PARADIGM SHIFT IN CONTEMPORARY EDUCATION FROM GURU-SHISYA PARAMPARA:
The remarkable distinction Homo sapiens makes from the rest of his fellow species is notably the unique virtue of self-reflection and self awareness and the inherent, and insatiable thirst for acquisition of knowledge.   In good old days in India, imparting knowledge to the student was done through a hoary tradition of Guru-Shisya Parampara (Teacher-student lineage).  The main emphasis laid in Gurukul education is for   achieving self-realization, rather than on picking up life supporting skills of mundane significance. Pursuit of secular education used to take place along with spiritual side of development.   Comprehension and conquest of external world could be best achieved through self awareness and through the process of strengthening ethical and spiritual side of personality development.  Gurukul system of education pays enormous attention on the student’s overall personality development -physical, mental and spiritual. In the society in which the Gurukul system thieves, the Guru occupies a centre stage in value systems of the society and serves as its lodestar. The Guru’s role towards his student is not limited to that of the role of a mentor, but subsumes the roles of a friend, philosopher and guide.

   Modern science has revealed that each individual possesses tens of billions of cells in the mind. Each cell is as good as the most powerful computer we are aware of.   We use only a fraction of the brain cells.  The remaining cells are never put to use. We are not exploring our potential up to the hilt, because of lack of know-how as to how to unlock our potential to the fullest advantage.  Ancient education helped the student to get more and more brain cells activated and bring them to functional use for taking optimal advantage.  If an individual is successful in invoking all his brain cells   for pursuit of any avocation or any ‘one –point’ agenda, then, that condition he achieves is nothing but the state of self- realization. 
In Guru-Shisya Parampara, the student shows unconditional acceptance of his Guru, keeps him in profound veneration and treats him as embodiment of almighty God.  He obeys the instructions of his Guru with devotion, follows rigors of well laid down Gurukul discipline.  He shows eagerness as well as readiness to follow the given instructions or edicts of his Guru and doesn’t hesitate or flinches even a fraction of a second   to do any sacrifice including his precious life, if called upon to do so or if necessary , for the sake of the Guru. That is the level of commitment the student shows to his Guru. Guru treats the student as his alter ego and keeps his welfare close to his heart.  Parents give biological birth whereas the Guru gives a spiritual birth. He is the one who opens the third eye- the inner eye. He pays personalized attention on the pupil’s overall development and devotes all his time and energy to make his student as good as he is.  The word teacher in general connotes the one who teaches professional skills. The word Guru is a more comprehensive one and there is no equivalent word to it in English language.  In ancient times, the Guru was having exalted social position; where as the role of the teacher in the present times is marginalized. The teacher in general is a person of mediocre caliber; need not necessarily be a role model in ethical terms. The teaching profession has become a profession of last resort and present day teacher doesn’t receive discernable social status or esteem.
 
Gurukul mostly is a school of one-man show. One Guru and a few students. Admission of students in to Gurukul is based on ethical or moral conduct of prospective students and their zeal to learn at the feet of the Guru.  Guru-shisya Parampara is almost non-existent now except in some schools in teaching classical music such as Hindustani or Karnataka music (Each Gurukul has an individual identity called Gharana) and for teaching classical dances such as Kuchipudi, Bhararatanatyam, Kath kali etc.  It hinges on a deep personal, life long relationship between the teacher and the student.

In modern times, the personal relationship
between teacher and the student has deteriorated.  The teacher no longer commands respect from the student. He is a paid servant. The situation is aptly depicted in a lighter vein in a comic novelette by a noted Telugu writer Mullapudi Venkatramana.  His one character ‘Budugu’ –an elementary school going student who gets the benefit of coaching at his home by a paid teacher, boasts to his friends that many a teacher work under him. The student getting education through one teacher is no more relevant and appropriate in the present times. No teacher is competent to teach all subjects. Knowledge explosion necessitated for engaging teachers of different specializations. A student is in interaction with different teachers at different levels of education, without building any personal relationship or bondage. The latter- day teacher doesn’t remember his old students.   Two important undesirable developments or trends have taken place over a period of time. The first one is to keep the ethical aspects of development or character building on the back burner and the second one is   in laying undue and lop sided development of the intellect at the cost of physical , psychological and spiritual development. The teacher –student relationship now is at a   low ebb.

2. Attitudinal Change: The Guru leads a Spartan life. He is indifferent to wealth, even though he accepts a shibboleth of one time payment called Gurudakhina.  He is verily an Upasak of education. He is only interested in knowing and disseminating his knowledge through his disciples. JAMES V. SCHALL, S.J in his article on ‘What a student owes his teacher rightly’ observes that ‘students have obligations to their teachers, obligations arising from the fact that the teacher-student relationship is primarily a spiritual relationship.’ (Quoted from a web site).
 Now the teacher is more of a materialist. He seldom evinces interest in spiritual side of life.  His interest doesn’t lie   in the education or welfare of the student, but in finding ways of means of maximizing his income. The student on the other hand has no commitment or loyalty towards the teacher.  His motive is to secure his due place in an education institute of repute, in pursuing his chosen course of study either based on his merit or availing   reservations or using purchasing power or political influence and to secure employment that fetches him maximum earning and social status and esteem. Intimate and enduring Guru-Shisya personal bondage or relationship   has now undergone a metamorphic change of commercial interest and utter indifference to personal relationships. The student is not loyal to his teacher. The teacher on the other hand doesn’t care two hoots what the student does.

3: Pedagogical methods followed in education: In ancient times, in Gurukul, oral tradition was followed. The student sits near the Guru and receive instructuctions.  He listens very carefully what the Guru utters and tries to understand what he teaches. This process is called Sravanam.  The second phase that follows is remembering or recapitulation of what is listened. This process is called Mananam. If the student fails to understand what he has learnt and fails to recollect what he has by hearted, the Guru would not come to the risk to the student directly, but guides him in a process. The student would be guided to meditate and recollect the subject and in understanding it. The thrust in the ancient methods of pedagogy is for augmenting the capacity to acquire knowledge rather than acquisition of knowledge. The process of meditation continues until the student gets thorough knowledge of the subject. During the entire process, the Guru closely monitors the progress of the student and in the process builds enormous personal relationship. In contrast to the ancient pedagogy, the modern student rushes to collect reference books to consult the same or takes the help of internet and searches for the required information using search engines like ‘google.com, yahoo.com etc.’ The role of the teacher is therefore is minimal in the progress of the student and hence the bondage he builds with his teacher or teachers is ephemeral. The third phase is called Nidhidyanam- subjective experience of objective knowledge. This is a process of getting a feel of the knowledge acquired or concretizing the knowledge acquired.    Nidhidyanam is more profound than ‘hands- on’ experience. In the Nidhidyanam phase, the student develops a deep personal relationship or bondage with his Guru, but in the case of modern education, in gaining practical experience the relationship between the instructor and the student doesn’t generally go beyond the four walls of a class room or a lab.

4. Conclusion: It is difficult to restore the pristine glory of the Guru in the scheme of present day education system.  The imperative of the day; however, is   to give primacy for character building of the student at the elementary level of education. No social progress would be stable, if it is not built on character building of its citizens. It is possible to revert to Gurukul system to some extent, at elementary stage of education and create congenial conditions for the student and the teacher to develop enduring bondage between them.
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