Kabir Day 38

Talking of teachers, for without teachers, how would we ever learn?

 

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

– Henry B. Adams

 

“A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations.”

Patricia Neal

 

..and now, fun but deep –

Never try to teach a pig to sing….it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

Anonymous

 

.. Kabir Day 38:

 

First, the couplet transliterated:

Guru kumhaar seekh kumbh hai, gadh gadh kaatai khot |

Antar haath sahaar dai, baahar baahai chhot ||

 

Translation:

The teacher is the potter and the student the pot, and the teacher removes defects one by one |

The hand inside protecting the pot from shattering, the hand outside beats to shape it right ||

 

My understanding:

A wonderful introduction to the difficult world of the teacher (the teacher here being anyone who teaches – parents, the village elder, the stranger on the street).

 

A student needs to be taught, which means the mold might need some recasting so the end result is perfect. The process of creation requires the one being created to be put through the fire of the furnace before he can be called ready. The teacher has the task of ensuring the fire is just right – not too hot or it will destroy, not too dim or the creation will not last. And the only way to truly create is to be in love with the creation – for which artist can churn out art mechanically in a truly wondrous fashion?

 

The teacher is the artist, and has to be harsh to the creation that is, in truth, a part of him. The harshness is the ONLY way to create a truly lasting work – and yet, non-lasting work is ever something that was not part of the artist, something the artist did not love from the core of his being.

 

So then, as a student, it behooves me to find that teacher who satisfies these criteria. For the ‘teacher’ who wants to please me will not be able to better me, and hence cannot be the one I need. The true teacher is like the egg – hard on the outside, soft on the inside, filled with the wonder of life, and yet delicate enough that the relationship needs very careful, special handling.