JOIN USThe last time you heard about the guru-shishya parampara must have been from your Sanskrit teachers or television adaptations based on epics like the Mahabharata and Ramayana. However, located in the centre of the city, in the Gautam Nagar area, near Yusuf Sarai is ‘Shrimad Dayanand Vedarsh Mahavidyalaya’ which is one among approximately 300 gurukuls that still exists in India.
Gurukul is a place that is synonymous with the ancient student-teacher relationship and, this place provides boarding and education to 250 boys. The one-acre campus was established some 70 years ago by Swami Sacchinanda Yogi. The educational-cum-home environment not only “helps them mature intellectually but also individually,” says Inderdev Shastri, the coordinator of the place.
Students come from all parts of India, including Assam, Bengal, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Karnataka. Over 60 per cent of them are very poor. Some are tribals or ‘untouchables’. The education years start from sixth standard and go on till post-graduation and the school is accredited to the Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana.
To qualify for admission, boys must have at least a fifth-grade education, but no one is denied admission owing to caste, race or religion.
“Admission to the Mahavidyalaya is formalised with upanayan or the tying of a sacred thread over the shoulders as a mark of respect to the Vedas and shaving of their heads,” says Shastri while adding that the ceremony also equalises the status
of the students, irrespective of their background.
Unnecessary contact with outsiders is considered a distraction for studies and is prohibited. Students occasionally communicate by letter or telephone with their families. An annual one-month summer vacation is the only holiday. “The gurukul’s vision is to engage the students in the development of society, to highlight the traditional knowledge base of the Vedas and to encourage abolishment of superstitions,” echoes alumnus Vinod Shastri and faculty, Bijai Singh.
Each day begins and ends with hatha yoga, meditation and worship at the havan kund, or fire place. With classes in Sanskrit, Hindi, English, mathematics, science and social studies, the mornings are occupied till 1 pm after which lunch comprising ‘pure-vegetarian’ food is served. The school also raises its own cows and as the schedule lists, the boys also have to look after the ‘holy cows’ besides being self-dependent in their daily work. Other physical activities like grinding wheat manually with traditional grinding machines are also part of their routines. “The emphasis is laid on working for oneself as well as others,” says Rahul Jain, 21.
Being in a gurukul is not only about studies and development of the mind, but also about personality.
“Whereas the mornings are meant for learning, the evenings are time for relaxation and recreation,” says 20-year-old Mohit Tyagi. The wrestling game is always seen as one that teaches “life skills of perseverance and patience that also requires as much mental strength as physical,” says Rahul of Class 12 as he watches others play.
“Simple living does not mean mere existence,” says Shastri, referring to the awards and recognition of the efforts of the students to reach upto ‘great sage Dayanand Saraswati’s stature’.
Approximately 20 shastris and acharyas graduate from the Vedarsh Mahavidyalaya every year. Some become Sanskrit writers, lecturers and researchers. Others become purohits, conducting religious ceremonies, such as weddings. A few set up Vedic schools in India and abroad. Many continue to perfect themselves in the art of mantroccharana, the oral recitation of the Vedas.
Yet, the scope of Sanskrit seems limited in the modern-day English speaking, urban classes. Explains Shastri, “Future is fragile. With short supply of money and dwindling preference for the Vedic way of life, it is an obvious question to ask, but we are hopeful and believe in the strength of Sanskrit and we would continue to propagate it to the maximum.”