Sanskrit words & connotations

SANSKRIT language and its relevantly attributable different names, meanings of and connotations for the comparable English word “TEACHER” – my STAND POINTS:.....

Since last three days I have been through many long-haul sessions of chanting KRISHNA YAJUR VEDA HYMNS in praise of the Almighty @ the CELESTIAL HALL, as a part of yearly (spi)ritual of performing Special Homams (Havans) and Special Poojas / celebrations, in my neighbourhood, amidst a large gathering of many of my friends with cognitive perceptions in this (spi)ritual domain - BEREFT OF MY REGULAR MARATHON RUNNING FRIENDS - and the process out there has been synonymous to the current day “GREAT INDIAN AMAZON FESTIVAL” that engulfs an unimaginable degree of PARTICIPATION from across all sections of our society - I feel much pleased to see such a large gathering @ this spi(ritual) celebration too, not for material buying like in Amazon festival, but to make attempts to acquire some quantity of quality knowledge on the “ULTIMATE TRUTH OF ONE’S LIFE -, during this auspicious month of the Hindu Calendar, and it was done with dedicated & focused intent, vindicating our sincere attempts with an altruistic premise to invoke HIS blessings for the general well-being of all and for their peaceful, harmonious coexistence and contemporary living.

 

MORE precise and well pronounced are these yearly celebrations/ festivals that they are conducted under guidance and in the very presence of an identified “ACHARYA” / “GURU” or otherwise as what one may define him, leading the participants all through the multiple varieties of such long-haul sessions and to their entirety within the precincts of a well suited vibrant ambience coupled with sublime and divinely overtones that naturally enrich the status of such prayer offerings, a ‘sine-qua-non’ for such socially relevant and purposive efforts, as one’s belief goes...Having referred to the word “ACHARYA” / “GURU”, I just thought of this great word originated from the SANSKRIT LANGUAGE and its profound meaning....

There is no gainsaying to the largely accepted fact that many of us do not know either to read or to write in Sanskrit - hence, it is all-the-more-easy to leave away the aspect of speaking in Sanskrit language - hence, it’s ruled out as impossible one for a very large section of us......But, interestingly, I have read somewhere / some time ago, about a set of homogeneous words in Sanskrit, (1) LESS in SYNONIMITY to the contextual rigor with respect to the single English word “TEACHER” but (2) MORE in ENORMITY of the vast range of differential profoundness that runs deep into a subject of thought or understanding. The respective meaning of those set of homogeneous words in Sanskrit is observed to well establish and distinguish the existence of different undertones of those words as compared to the single English word “TEACHER “. It is equally very interesting to know (a) that those Sanskrit words prescribe multi-dimensional roles and skills for each one of them as their characteristics and (b) as to how are they get distinguished in Sanskrit for the benefit of anyone who would like to get clarity of those words rather MORE in PEDAGOGIC PARLANCE (both in purely academic and spiritual domains), than in any other discipline....

I believe, those characteristics defined under such names in SANSKRIT, and their multi-dimensional roles and respectively so identified & well-distinguished skills are found to be rooted and aligned with the belief of DHARMA SHASHTRAS mostly, IT IS NO WONDER, many of the relatively young generation/ age group members of the society are (1) in NO NEED of tearing hurry to get into this domain of (spi)ritual festivals or (2) be part of such COLLECTIVE PRAYER OFFERINGS, and hence, decidedly DO NOT COME to witness the process this grand festival / or remain present in minimal scale than the degree of their participation at the AMAZON GRAND INDIAN FESTIVAL WEEK ....

In Sanskrit, one could come to know about existence of such words as identified below, demarcated with DIFFERENT GRADES & with DIFFERENT ABILITIES of a “TEACHER” and all such attributes are classified in different forms/names/connotations, which rather would tantamount to classify the synonymous of “TEACHER”, as a ‘COLLECTIVE NOUN’ in SANKRIT, and I believe, such a classification is not found anywhere OR, I believe, NO LANGUAGE other than SANSKRIT is known to have offered so much of clarity either, on the well-defined contours of the term “TEACHER”.

