Tribute to the Teachers in my Life!

II Tvame va Mata cha Pita Tvame va, Tvame va Bandhu cha Sakha Tvame va,
Tvame va Vidya, Dravinam Tvame va, Tvame va Sarvam, Mam Deva Deva II

Everytime I hear this while watching Chandragupta Maurya serial on COLORS channel, a chill runs down my spine. As if it is so familiar to my subconscious, my soul knows exactly what it means. Its so true that life becomes meaningful with a proper guide or teacher, to show you the way out of life’s puzzles, to raise your spirits when failures try to pull you down, encourage you to give your best performance and enlighten you with knowledge. If parents give us birth physically, it is the Teacher who gives birth to our aptitude and persona.

We are a bundle of knowledge and experiences gathered from so many teachers in our lives, not just academic teachers, but also parents, siblings, friends, spiritual teachers, professional guides, books and others.Of course I also remember and remain grateful to Teachers who have taught me routine chores of life; ones that I remember like cooking, driving, computers and many more. Even a stranger on streets from whom I pick up some good  is my Teacher and I want to mention all of them in my thanksgiving for making me what I am today!

And then there are also those Teachers – the other kinds whose bitter experiences gave me an insight into the darker side of life. For instance, the ones I trusted and got deceived by, taught me to be precautious, alert and beware of chameleons. In a way, they also made me realise the importance of  kind Teachers in my Life!

In chronological order after my birth, my first Guru are my Parents who taught me to speak, to walk on my feet in childhood. As I grew they spent for my education wholeheartedly at a time when friends and relatives would try dissuading them from spending on me, a Hindu daughter who is supposed to marry and go away as per the traditions. They are the ones who love unconditionally! Thankyou God Almighty for being present in my life as my Parents !

After my Parents my next Guru is my maternal Grandmother Shantaben Chandulal Shah who took care of me in my childhood... She was my foster Mother and she sowed the seeds of righteousness from the time my mind was tender and raw. She would engage me in religious teachings of Jainism and take us daily to temple for doing Pooja. A very beautiful and straighforward lady of high self respect with kind and forgiving heart, the vacuum created by her loss cannot be refilled ever ... Her loss made me come in touch with Vipassana... She guided me while she was alive and even after walking into the other side of the world!

A special memory of one of the very few and first persons to have recognised my potentials and encouraged me morally was Shri Vishnuprasad Sharma, Father of my Moms friend. We used to call him Dadaji fondly as he was truly a wellwishing Elder for our family. We still remember the loving affection in his eyes and warmth in his heart for our family! Forever grateful to him...

At Spiritual level, my first Guru is Shri Sadguru Sai Baba. I still remember that day when I prayed to HIM at Shirdi from the deepest of my heart to guide me into living a life of dignity and integrity, to make me capable of differentiating between the right and the wrong, to always guide me on the right path and discourage any deviations towards the wrong step, if any. HE blessed me, answered my prayers and still keeps doing so. I always feel HIS unseen presence with me!

Next in order is my Family's Mentor, Emeritus Director Professor Dr K. C. Mohanty, who introduced me to the fundamentals of spirituality- the love and devotion to work for mankind. A man of outstanding integrity he provides pro-bono services to the poor, unconditional services to the society, works for the betterment of country affairs and environment. He is a Social reformer working ceaselessly to reform lives of the backward and  the deprived, a dedicated educationalist giving away every bit of his knowledge, guidance and motivation to every student and a pioneer in his field giving many original guidelines and medicine molecules to medical fraternity through innumerable researches. To sum up in few words he is a man of his words, self-made, strict disciplinarian, omniscient, a prolific orator with infallible judgement, a philosopher continuously churning futuristic thoughts from his grey matter and always oozing with positive spirits. He is a Nationalist by conviction “to the last drop of my blood” in his own words!  Lots to learn from Him! He continues to inspire me to do my level best and conform upto his expectations.

After Him, it is Shri Premji Savla Guruji, who is Chief Acharya and Head in-charge of Dhammagiri Vipassana Centre (Headquarters of Vipassana Meditation Centres across the world). It was a co-incidental meet with him when I was in mental turbulence. He could read through my mind and brought my stormy mind in stability. I am very fortunate that he accepted me as his pupil from then and there. He introduced me to the depths of Vipassana and helped me to understand better the virtue of equanimity, impermanence of everything under the sun and encourages to work for suffering world. Bearing an immensely radiating Aura, his presence makes us light up with utmost peace, tranquillity and positivity, celebrating existence. I learnt the art of living and leaving (worldly attachments) in real sense by practicing Vipassana which reinforces ‘Memento Mori’- Remember your mortality!

A person who can guide you in hard times is like a sail to your boat in times of storms.. Such a person's kind gesture is invaluable and precious. And so is Shri Date Guruji, an extraordinarily blessed soul who reads Aura - the electromagnetic radiations from physical bodies of people and guides them. Grateful to have learnt many things from him and fortunate to have met him in this lifetime. God bless my school friend Poonam who intoduced me to him.

The guidance and blessings of all these Teachers freed me from the dungeons of despair and depression at a point when I was about to breakdown. They revived my self confidence to get back on my feet and win back my self respect.

It is definitely a task for the Teacher to mould the soft clayed minds of pupil with utmost care and channelize their energies in the right direction. Just like a potter has to shape up the earthern pots and bake them in heat slowly without breaking, so it can provide cool water. A very meaningful truth I read somewhere - “Just as the Sun is valued not only for its intrinsic radiance but also for its ability to illuminate the world, so the brilliance of a Teacher is determined not only by the clarity of His teachings  but also by His ability to illuminate those who come to Him for refuge and make them luminaries in their own right!”

I was, am and will always remain grateful to all these Patriarchs of  my wisdom (whatever little bit I collected from them) who have nurtured the seed of uprightness and values in my mind, protected the sapling from the wilderness of world which is headed on its way to growing into a mature tree. The real test would lie in my ability to follow the footsteps of my Teachers and pass on and disseminate the knowledge to those who need and appreciate it!

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