#gurukul

yoganiyoga

whenever i dream i find myself seeing a rustic traditional gurukul where all I do is learn and dance.. wraiths of those images never leave me.. and they feel like this

Recently, I have been watching Ramayana and Mahabharata and felt that those times were better. There are certain reasons but the crucial one I felt is, they had proper nurturing while growing up. Morals and Knowledge were fed in properly, in balance along with the discipline. Teachers had far better relations with their students. They were available 24*7, to help.

If we compare today's education system with the Gurukul, it's nowhere. The way children are growing up, more than half, are hit by the depression, anxiety and other psychological problems. They don't know how to fight with it. There's immense competition among students. Being a teacher, is just a 9 to 5 job. What is the difference? Why students, 1000 years back were morally and physically stronger? Why Gurukul, with no infrastructure, was considered better?

Here are the reasons:

Students were kept away from all the materialistic happiness while they were in Gurukul and were delivered applied knowledge.

Students were taught on-field science and morals were given priority.

Compared to the present education system, students knew how to control their minds and levels of consciousness.

Children left their homes and near and dear ones at the tender age of eight and stayed away from their parents for over 12 years.

All were considered equal at the Gurukul and guru (teacher) as well as shishya.

The essential teachings were in subjects like language, science, mathematics through group discussions, self-learning, etc. Not only this, but the focus was also given on arts, sports, crafts, singing that developed their intelligence and critical thinking. Activities such as yoga, meditation, mantra chanting, etc generated positivity and peace of mind and made them fit. It was also mandatory to do daily chores on own with a motive to impart practical skills in them. All these helped in personality development and increased their confidence, sense of discipline, intellect and mindfulness which is necessary even today to face the world that lay ahead.

Gurukul was free from rank-based judgment. There existed a healthy competition.

Teachers were actually the people, who enlightened students and guided all their way out in life. Whenever there was any confusion or dilemma situation among students, students used to run to their gurus without any hesitation. Gurus were actually enlightened and more conscious than students.

दुग्धेन धेनुः कुसुमेन वल्ली शीलेन भार्या कमलेन तोयम् ।

गुरुं विना भाति न चैव शिष्यः शमेन विद्या नगरी जनेन ॥

This was the beauty of Gurukul. Many a time, I feel lack of Guru in my life, and we all do. Do we need a Gurukul? Yes, we do! Because what these modern infrastructures lack basic teachings of life. Unfortunately, the above concept has disappeared and the modern system of education brought to India in the year 1835 by Lord Macauley is all about clerical work and rat race which is completely useless.

Our minds are brainwashed in a way that we consider our history as mythology even after the existence of proofs. We study western ways, we study the french revolution, we study world wars in our history books, but we don't study Vedic literature, we don't study Indian culture, we don't study spirituality because these things aren't cool, maybe not true according to many of us. India has a rich culture but our culture is so underrated that many of us don't like to be called Indians. It's not our fault, it's the thought process our rich schools and Britishers fed in. We know the name of our freedom fighters, but only 30 percent of Indians know their stories and how they fought.