The various forms of TEACHER as defined in SANSKRIT and as described herein below, are very interesting and could be felt as well founded and ignite a deep sense of thought process in those people who are much interested in analytical approach to understand certain conceptual rigors of such terms, which would also trigger different perceptions that are not known to them earlier. 

1. The TEACHER who gives you INFORMATION is called - ADHYAPAK (अध्यापक)

2. The TEACHER who imparts KNOWLEDGE combined with INFORMATION is called - UPADHYAYA ( उपाध्याय)

3. The TEACHER who imparts SKILLS is called - ACHARYA (आचार्य)

4. The TEACHER who is able to give a DEEP INSIGHT into a subject is called - PANDIT (पंडित)

5. The TEACHER who has a VISIONARY VIEW on a subject and teaches to THINK in that manner is called - DHRISHTA (धृष्ट)

6. The TEACHER who is able to AWAKEN WISDOM in us, leading us from DARKNESS TO LIGHT is called - GURU (गुरु) - like the SEERS, Guru Shri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi (nick-named as MAHA PERIYAVA of KANCHI), GURU Shree Abhinava Vidyaathirtha Mahaswami of SRINGERI Sharada Mutt, and Guru Shree Ramana Maharishi of Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu; one could vividly know their respective scholastic attributes in the treatises like (1) “ DEIVATHIN KURAL (VOICE OF GOD - தைவத்தின் குரல்) in its seven volumes and (2) and the one like “ THE MULTIFACETED JIVANMUKTA”, a book that runs into 1200 pages).

The word “GURU” as defined in GURU-GITA as “ GUKAARAS TVANDHAKAARASCA RUKAARAS TEJA UCHYATE ’

( गुकारसतवा तवंधकारसच रुकारस तेज़ उच्यते) - the letter GU (गु) refers to DARKNESS and the letter “RU” (रू) refers to LIGHT.... GURU, hence is a teacher who transforms his students from darkness to light with respect to their knowledge domain, by solving all their relevant doubts / questions beyond their power to decipher/ understand any/ some/ all of them. 

In English, words like “LECTURER”, “PROFESSOR”, synonymous to TEACHER do have different connotations rather on a lighter scale sans any rigorous undertones. “Lecturer” is more an academic rank within many universities, though meaning varies from one country to another and who works generally for salary on full/ part time; The term PROFESSOR does not vary much in the meaning of the term LECTURER, as the role of both individuals is seen more in sync with the domain they operate while the main difference goes with higher responsibilities for PROFESSOR than for LECTURER; however, the contours of their connotations as explained in English dictionary are seen not on par or a near match too, with those of the terms in SANSKRIT that we have expressly observed and vividly explained herein above. 

Also, an another term “ READER” (PRINCIPAL LECTURER IN NEW UNIVERSITIES) are academic ranks above senior lecturer and below professor, recognising a distinguished record of original research work – in other words, simply a Lecturer is a person who gives lectures, especially as a profession while a Reader is a person who reads a publication.

There is also yet another term “ MASTER TEACHER” in English; While a TEACHER is someone who teaches, a MASTER is someone who has mastered something; a TEACHER can be a MASTER, but a TEACHER doesn’t have to be a MASTER; a TEACHER can simply follow a plan, review the material and test students without fully mastering the material themselves...Well, the English terms like “MASTER TEACHER “, “LECTURER”, “PROFESSOR”, “ READER ” etc., I believe, the well-defined contours of distinction of each of these terms do not offer a distinct clarity and/ or observed to have overlapping characteristics among themselves as against the corresponding words in SANKRIT as elaborated above where they stand well- distinguished and move through vast expanse of their domains of teaching with high degree of upscaling the knowledge and ways of imparting knowledge itself..

