As a lecturer, every year, even more than the Teacher's Day, the Guru Pournima is the day that proves the gravitas of being a teacher, given students' messages. The very term 'guru' has that respect built in it.
Etymologically, the Sanskrit term originates from two verbs, 'gri' and 'gur'. 'Gri' means invoke, praise, while 'gur' refers to the act of raising, of lifting up. The Guru raises wisdom in our being. The Guru lifts up our mundane souls, our animal spirits. In this sense, the 'guru' is generous, large, the very antonym of 'laghu', the small. Indeed, the guru is that universal principle that is great, far reaching, wide ranging.
Who is a guru? In my opinion, our 'adya', our first and foremost guru's are our parents. They mould our very being. No wonder, in the Bhakti tradition, Sant Dnyaneshwar calls both the deity Vithoba and the guru as 'Mauli', the mother; while his 'mudra', his motto that ends his every 'abhang' is 'bap rakhumadevivar', the father called the consort of Rakhumai, Rukmini.
In my opinion, the guru principle is everywhere and in everyone. It resides in the ultimate guru, Socrates, who taught mankind to ask questions to questions till answers emerged lucid.
And, yet, I find the guru in my students as well. Each batch and every student who grows close teach me something special. Let me give you an example.
One of my Spanish batches in the BMCC Language Lab had seven visually impaired students. Ever enjoying, never down, always normal, they strengthened the resilience within me. One of them, Raju, knew the entire textbook page by page, excercise by exercise. What is great in that? Is that what you are asking? Well, remember, they could not 'see' the book. The online mode was not so easily accessible and available then. Their only source as far as Spanish was concerned was my voice. So Raju's commitment was phenomenal, and taught me sincerity yet again.
My brothers have been my guru's often. They have taught me how to care deeply without any obvious show-off. If Raju's generous and intrepid depth given his seafaring career enriches my being, Sanju's breadth as a corporate officer enables me in my weak moments.
In my opinion, our pets are our guru's, too because they teach us selfless, genuine love. The babies, the children around us are family pets precisely because their affection is so genuine and truly infinite. They teach us how to love.
In other words, I find guru's everywhere in the wide, wise sky, in the ever alive trees, in the forever chirping birds, in the life giving sunlight, and in the calm, gentle moonlight. Rather like Alexander who found a guru in a spider, I find my guru in the ant, especially when I am real down.
I locate my guru's in everyone, in scientists like Bruno, Kepler, and Galileo who paid with a lifetime to uphold the truth, in authors like Shakespeare and Kalidas who opened up delicately every fragile feel, in music, in paintings, in films that throb with the breadth and depth of life.
Oh, yes, I find a guru even within me, always in my conscience that would never allow me anything wrong, often in my sensitivity that helps me empathise, and forever in my thinking that proves to me time and again that I know so little! No wonder, I find Guru Pournima so very special!
Pratima@ The 'guru' principle is both, micro to macro. It is here, it is there, it is everywhere. It is without, and, finally, within us!
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