I knew someone who once attended a lecture by Mr J and he was moved to say something that was greatly distressing him. He said, "It seems as if everything I do and say is taken over by ahankara. Even now, I can feel nothing but ahankara".
Mr Jaiswal answered, "The question was without ahankara". My friend was deeply moved.
I don't believe it was a generous response, because that might suggest he said it to cheer my friend up. What Mr Jaiswal said was just the truth, because confessing to the worst thing is what ahankara cannot do. In a way, it was a simple thing to say, but how many tutors would have answered like that? How many would instead have launched into an exploration of the tenacious nature of ahankara, ending with a homily on the virtues of discipline? How many could resist that temptation?
So the second lesson I would take from Mr Jaiswal is:
2. The teacher sees and acknowledges only the Self in the student.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Point No. 2
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2 comments:
This of course can be extended to seeing only the Self in others - whether or not they are a 'student'. If this were truly carried out it would be impossible for arrogance, complacency and self-righteousness to develop. How could there be room for them if we are all - in heart and spirit - the same? We do not hear much about humility in the School.
I agree, but think we should turn the emphasis away from what the student 'ought' to be doing and towards what the tutor 'ought' to do. That makes more sense, because the tutor is the one who is doing a job, while the student has only to be herself or himself.
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