In essence and in the pedagogic parlance, the GURUs are NOT SEEN to work (1) NEITHER on the premise of credit taking, if all went well with their students like the case of typical & purely academic professors/lecturers as they are not hired rather chosen by the students themselves due to the reverential following of those such GURUs, (2) NOR on the premise of playing POLITICS OF BLAME AVOIDANCE, if something went not so well and there lies the distinction between the Sanskrit terms of teachers and those we found in English, with respect to the standpoint we discussed here.  

Apart from these MASTERly attributes of a TEACHER there exists some SPECIAL SANKRIT TERMS/ WORDS that we know and used to call those TEACHERS/ PRACTITIONERS as those TEACHERS who are bestowed with extra skill sets to impart a special teaching/skill sets, to those who are under their tutelage, in addition to their respective skill levels they fit into the six categories defined above, and as adjudged at anyone point of time.

Yet another term say, "Preceptor" / or "Mentor", will also come under purview of discussion. As for as my understading goes, "Preceptor", is so much associated with only a particular segment of learning, say on " Patient care in medical field" and hence, I have not paid much attention to this term here. But, having said that, "Preceptors" are tachers who impart valuable teaching but mostly sharing of their evidence based learning with the NURSES when they get inducted into their domain more to make them aware of safe patient care and act more like "MENTOR", an another term to represent this meaning. " Mentors" are those like Mr. Narayanamoorthy, of Infosys, who post his retirement as Chairman of Infosys, was acting like MENTOR WHEREBY HE WAS JUST guiding the GenNext employees on corporate philosophy, system transparency and corporate governance - more on his life time experiences sharing than any teaching per se.

 

Such of those SPECIAL TYPE of TEACHERS / PRACTITIONERS with such MASTERLY attributes which many of us know are:

 (1) “GHANAPADIGAL” (these are Acharyas types, who possess special skills in chanting and impart the Vedic Hymns and Upanishads in GHANAM STYLE- a style which involves very intricate permutations of a revolving & specially odd and retrograde set of mathematical series of numbers / algorithmic patterns of the VEDA HYMNS – 

(2) “THARKA / MIMAMSA SIRONMANI” - THARKA= a science of logic and reasoning and an art of debate and analysis of the source of such knowledge and MIMAMSA= REFLECTION and/or CRITICAL INVESTIGATION of certain meanings of Vedic texts)- these set of TEACHERS are like those of the order of (i) ADI SHANKARA of 788-820 CE and (2) the one of recent origin, like SRIRANGA RAJA MAHA DESIKAN, (these two experts come to my mind instantly), and they are GURUs who possess admirably indomitable knowledge in varied Shastras of major schools of Orthodox Indian Hindu Philosophy (Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga and Vedanta) which extends to domains such as sculpture, music, astronomy, astrology, politics like that of CHANAKYA, construction, Ayurveda which are essentially and evidently part and parcel of every one of us and offers the needed treatise in every walk of our real life scenarios and 

(3) SROWTHIGAL - I am NOT that familiar with the roles of this type of TEACHERS even though I came across many of such TEACHERS in my early life who taught me some rudiments of information in this discipline, though I could not understand anything seriously during those days of my life - might be someone who knows more on this, can enlighten me now....

The entire discussion herein above is designed and formatted to align my stand points with respect to the various terms that we use for teachers in our normal life both in academic and spiritual domains of every such religious faiths but absolutely NOT with any semblance of an effort towards making a narrative falling prey to a conjecture based on misinformation and irrelevant to the terms we discussed here. The various terms used in Sanskrit and their defined meaning provide a canvass of optimistic commitment to the potentials of such teachers in such domains to ensure an absolute transformation and elaboration of an effective strategy for enhancement of the knowledge quotient of those knowledge seekers under its canvass through usual (spi)ritual engagement with their respective 9 categories of teachers and enrich themselves with the possible desired solutions thereto.