Part 1 (2/2)
It seems to me that the Master's instructions can be universally applied They are useful not only to those who are definitely trying to tread the path which leads to Initiation, but also to all hile still doing the ordinary work of the world, are anxious to do their duty earnestly and unselfishly One of the noblest forht is thrown upon it by the words of the Master
I will take the four Qualifications which have been given in _At the Feet of the Master_, and will try to sho they can be applied to the life of the teacher and of the students, and to the relations which should exist between them
The most important Qualification in education is Love, and I will take that first
It is sad that in arded as on a level with other learned professions Any one has been thought good enough to be a teacher, and as a result little honour has been paid to him Naturally, therefore, the cleverest boys are not draards that profession But really the office of the teacher is the most sacred and the most important to the nation, because it builds the characters of the boys and girls ill be its future citizens In olden days this office was thought so holy that only priests were teachers and the school was a part of the tereat that the parents gave over their sons completely to hiether as a faain, I put Love first aht to have If India is to becoreat nation which we all hope to see, this old happy relation ht me that Love will enable a man to acquire all other qualities and that ”all the rest without it would never be sufficient”
Therefore no person ought to be a teacher--ought to be allowed to be a teacher--unless he has shown in his daily life that Love is the strongest quality of his nature It may be asked: How are we to find out whether a person possesses Love to a sufficient degree to make him worthy to be a teacher? Just as a boy shows his natural capacities at an early age for one profession or another, so a particularly strong love-nature would mark a boy out as specially fitted to be an instructor Such boys should be definitely trained for the office of the teacher just as boys are trained for other professions
Boys who are preparing for all careers live a common life in the same school, and they can only become useful to the nation aschild is naturally happy, and if that happiness is allowed to go on and grow in the school, and at home, then he will become a man ill make others happy A teacher full of love and sympathy will attract the boys and make their school life a pleasant one My Master once said that ”children are very eager to learn and if a teacher cannot interest them and make them love their lessons, he is not fit to be a teacher and should choose another profession” He has said also: ”Those who arefor an opportunity of service as a hungryfor it Their hearts are so full of the divine Love that itin love for those around the is not only a holy and ireatest of pleasures”
A syood qualities in his pupils, and his gentleness prevents the afraid of him Each boy then shows himself just as he is, and the teacher is able to see the line best suited to him and to help him to follow it To such a teacher a boy will co that he will behis weaknesses, he will be glad to tell everything to one of whose loving help he is sure The good teacher remembers his own youth, and so can feel with the boy who cootten his childhood and lost sympathy with the children is not a man who can teach them or help the and helping hi out love from the pupil in turn, and as he looks up to his teacher this love will take the for in this ith the boy, will grow as he grows older, and will becoreatness, and so perhaps in time may lead him to the Feet of the Master The love of the boy to the teacher will uide, and so the question of punishreat cause of fear which at present poisons all the relations between the teacher and his pupil will vanish Those of us who have the happiness of being pupils of the true Masters knohat this relation ought to be We know the wonderful patience, gentleness and sympathy hich They always meet us, even e may have made mistakes or have been weak
Yet there is much more difference between Them and us than between the ordinary teacher and his pupil When the teacher has learned to look upon his office as dedicating him to the service of the nation, as the Master has dedicated Himself to the service of hu Departs my own beloved Master--the Departust Head
It ed in this way The answer is that such boys have been already spoiled by bad treatreater patience and constant love This plan has already proved successful when tried
Living in this at school hours, the boy will beco ho hoenerally does now, depressed and tired When he, in turn, becomes the head of a household, he will fill it with the love in which he has been brought up, and so the happiness will go on spreading and increasing, generation after generation Such a boy when he becomes a father, will not look on his son, as so h he were h the son existed for the sake of the father Soard their children only as athe prosperity and reputation of the faes that theyin the least the wishes of the children themselves The wise father will consult his boy as a friend, will take pains to find out what his wishes are, and will help hireater experience to carry out those wishes wisely, reo who has coood karet that though his son's body , the soul within is as old as his own, and must therefore be treated with respect as well as affection
