A bad pupil harms only himself; a bad teacher ruins the career of thousands. A bad teacher complains; a good teacher explains; the best teacher inspires. A good teacher is a perpetual learner. (Uniq, p. 150)
The teacher offers; the student receives. The teacher should possess much to impart; the student should feel the want in him. When the tank is full, water will flow when the tap is opened. And, the tank must have a store of potable water. (SSS Vol.15, p.92)
You only need to tread the footsteps of the great teachers of the past, who have transmitted their spiritual wealth to succeeding generations. Of course, you were students some years ago, and naturally, as teachers, you try to shape your methods and manners on lines employed by your teachers. Perhaps, they do or do not approximate to the ideals, I now spoke about. But, your duty is to delve into the Inner Reality and discover the spring of joy, therein, so that the exacting task of moulding the children, into ‘children of Bharat’ will be a re-creating job for you, highly refreshing and rewarding. Your character is the best tool for the profession you have entered upon, your learning is of course valuable, but one can excuse a little less of it; character on the other hand, must be cent percent, perfect. Live, not artificially, but, quite in conformity with the message of the rishis, Satyam vada, Dharmam chara (utter the truth, tread the path of righteousness.) (SSS Vol.7, p.18)
A teacher should be a shining light to the whole world. If he lacks in virtue, the community of students will suffer. He should himself practise what he teaches, and then alone the students will emulate him. (SSE, p.1)
‘Ya Vidya, sa vimuktaye’ (Vidya is That which liberates), say the Upanishads. The teacher should not confine himself within books; the universe is his text. He must imbibe and transmit the knowledge and experience that the Universe is divine, true and holy. A good teacher is perpetual learner; for him, Nature or Prakriti is the best teacher. (SSS Vol.19, pp. 23-24)
Teachers are the Sun which encourage the lotus buds to bloom and scatter fragrance. Their conduct and counsel are the rays which unfold the virtues and talents latent in the hearts of the leaders of tomorrow. Teachers have to fill their own hearts with good thoughts, good ideals, yearning for good deeds and devotion to God. When their hearts are reservoirs of these qualities, the taps, when opened, offer these only and children, who slake their thirst at the taps, are inspired to be likewise. Students need study only for a few years, but the teacher has to keep on studying for years and years, in order to be an efficient Guru. When one lamp has its flame steady and bright, hundreds of lamps can be lit there from.
Do not condemn yourselves as petty peddlers of knowledge. You are the makers of the future of mankind. You can make it bright and joyful or mar it as dreary and dreadful. You can weaken or strengthen the foundations of life. You are the planners and engineers who lay the royal road of peace and prosperity.
You are the ray of hope that illumines the dismal night enveloping all countries. You are the revellers of the Divine Power that animates every living being and prompts it towards self-sacrifice and self-knowledge. You direct the eyes of the pupils inward into the Reality and invite them to revel in that light. You hasten the holy process of ignoring and forgetting the superficial and advancing the Divine Consciousness, which is the reality of man. (SSS Vol.16, pp. 117-118)
Teaching has become a process of transmission from head to head. Teachers teach with the head, and students listen to them with the head. Students go to the examination-hall with a head load of information, empty it out on the answer books, and return home empty-headed. This kind of student may earn degrees, but what good will these youths bring to the people around? True teaching goes straight to the heart and imprints itself permanently on the hearts of the students.
By preparing students merely for answering certain questions in examinations they are induced to concentrate only on portions of a subject and not the subject as a whole. There is need for an interdisciplinary approach so that the connection between one subject and another is properly understood.
Teachers should regard their profession as one in which they not only teach but also continuously learn more and more about the subject that they have to deal with. It should be like the battery in a car, which gets charged when the car is running.
University teachers, especially those serving in the Sathya Sai Institute, have to bear in mind certain important obligations. The foremost among them is the eschewing of involvement in politics. A great national leader like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who played a key role in the national struggle was a teacher in a High School at Pune. When he was asked, what ministerial position he would like to have when India become free, he replied that he would continue to remain a teacher and not seek any ministerial job. The proper training of young men who might become future ministers was, in his view, a more important job than being a minister himself. This showed Tilak’s spirit of sacrifice and devotion to the national interest. (SSS Vol.17, pp. 43-44)
The significance of yajna, Dharma and tapas (sacrifice, self-control and penance), of Sahana, sadhana, samyama (forbearance, spiritual discipline and restraint), of the great Mahavakyas (Vedic dicta) enshrined in the Vedas, of the three Yogas – bhakti, karma and jnana - as elaborated in the Gita, of the Daivi and Asuri (godly and demonic) natures - all these and many more of the fundamentals of Indian culture have to be taught to the children in schools and colleges. They must be encouraged to practise them, for their own as well as for the country’s good. (SSS Vol.16, p. 50)
The great Teachers belong to Mankind. (SSS Vol.8, p. 138)
The teacher is like a water storage tank. If there is good and clean water in the tank, you will see good water in the taps. Students are like the taps and will prove to be good only when the teachers are good. Teachers should have lofty ideals so that these can be reflected in their students, who are the future citizens and leaders. Teachers should first practise themselves what they want to teach to the students. They should have a feeling of Tyaga or sacrifice for the sake of the well-being of the nation so that the students will have a similar ideal. Before they try to correct the students, they should first correct themselves. Human values are not commodities to be sold in the market. They should be reflected in one’s behaviour and one’s way of life. They should be taught not as academic subjects but as the basis on which right living should be built up. The teacher should do Sadhana to ensure control of senses and achieve harmony in thought, word and deed. ‘When you achieve this harmony, you will become an ideal teacher’. (SSS Vol.18)
Vidya or Education is communication of the knowledge of the Divine power, the inner Reality of the Atma. This alone justifies claim to be educated. Since they have no spiritual awareness, students taking part in disorders and disturbances; they become easy targets to mob violence, unworthy of the educated; they descend to levels lower than the blind reach in ignorance and draw down upon themselves the ridicule of the observers They disfigure the educational institutions and bring disgrace upon them.
