Taking responsibility

Another aspect of the tradition that Mr Jaiswal has highlighted is this:

3. The teacher takes responsibility for the student.

This might seem a bit paternalistic, but it is always intended as a temporary measure. In one of his lectures, someone asked Mr Jaiswal about doubt. He responded, "You don't have any doubt. People give you doubt. Doubt means - one question, two answers." He continued, "All questions are emanations of consciousness. But not all answers are emanations of consciousness. If someone has given you an answer from immature understanding, you will have a doubt."

The alternative view to this is, of course, that if the student has a doubt, it is his own fault. He has been given the teaching very plentifully, but he has not practiced enough, or meditated enough, or there is a blockage of ignorance somewhere, otherwise he would have got rid of the pesky doubt long ago. The teaching works. It's students who don't work. Dozy buggers.

This is a view much beloved in certain quarters, not least among masochistic students.

But in the tradition of philosophy, the aspiring student is a spark of divine consciousness, a being to be worshipped. Confucius once said something to the effect that everyone should be held in awe up to at least the age of 40, because until then it was impossible to say that they would not turn out to be extraordinary. This is the view of the real teacher. If the student has a problem, a doubt or an unresolved issue, that is the responsibility of the teacher in whom he has placed his trust.

I discovered for myself what this meant in practice when I had just started tutoring for the first time. I asked Mr Jaiswal about it and he said, "When you have been tutoring a little while, come and tell me what your students say. I will tell you what you need to get you through." And he did.

The teacher's job is to get people through, and then to let go. The relationship comes to an end when the teacher has nothing more to teach. The teacher gives the disciple rahasya (the teaching) and sankalpa (the power of decision). With sankalpa, the disciple no longer needs anyone to tell him what to do.