Guru In The Siddhanta Shikhamani Of Shivayogi Shivaacharya | Dr. Sushumna Kannan

#guru #guruji #gurusishyan #indicculture
Guru, the untranslatable : The word and concept of Guru holds a matchless significance in Indic culture and traditions. The word being borrowed into English shows its global significance, though as an English word it may not carry the same meaning, significance and the wide, deep and intricate scope as in various Indic cultural traditions. It is used in English as just a word to describe a great exponent of a skill or knowledge area. The word as used in Sanskrit and various Indian languages, is one of the untranslatables.
Parent, the Guru, Initiator and trainer : In the Vedic tradition, Guru is the one who initiates a Vedic person into Vedic learning, i.e., into the learning of the Vedas and Vaidika shaastras through a ritual process considered to be a second birth for the initiated learner s’ishya and hand holds and walks with the learner throughout the learning upto its successful completion.to become an independent practitioner of the Veda or shaastra. ‘Aachaarya’, ‘adhyaapaka’ and ‘upaadhyaaya’ are a few other words that are used in the context of the passer on of IKS, Indian knowledge Systems .In all the Indic traditional knowledge and skill systems outside this Veda and shaastra learning tradition too, the initiator and teacher/trainer holds a similar significance to the initiated learner throughout the learning process and beyond upto the point of making the learner an independent practitioner of the knowledge or skill system.It is usually the father or a fatherlike elderly member of a family who initiates the child and hand holds the child throughout the learning of the knowledge or skill system which is usually hereditarily acquired by the family. So , parents or parental family members being Guru is a widespread phenomenon in the traditional knowledge and skill systems in India.
Guru-s’ishya paramparaa, the tradition of learning continued through a lineage of gurus to sishyas and these s’ishyas again becoming gurus to their s’ishyas, through an intimate, affectionate , to the degree of a supernatural bond between the guru and s’ishya is a very important concept and process in the creation and sustenance of all IKS, Indian Knowledge Systems. This word Gurus’ishyaparamparaa is used by contemporary Indians as a label to describe a precolonial, premodern or traditional pedagogy of Bhaarat.Particularlyin the fields of medicine like Ayurveda, in the fields of folk and classical performing arts like music, dance and theatrical arts and in the sculptural and architectural arts like sthaapatya, the system of gurusishyaparamparaa is continuing as the most preferred system.
Gurukulam: The system of learning in a gurukulam , the residence of a guru or a hamlet of hermitages of various gurus, is what is seen throughout the narrations in the Vedic texts like Upanishads and the classical Sanskrit texts like Itihasas, puranas and kavyas. Gurus running these gurukulas are rishis, maharshis and brahmarshis. These rishi-gurus are tapasvis, i.e., those absorbed in intense and deep meditation, having deep aesthetic, meditative, experiential connection of different degrees with different truths of nature called devatas. These gurus are also called munis, engaged in a kind of ‘research’ into different aspects of truth. Brahmacharis meaning celibates, also called vidyaarthis, seekers of vidyaa i.e., knowable or knowledge are described to live a celibate and austere life in the hermitages located inside deep forests approaching and living with the gurus seeking knowledge through their own tapas guided by the gurus.There are historical documentations of gurukulams from several centuries in different parts of India, continuing vibrantly even today. The personalities, life styles and teaching and learning methods in the gurukulas are all viewed and followed as continuities from and replicas of their counterparts in the rishi gurukulas. Gurus in these gurukulams are seen and live as the replicas of the rishis and munis of these Vedic and classical texts. Before colonization of education in Bhaarat, it is these gurus who sustained millennia old pursuit and development of and innovations in different vidyaas in this civilization. Even today, it is these gurus who are preserving the vidyaas not to be affected by the colonial dangers. Read More at:
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#vedanta #upanishads #purana #IKS #IndicKnowledgeSystems #IndianKnowledgeSystems #IndigenousKnowledgeSystems #IndianHeritage #IndicHeritage #IndianCulture #IndicCulture #IndianKnowledgeTraditions #IndicKnowledgeTraditions
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