Teachers! We have to inculcate in our College lofty ideals and take up highly noble projects. I am now communicating to you my feelings and plans, because I know that you are enthusiastic, inspired by spiritual ideals, and worthy of Sai Love and Affection. Mere formal teaching of the prescribed lessons in the college will not raise the students to the stature we desire. By mere planting, a sapling does not become a tree. It has to be fostered by the provision of the appropriate security, care, and periodical attention.
To shape the simple innocent students from the villages into votaries of the English language, devoid of the virtues of humility and fidelity, politeness and faith, which are so necessary for happy living, is not A task, which will promote the welfare either of the student or of the country. By the mere acquisition of an academic qualification, which will assure them a job, they cannot progress either in morality or straightforwardness. Proper activities must be devised and adopted to make them useful to their parents. They must be able to serve them skilfully und gladly and thus earn their blessings.
There are 200 students coming to our College from villages around. We should group them into batches of 20 or 30; one teacher should accept the responsibility for guiding each group. When they find a student backward in any subject, they should encourage him, by special teaching in that subject; they should pay attention to the conditions and circumstances of each student and in touch with the parents too; they should help the students to cultivate and develop the high ideals that they have in their minds and the noble plans to which they wish to dedicate themselves.
Proper steps must be undertaken to put an end to the evil habits, the evil thoughts and evil talk that are rampant in these small villages. It is only then that the educated ‘rural student’ can maintain and develop his virtues.
Or else, his attainments in virtue will be evident only as long, as he is studying. As soon as he returns to his village, the behaviour, the way of speaking, the habits of life practise will become natural for him also. Therefore, through each one of the students of our college belonging to a village ‘we must establish a Spiritual Centre in that village; the centre must guard against the spread of parties and factions in that village and should not observe or honour any distinction between the villagers, on the basis of caste, creed, or, family status. This will bring about a great change in the methods and message of education.
One day in each week or fortnight, teachers should gather the students and instruct them in certain lofty ideals of life, they should go to the villages of those students, and devote themselves to some programme of welfare activity in the village. This is very advisable. If you do the spadework: arid make the preliminary arrangements I shall come (I am returning to Brindavan in February) and in the months of February and March, all of us can go to one village after another, and establish these Spiritual Centres. We shall transform them into ideal villages. It is only then that the value of education can be demonstrated, expanded and sanctified.
For each one of these objectives to be realised, it is necessary that teachers must be idealistic and enthusiastic. Then only will students follow their guidance. Our College must become the pioneer leader in translating these high ideals. This is essential, not only for the individual, but, in equal measure, for all mankind.
Consult the students group by group, and find out who among them are interested in establishing such Spiritual Centres in their own. Villages; if they make proper arrangements in their villages, then I shall myself come and inaugurate the Centre and confer on, the people of the village necessary enthusiasm and adequate facilities.
We shall start in this way, in a small measure; we can thus rescue the villages from the chaotic influence spread by politics, and make them wholly loving and helpful filled with Sattvika ideals; this is the fruit of real education.
When the students of our College coming from villages see a village or two, developing on these lines, every one of them will come forward, asking for the inclusion of his village too. They will acquire along with Vidya or education the virtue of Vidya or humility. And, with humility, they can easily earn spiritual knowledge. This is very essential, and very urgent work, Due to the Absence of these two, people are today, disgracing their humanness, though they are, ‘educated’, behaving like fools and blind men,’ giving up the power of discriminating between the temporary and the eternal. It is enough progress, if men live as men! Man must be vigilant that he does not descend to the level of’ demons, that he does not pollute society and inflict ‘earthquakes’ on the country. If we do not take on hand these activities, we cannot remove the fear and anxiety that seem inevitable in the future for our students.
You must all meet together and take necessary interest in this matter. You need not compel any one who is not interested. It is enough if we have some five or six who join with love and faith. If they have the desire, and if all share in this task, the greater the joy. There should be no trace of compulsion in organising this. I am placing a car at your disposal for carrying out this programme. On this holy Sankranti Day, I have given expression to the thoughts that I was having for a long time, taking into consideration your enthusiasm for work. I wish you will take the steps necessary for implementing this programme. (SSS Vol.I9, pp. 24-27)
Students study only for a few years but teachers, in order to justify being in the profession, have to be engaged in studies always, without stopping. So, teachers are to be reckoned as the only genuine students. To the question, who is a real student, the answer is, ‘The teacher.’ ‘I shall be the ideal student which my pupils can emulate,’ this must be the motto inspiring the teacher. Such a teacher has surely recognised his duty. The teacher must come down to the level of the student; if he does not and still continues to teach, the fate of the student is best left to the imagination. This is the process of ‘Descent.’ (V Vahini, p.88)