Love both at home and in the school will naturally show itself in continual small acts of service, and these will forer and reatness of a nation
The Master speaks uishes between intentional and unintentional cruelty He says: ”Intentional cruelty is purposely to give pain to another living being; and that is the greatest of all sins--the work of a devil rather than a man” The use of the cane must be classed under this, for He says of intentional cruelty: ”Many schoolmasters do it habitually” We must also include all words and acts _intended_ to wound the feelings of the boy and to hurt his self-respect In some countries corporal punishment is forbidden, but in most it is still the custom But my Master said: ”These people try to excuse their brutality by saying that it is the custom; but a crime does not cease to be a crime because many commit it Karma takes no account of custom; and the karma of cruelty is the most terrible of all In India at least there can be no excuse for such customs, for the duty of harmlessness is well known to all”
The whole idea of what is called ”punish but foolish A teacher who tries to frighten his boys into doing what he wishes does not see that they only obey him while he is there, and that as soon as they are out of his sight they will pay no attention to his rules, or even take a pleasure in breaking them because they dislike him But if he draws them to do what he wants because they love him and wish to please him, they will keep his rules even in his absence, and sofear and dislike in the characters of the boys, the wise teacher will gain his ends by calling forth froood in theain, the idea of expulsion, of getting rid of a troubleso Even when, for the sake of his coood of the boy hih, school discipline should be based on the good of the boys and not on the idea of saving trouble to the teacher The loving teacher does not mind the trouble
Unintentional cruelty often cohtlessness, and the teacher should be very careful not to be cruel in words or actions froht Teachers often cause pain by hasty words uttered at a time when they have been disturbed by so to attend to soet the incident or pass it over as trivial, but in many such cases a sensitive boy has been wounded, and he broods over the words and ends by ierations In this way s arise between teachers and boys, and though the boys enerous, and to realise that the teacher is anxious to help all as much as he can, the teacher in his turn must always be on the alert to watch his words, and to allow nothing but gentleness to shi+ne out from his speech and actions, however busy he entle to the boys, who are younger and weaker than himself, it will be easy for him to teach them the important lesson of kindness to little children, ani creatures The older boys, who theed to observe the condition of the animals they see in the streets, and if they see any act of cruelty, to beg the doer of it very politely and gently, to treat the ani which involves the hunting and killing of aniht to be kept forand killing of animals My Master says: ”The fate of the cruel o out intentionally to kill God's creatures and call it sport”
I do not think that teachers realise the harossip, which the Master calls a sin against love Teachers should be very careful not toabout them No boy should ever be allowed to have a bad name in the school, and it should be the rule that no one may speak ill of any other member of the school whether teacher or boy
My Master points out that by talking about a person's faults, we not only strengthen those faults in hihts There is only one way of really getting rid of our lower nature, and that is by strengthening the higher And while it is the duty of the teacher to understand the weaknesses of those placed in his charge he must realise that he will destroy the lower nature only by surrounding the boy with his love, thus stiher and nobler qualities till there is no place left for the weaknesses The ossips about the faults of the boys, thea consultation with his fellow teachers as to the bestindividual boys out of their weaknesses, he should never talk about a boy's defects
The boysthemselves I know many a boy whose life at school has been htless and unkind, and the teacher either has not noticed his unhappiness, or has not understood how to explain to the boys the nature of the har Boys frequently take hold of some peculiarity in speech or in dress, or of so the pain they cause, carelessly torture their unfortunate schoolfelloith unkind allusions In this case the norance, and if the teacher has influence over the boys, and gently explains to the they will quickly stop
Theyor annoyance to another can ever be the right thing to do, nor can it ever be aht- or annoying others, but that is only because they are ignorant When they understand, they will never again be so unbrotherly
In every class-room these words of my Master should be put up in a prominent place: ”Never speak ill of any one; refuse to listen when anyone else speaks ill of another, but gently say: 'Perhaps this is not true, and even if it is, it is kinder not to speak of it'”