Brahmacharins in Search of Knowledge (A few selections from the Upanishad) I Truthfulness Satyakama Jabala said to his Mother Jabala: "Venerable mother: I wish to join school as a brahmacharin (pupil wishing to learn the true knowledge). Please tell me from what family I hail." She said to him: "My child, I don't know from what family you are. In my youth, I went about in many places as a maid-servant; during that period I begot you; I myself do not know from what family you hail; I am called Jabala; and you are called Satyakama; so call yourself then Satyakama, the son of Jabala." Then he we

Plato among his students, Pompeian mosaic, National Museum, Naples Knower of Reality Introduction An allegory can reveal a message more powerfully than long and abstruse discourses or compositions weighted with analysis and arguments. Many great teachers have used allegories or parables to expound or explain a message or a lesson. One of the most famous allegories in the history of human thought is found in the seventh book of Plato s Republic: "The Simile of the Cave ". The main purpose of this allegory is to describe the ignorant state of humanity and its possible passage to a state of knowledge. According to Plato, most men are like

Sufi Wisdom Introduction In an age where critical reason is said to reign supreme, claims of supra-rational knowledge are apt to be brushed aside as superstition or obscurantism. But recent breakthroughs in science, psychology and other branches of knowledge indicate that human civilization is reaching a point where we can no longer be so dogmatic in our rejection of the claim that beyond ordinary human consciousness lie higher ranges of knowledge, wisdom and power more luminous and more relevant to the contemporary needs of mankind than the knowledge and power of reason. In Western history, Plato's philosophy marks a great transition between the

Communion with Nature Introduction Many of us, usually in moments of solitude and in the midst of natural surroundings, have experienced a quietening of our external faculties and have felt ourselves in contact with or in the presence of some other being, some other spirit. As this experience deepens, we may feel at times an invisible presence in objects around us — trees, rocks, streams. With a little self-observation, we may also feel something in us which responds to this being, this presence, and establishes an identity with it. For some hours, or even for some days, we are full of this experience — it hovers around us and is in us, and we a

The Good Teacher and the Good Pupil An Overview For the last two hundred years or more there has been a growing realization that the teacher should be child-centred and should help the child's innate potential to blossom fully. Learner-centred teaching is being advanced in progressive schools all over the world. Indeed, if we examine the examples of good teachers of the past or of the present, we shall find that they have always been learner-oriented: and good pupils have blossomed like lovely flowers when tended with care, love and understanding or even when left to themselves with interventions from teachers when necessary. A good teacher is always a h

The Would-be Gentleman Introduction Monsieur Jourdain, the "would-be gentleman", is by no means an ideal pupil. What prompts him is not really an urge to learn, but the vain desire to be recognized as a "gentleman". Nor would the various teachers that he uses to further his ambitions receive our approbation; they are satisfied to exploit his naive obsession to serve their own ends. Why, then, are we including this extract? Perhaps we could say that even about serious matters it is sometimes good to laugh. And Moliere presents Mr. Jourdain and his many teachers in a way that, while making us laugh, communicates powerfully his deep aversion to w

Antoine de Saint - Exupery, 1940 The Little Prince Introduction Does age matter in teaching and learning? Is there an essential difference between teaching and learning? In a sense, all of us are learners, whether we are playing the role of teacher or of pupil. A pupil asks questions in the process of learning, and his questions may be so penetrating that they stimulate a process of learning in the mind of his teacher. A teacher gives answers to questions, and they may be so honest and open-ended that they stimulate a process of further questioning in the mind of the pupil. The common idea that teachers are adults and pupils are children

The Good Teacher and The Good Pupil PREFACE At one time it was thought that the child was a plastic material that could be moulded mechanically according to the designs of the parents or the educator. This gave rise to teacher-oriented education. This situation, however, is rapidly changing. With the advent of progressive movements, such as those pioneered by Montessori and others, education is now tending to be child-oriented. This has also led to a rethinking of the role of the teacher, and some of the ancient and medieval teachers who practised child-centred or learner-oriented education are being increasingly ap

The Seeker and the Teacher Introduction Some 2.500 years ago, in the Park of Lumbini, situated in the Himalayan foothills near the Indo-Nepalese border, a baby boy was born to Queen Mahamaya. This child, called Siddhartha, was destined to become the Buddha, one of the greatest teachers in world history. The young prince grew up in the court of his father. King Suddhodana, in the midst of pleasure and luxury. During his childhood and adolescence, Suddhodana tried assiduously to prevent Siddhartha from seeing the ills and suffering of this world. But Destiny was stronger than the King's will. The Prince came into contact with the "