I am my Teacher

I always wanted to have a Teacher, a Guru. A teacher who can guide me, who can train me,  give me strength and purpose and who can pull out when I am in trouble. I tried to decorate many people as my teacher(s), however far they are, by trying to emulate them, and by trying to understand and endure their vision, goals and aspirations. It is indeed irony, that we hate most of our teachers (especially, the college ones) for many similar and obvious reasons. May be, that has much to do with ourselves than them.

We hear about many stories of people in search of a Teacher, from the age of Buddha till the death of Steve Jobs. They have wandered beyond the boundaries of nations to find not just a person who can be called as a Guru, but an internal inspiration that can trigger a life long teacher, in oneself. They became their own inspiration, they are their encouragement. And of course, over the period of time, Buddha became a god in himself (according to one sect of Buddhism) and Steve Jobs is known to all for his creations, and a demi-god for all of his ‘likes’.

This doesn’t mean to replace any Teacher(s) in our lives. I will come to this in the end section. For me, I still believe they cannot be replaced, and I myself want to be a teacher (getting into that role, whenever it is possible). But, the point to be noted, is to search for the internal experienced soul, who has already seen more or less of a quarter century of the life, and who knows what is it to be beaten and fallen.

We are missing one of the best teachers and his/her lessons. Once we realize this, we can ‘build’ our own inspiration, our own encouragement. Every single time we have a ‘downtime’, we have something to look to. He/She is with you, always, even better than a shadow !

Inspiration is built. Encouragement is endured. For that we need to ensure that the past is recorded, with its failures and successes and the very happenings as they happened. A perspective about the future and a careful direction provided to it can help making the past of tomorrow. For example, one can have a Five Year Plan for him/herself (just like any country would have, for its economic and social development, a plan). When I was 23, I made a plan, not in so much detail but an overall picture of where I want myself to be in the next five years. I am almost 28 now, and when I sense that I am at the expiration of my five year plan, I am already excited to switch back and see what did I do (and not just what did I achieve etc). It indeed is a fantastic ride, more being the age falling in the mid twenties, a very important part of the life, like any other age group 😛 I am again in the time of turbulence where the next step is to sit on the next plan, with my experiences over the last five years. The time when I had this very same turbulence is still fresh in my thoughts and I am so humbly happy to see myself going along, without regrets. I have seen both the best and worst of mine and now in a position to choose between the two !

This full example is just to provide a glimpse of  how good a teacher we already are ! We just need to wake it up from within.

To bring in a different perspective, we are running in short of good teachers in the country. Firstly, it is no more a lucrative or attractive career option and been overshadowed by engineering and other bachelor degrees, in proportions that are looming dangerous. It gives an impression that we no longer believe that teacher, as a profession, and as an important part of one’s life, is being undervalued, to our own peril. The pathetic student-teacher ratios in all of our premiere institutions is a reflection of the bad state of affairs. Unless a thrust is given to this most important sector, we may not produce any more teachers. The style of teaching, especially in the lower grades of schooling must be of utmost significance, and should be dealt on priority.

If one can observe, there is a lot of stress of ‘ I ‘ in the whole of the discussion above. Even the title starts with an ‘ I ‘. I am not sure if that brings in the fact we are more and more becoming ego-centered than altruistic, or if that means that ‘ I ‘ see the world in ‘me’. Choose yourself.

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