I am sure you are wondering - what is guru-shishya parampara and why I write about it
Szavanna October 6th, 2005
My aunt spent many years in China learning all about Chinese culture. Once she came home she introduced everyone our family to new things. One of them was regular visits to the concerts of the Calcutta trio - a group of Hungarians playing classical Indian music namely the sitar, tabla and tanpura. Each concert included a raga, videos about other musicians playing other Indian musical instruments and most concerts also inluded little lectures about their adventures in India as well as lengthy desriptions about the way they learnt music from their gurus , Pandit Ravi Shankar , Ustad Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussein . They told us about the deep respect and admiration the student feels towards his/her guru and all the responsabilites the guru has to give on his/her knowledge to his disciples.
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Here is what the Wikipedia says about the guru-shishya tradition :”The guru-shishya tradition (also guru-shishya parampara or lineage) is a spiritual relationship found within traditional Hinduism which is centered around the transmission of teachings from a guru (teacher) to a shishya (disciple). The term shishya roughly equates to the western term disciple, and in some parts of India is synonymous with the term chela. In a Hindu context, the term guru signifies one who teaches or imparts knowledge. Such knowledge, whether it be Vedic, Agamic art, architecture, music or spirituality, is imparted through the developing relationship between guru and disciple. The principle of this relationship is that knowledge, especially subtle or advanced knowledge, is best conveyed through a strong human relationship based on ideals of the student’s respect, commitment, devotion and obedience, and on personal instruction by which the student eventually masters the knowledge that the guru embodies.” ( Click here to read on …. )
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At first I wasn’t really listening to these stories - I was just waiting for the concert to finish so that we can go home with my grandmother and carry on playing.
However later on I started listening to them and tried to make sense of all those they had to say. I found these concepts more and more fascinating and started to compare my experiences in my schools ( primary school and also my music school where I was learning classical violin since the age of 7) to the the Indian way of learning music. There was an unbelievable difference between the two teaching methods.
What I have realised the most teachers today have nothing to do with teaching - seriously - just think - how many of your teachers have ever taught you something - what percentage of the things you learnt at school are you using in your everyday life after leaving high school / or university.
I think there are major problems with how one looks at teaching and learning. These are lifelong activities - and one does both similtaneously .
Today when I listen to the ragas - I also remember all those stories at the Calcutta trio concerts - and I definitely try to use those teachings in the way I teach and learn every single day.
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Hi,
My name is Eostar, formerly known as Eszter. I am a long-time friend of Anna (Szavanna). When we were students in Hungary our world was pretty closed up relatively to what it is now. We just came out of the darkness of communism and the forced isolation of the iron curtain. Very few people spoke languages. We were just a little bit better off because we spoke English.
One night Anna took me to the Calcutta Trio’s concert. What a shock! My ears were hurting with the unusual scales, my being rebelled to the perceived dissonance that these never-heared ragas presented. It was really hard to sit still for hours listening to the odd melodies and watching people sitting still, emotionless, in a meditative state. My body and soul rebelled. And yet my spirit caught something that was in the air - a vibration so well remembered from past lives lived in India - the smell of chai tea in the interval. I knew this smell so well! And then seeing the beutiful tapestries they were covering the stage with brought up a breath of magic that was unexplainable. I was familiar with incence from India - that was not a surprise - but they added a lot to the magic. The beautiful Indian tunics they wore mesmerized my eyes.
So, eventually, even though the music hurt my ears, I left feeling an odd resonance with everything the Calcutta Trio presented. I was hooked!
Later I became a regular and got used to the “odd” scales and rythms. What’s more, Classical Indian Music became an organic part of my life.
The Calcutta Trio’s “Indian Music Club” that was happening every Monday in those days added an element of magic and remembrance to my life, bringing out parts of me that wanted to be alive, felt and acknowledged. I feel great gratitude to them to this day. Namaste!
I was very impressed by the ideas of guru-shishya parampara. As a teacher who taught in public schools in Hungary and the USA, I much appreciate any alternative model to the old classroom-style involving force and intimidation. These days I am exploring learning naturally from Source, opening up the channels and letting the information needed for the moment come through without blockage. This is my main guru-shishya parampara method. Total surrender to the one teacher - Source or Spirit as I call it sometimes.