obtains everything.
Thank you Kancho. Wish you a very happy Teacher’s Day.