Teachers are Sculptors

About the Book

The world’s noblest profession but the most undervalued, thankless profession is that of teachers.

If you have ever reflected seriously on the role of a teacher and his/her influence in shaping your life, you will find this book both inspiring and enlightening. True, we have come a long way from our ancient tradition which held the teacher as an exemplar, a role-model, guru and mentor; but Dada J.P. Vaswani tells us how the teacher can still be a force to reckon with today, in the spiritual, intellectual and emotional unfolding of the students. Inspired by the insights of his Master, Sadhu Vaswani, who was himself a great educationist aria vastly admired and revered Professor and Principal, Dada J .P. Vaswani reveals new facets of the ideal teacher; a lamp-lighter, a sculptor, a builder, a moulder and shaper of the Spirit, a gardener who cultivates character, a torch-bearer and transmitter of values and ideals, and above all- a friend!

Dada’s profound observations are all the more valuable, coming as they do from an ideal, top-ranking, award-winning star student who turned out to be a much loved and respected teacher and one of India’s foremost spiritual leaders !

Turn the pages of this book and get a few glimpses of Dada’s memorable portrait of an ideal teacher!

Preface

Dear friends and fellow-students-I hope you won’t take it amiss that I am writing a book specially for teachers, and choose to address you as fellow-students!

My beloved Master, Sadhu Vaswani, once said to me: “Always remain a student.” I have kept this teaching close to my heart; and the day on which I have not learnt something new, I regard as a lost day indeed!

Like all of you, I have passed through the hands of many teachers, from the kindergarten class to postgraduation. In the lower classes we had just one teacher - our class teacher - who taught us all the subjects. As we grow up, subject experts take over, and we have Science Teachers, Maths Teachers, History Teachers and English Teachers. In college, there are Professors, Lecturers, Tutors and Demonstrators ...

Everyone has to have several teachers - but we remember only a few, while others are forgotten. Even their names are forgotten. Have you ever wondered why this is so?

If you have studied under a teacher whom you still remember with love, affection and reverence, you are truly blessed!

And if you are a teacher who has had such an impact on a student that he/she remembers you for years after his I her education is completed, then you are truly blessed!

I recall a moving incident in the life of the great American author, James Michener. He was once invited to be a guest at a banquet hosted by President Dwight Eisenhower at the White-House - a great privilege for any American.

James Michener declined the invitation with regret. In his letter to the President, he explained, “A wonderful teacher who taught me how to write is being honoured on the same day, at the same time ... you will not miss me at your banquet, Mr. President, but she might, at hers.”

“Ike” (as Eisenhower was popularly known) was so moved, that he wrote back:

Dear Mr. Michener,

In his lifetime a man lives under 15 or 16

presidents, but a truly fine teacher comes

in his lifetime far too rarely ...

Mark these words: in his lifetime, a man may live under several presidents and prime ministers: but he rarely comes across a truly fine teacher!

They tell me that the age of the ‘teacher- less classroom’ is here! There is talk of e-learning in a virtual classroom. An interactive computer, they say, can give you all that the teacher can - and without a teacher’s strict discipline and eccentricities.

With the greatest respect to technological advances, may I offer my humble opinion that this can never be ‘education’ in the true sense! Instruction may be offered through the virtual classroom; information may be made available through the computer. But teaching is much more than this: teaching in its truest sense is communicating - a process in which the personality ofthe teacher interacts with the personality of the students. You can go to a library and read hundreds of books; you can collect data from the Internet; you can listen to recorded lessons on CDs; but can any of these compensate for the living, moving presence of a good teacher?

Let me share with you the words of Swami Vivekananda:

He alone teaches, who has something to give, for teaching is not talking, teaching is not imparting doctrines, it is communicating ... All teaching implies giving and taking, the teacher gives and the taught receives, but the one must have something to give, and the other must be open to receive.

An average teacher instructs; a good teacher guides; a great teacher inspires.

I am sure each one of you can be a great teacher - a source of inspiration and enlightenment to your students!

Let me end this prefatory note - and begin this book, dedicated to you, the ideal teacher, with the Shanti-path which occurs in the Upanishads:

Sahanavavatu Sahanou bhunaktu

Sahaveeryam karavavahai tejaswina vaditamastu

Mavidvisha vahai -

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti!

May He protect us both (the teacher and the taught) together (by revealing the light of Knowledge). May He nourish us both (by offering to us the fruits of knowledge). May we both acquire energy (through this education): May we both become illumined (through this education); may we no! quarrel with each other. Om Peace Peace Peace!

Contents