Social philosophy of Swami Vivekananda

by Baruah Debajit | 2017 | 87,227 words

This study deals with Swami Vivekananda’s social philosophy and his concept of religion. He was the disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Important subjects are discussed viz., nature of religion, reason and religion, goal of religion, religious experience, ways to God, etc. All in the context of Vivekananda....

Chapter 6.5 - The Teacher and Taught (student)

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In explaining the relationship between teacher and the taught (student), Vivekananda first of all reminds us about the ancient education system. In the old education system the students had not to pay the teachers for their teaching. At that time it was thought that knowledge is so sacred that no man ought to sell it. Knowledge was thought priceless. Therefore it was thought that knowledge must be given freely and without any price. The teachers used to take students without charge. Not only that, most of the teachers gave their students food and cloths. To support these teachers the wealthy families gave gifts to them, and they in their turn had to maintain their students. At that time, whenever there is a marriage, especially in a rich family, these teachers were invited and they attended and discussed various subjects. Thus it has been seen that in the ancient education system of India, knowledge was not sold in exchange of money. Teachers were not the professional which is seen quite clearly among some teachers of the modern education system.

Vivekananda points out certain necessary condition of the teacher and the taught or the students. He says that purity, a real trust after knowledge and perseverance are certain necessary conditions of the taught. According to him purity in every way is absolutely necessary. So according to Vivekananda the taught should maintain purity while thinking something, while talking something also while doing something.

The second condition is real thirst after knowledge. The student’s mind should be curious. They should try to know everything whatever comes before them. He says “As to the thirst after knowledge, it is an old law that we all get whatever we want. None of us can get anything other than what we fix our hearts open. There must be a continuous struggle, a constant fight, an unremitting grappling with our lower nature, till the higher want is actually felt and victory is achieved.”^[1] Student who sets out with such a spirit of perseverance, which is the third necessary condition of the taught, will surely find success and realization at last.

Again, so far as the qualities of the teachers are concerned, the first quality of teacher is that the teacher must be learned in scriptures. They must know the spirit of the scriptures. But a teacher should not be talkative. Vivekananda says that the teacher who deals too much in words and allows the mind to be carried away by force of words loses the spirit. The network of the words is like a huge forest in which the human mind often loses itself and finds no way out. According to him the various methods of joining words, the various methods of spelling in beautiful language are only for the disputations and enjoyment of the learned. These actually do not conduce to the development of spiritual perception. Those who employ such methods to impart knowledge to others are only desirous to show off their learning. He refers to the great teacher and says “You will find that no one of the great teachers of the world ever went into their various explanations of the text; there is with them no attempt at “text-fortuning”, no eternal playing upon the meaning of words and their roots. Yet they nobly taught”^[2]

The second condition necessary in the teacher is-sinlessness. According to Vivekananda to impart to others what he has learnt, the teacher definitely needs to be perfectly pure, because, only then value will be attached to the words he speaks. Many people ask often ‘why should we look into the character and personality of a teacher?’ According to them we have only look into their knowledge and their personality and character should be undermined. Vivekananda says that this is not right. It should be noted here that Vivekananda emphasized the character and personality of the teacher while the teacher is a teacher of spiritual sciences. He says “if a man wants to teach me something of dynamics, or chemistry or any other physical sciences, he may be anything he likes, because what the physical sciences require is merely an intellectual equipment; but in the spiritual sciences it is impossible from first to last that there can be any spiritual light in the soul that is impure.”^[3] As for example we can take religion. Vivekananda says that the only way of acquiring spiritual truth for one’s own self or for imparting it to others is the purify of heart and soul. A vision of God or a glimpse of the beyond never comes until the soul is pure. Hence with the teacher of religion and any other such spiritual sciences, we must see first what he is, and then what he says. He must be perfectly pure and then alone comes the value of his words, because he is only then the true ‘transmitter’. Vivekananda says that he cannot transmit if he has not spiritual power in himself. There must be the worthy vibration of spirituality in the mind of the teacher, so that it may be sympathetically conveyed to the mind of the taught. The function of the teacher is indeed an affair of the transference of something and not one of mere stimulating of the existing intellectual or other faculties in the taught. Something real and appreciable as an influence comes from the teacher and goes to the student. Therefore the teacher must be pure.

The third condition of teacher is in regard to the motive. Vivekananda says that the teacher must not teach with any anterior selfish motive-for money name or fame. The teacher’s work must be simply out of love, out of pure love for mankind at large. Vivekananda says that the only medium through which spiritual force can be transmitted as love. Any selfish motive, such as the desire for gain or for name, will immediately destroy this conveying medium.

These three-learned in the scriptures, sinlessness and selflessness are the three conditions of a teacher. He says that when we see these three conditions are all fulfilled in one teacher, we are safe. But if they are not, it is unsafe to allow own self to be taught by him. Because there is the great danger that if he cannot convey goodness to our heart, he may convey wickedness. Vivekananda says that he alone teaches who has something to give. It is because teaching is not talking, nor it is importing doctrines, it is communicating.

According to Vivekananda, knowledge is inherent already in the mind. The only duty of the teacher is to take away the obstacles in the process of knowledge. Hence the duty of the teacher is not positive it is negative in nature. Vivekananda explains this position with the following example. He says a man cannot make a plant grow in soil unsuited to it. Our duty is to loosen the soil a little, so that it may come out easily. Then we should put hedge around it so that it cannot be killed by anything and there our work stops. Similarly the child teaches itself. The teacher’s duty is to remove the obstacles in the process of knowledge. Again, so far as the relation between the teacher and the student is concerned Vivekananda, Vivekananda always supports the Gurukul education system of ancient India. To quote Vivekananda, “My idea of education is personal contact with the teacher-gurugriha-vasa. Without the personal life of a teacher there would be no education.”^[4] Thus Vivekananda supports the ancient Indian Gurukul system.