Banaras-A City of Learning and Great teachers
Banaras has been the janamabhoomi as well as the karmabhoomi
of sages and seekers from the time, time began.
It was a centre of Vedic learning and many Upanishads were
written in Banaras.
The earliest teacher who made a great impact was born in
Banaras. Parsvanatha was a compassionate teacher who inspired many, Mahavira was being one such seeker!
Sarnath
It was at Sarnath that Dharmachakrapravartan sutta was proclaimed.
Thus emerged a teacher in whose sharan everyone wanted to find assurance. Siddhartha
after finding the true path came to Banaras to propound it. Why Sarnath? The
reason was because Banaras was at the crossroads of intellectual learning.
Buddha with his Five disciples
Buddhism, Jainism and Ajivika learning criss- crossed the intellectual mindscape of
Banaras, yet Banaras was never tamed by any one teacher or held hostage by any
one school of learning. There was a constant churning of ideas and a play of
dialectics.
The dialectical learning would always give rise to a new
school of thought and inspiration. Banaras saw one
more entrant. If Brahmanical learning was the thesis and Buddhism, its anti-
thesis then synthesis came out of the work of another important teacher- Jagadaguru
Sankaracharya. His learning gave a new dynamics to the Vedic religion-
Advaitism. It was at Banaras that an
encounter with chandala helped him realise the oneness of universe. The chandala
was Siva!
If there was Adwaita then could Vishishtadvaita
be far behind?
Vishishtadvaita was popularized by Ramananda at Banaras. He synthesised Advaita with Vaishnava bhakti traditions. This would again be
reworked by Nirguna and Saguna thinkers.
I guess Banaras taught philosophers temperance.
Every seeker had to learn from his peers and yet he had to find his own path.
Banaras was conducive not only for intellectual
growth and stimulation; it also took care of its humbler, simpler folks. It
produced Kabir-the first radical thinker, a Rastafarian perhaps who called upon
the masses to stand up, get up and seek salvation of their souls on their own
without any mediation by mullahs or pandits!
Banaras helped Tulsidas to spread his bhakti for
Rama to masses. His Manas became a household name.
The learning curve was to receive a jolt with the
coming of the British. The missionary zeal stifled the intellectual atmosphere of Banaras.
It was being challenged by an alien sect backed by a foreign rule. Was banaras to
be tamed by the proselytizing missionaries or was it to rise-phoenix like?
To convert or to change was the big question.
Change it did. But it changed the Britishers. They ended up starting Sanskrit College at Banaras to teach Sanskrit and Hindu
law to the British! This college became a pioneering centre of Sanskrit
learning and by default of Indology.
A new wind was blowing, dialectics was again at
play and the result was the emergence of new secular learning, a learning that
would help India develop and discover its true self.
Krishnamurthy Foundation, Rajghat
The exponent was J.D. Krishnamurthy. He believed
that the teacher should be able to transform the minds of students; empower
them to free their mind from all dogmas. Free societies can only be the result of a free individuals.
Experiential learning
His
vision was to find a practical realization through the school he established at Rajghat, next door
to Sarnath.The wheel had turned full circle. Buddha to Jiddu , Banaras had shown the way to the world !!
Banaras also gave us a teacher who turned
Macaulay’s minute upside down.BHU was established to train world class
engineers and doctors, from clerks to experts, what a leap! This was the
challenge taken up by Madan Mohan Malviya.
BHU
I had this epiphany while sitting in the Sayaji
Rao Gaekwad library or the Central library at BHU, pouring over numerous
Constituent Assembly Debates. I was dozing, the whirring of the old fans, the
quiet of summer had induced a state of sleep and half-asleep...
But all of a
sudden I was jolted out of my reverie when the name Dr Radhakrishnan stared before my eyes. What was this great president doing in the yellow musty
pages?
I read it carefully and
it said,"Dr Radhakrisnan Vice chancellor of Banaras Hindu University”. It was an overwhelming moment, mildly putting it! Before being elected as
the President, this great man was an
erudite scholar and a very warm encouraging teacher.
He was the Vice-chancellor
of BHU after Madan Mohan Malviya resigned and trusted him with the immense
responsibility.
Central Library
Dr. Radhakrishnan
always wanted to be remembered as a teacher. 5th of September, his birthdate
is celebrated as Teacher’s Day. On this day we remember all the teachers great
or humble for this profound reason:
Guru gobind dou
khade,kaje lagoon paye
Balihari guru apne
gobind diyo batay.
Kabir said that a teacher
is more important than God because only a teacher can tell one about God.
The devotion towards teacher has never been
expressed better in any language, either before or ever after and it was
expressed at Banaras!
