Paper Contents
Abstract
We spend most of our waking lives in handling relationships. This are subsequently determining farthers with the people of the society as whole, Of all relationships that we cherish, that between a teacher and a student has always been special. The lesson that a student learns when in childhood from a teacher may influence decisions decades later. This indicates the importance of a teacher in a student's life. Moreover, it also indicates the level of responsibility on the part of the teacher. The teacher may make or break the future of a student. This could be irrelevant in a technology-obsessed world where lessons may be learnt in the absence of a live teacher. This may seem to signal the death of traditional learning with a personal human touch. But all is not lost. The guru-shishya tradition in India is unique in many ways. We have literary sources that speak of the guru-shishya relationship in various contexts, both spiritual and secular. The Veda(s), dharma shastra literature, purana literature, and ayurveda literature are but a few of these. The current education system may be revitalised with lessons from these. This paper will touch upon some instances of descriptions of the guru-shishya relationship in ancient India. It is hoped that these lessons may not only help teachers to improve their relationships with students, but also help students to understand what they may miss if they choose not to interact with live human teachers.
Copyright
Copyright © 2024 Goutam Pal. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
