QUOTES ABOUT TEACHERS AND TEACHING

 

QUOTES  ABOUT TEACHERS AND TEACHING

On this Guru Purnima Day (July 3), let us share  some quotes about teachers and teaching. Briefly speaking, teachers are not as great as gurus. While they (teachers) impart knowledge, gurus dispel darkness of minds and souls. They enlighten their pupils thoroughly. Lord Buddha is a great example of a perfect guru.

    Here are some quotes about teachers and teaching:

1. Alexander the  Great (356-323 B.C), the King of Macdon said: I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.
2. American author Mrs. Lydia H, Sigourney (1791-1865) said: Teachers should be held in the highest honour. They are the allies of legislators; they have agency in the prevention of crime; they aid in regulating the atmosphere, whose incessant action and pressure cause the life-blood to circulate and to return pure and healthful to the heart of the nation.
3. According to another American author Horace Mann (1796-1859) the teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron.
4. French essayist and philosopher Michel de Montaigne (1533-92) says : A tutor should not be continually thundering instruction into the ears of his pupil, as if he were pouring it through a funnel, but induce him to think, to distinguish, and to find out things for himself; sometimes opening the way, at other times leaving it for him to open; and to accommodate his precepts to the capacity of his pupil.
5. Finally, let us listen to French author Anatole France: Let our teaching be full of ideas. Hitherto it has been stuffed only with facts.  

                                    *****************

G.R.Kanwal

3^rd July 2023

 

                         

 

RUMI’S VIEW OF LOVE

 

RUMI’S  VIEW  OF  LOVE

Rumi is the short name of the Persian poet Mawlana Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi. He was born in Balkh (now in Afghanistan) on 30 September 1207 and passed away in Konya, Turkiye on 17 December 1273. The greatest Sufi mystic and poet in the Persian language, he is famous for his most  didactic epic Masnavi –yi Manavi .  It is a great book in spiritual couplets which have influenced mystical thought all over the world either in the original Persian language or translated versions. Here is an example from Coleman Barks ‘ The Big Red Book, a masterpiece, celebrating Rumi’s mystical love and friendship :

                                    The soul comes every day at dawn

                                     Good to see you again, my friend

                                    The peace of God be with you.

 

In a Persian couplet Rumi says:

 

Bar Shah-e-khub—ruyan

Wajib wafa na bashad,

Ai zard-ruye ashiq !

Tu sabr kun, wafa kun

This is a short view of Rumi’s love philosophy . A slightly wider view is available in the following  liberal English version:

                                    The King of Beauty owes no duty,

                                    Of fidelity to a single one !

                                    Thou pale-faced lover ! do thou cover

                                    Thy love with resignation !

                                    Be faithful ever, and forget never,

                                    His constancy is to every one;

                                    As to every dew-drop, of the Sun !

                                    He loveth all; do thou love all;

                                    So thy smallness shall be all undone,

                                    His greatness shall by thee  be won,

                                    And thou shall gain All of the One !

                                                **********

G.R. Kanwal

2^nd July 2023   

                                   

  

A DIVINE POEM

 

                A  DIVINE  POEM

         English poet and essayist, Joseph Addison (1.5.1672—17.6.1719)  wrote a poem with the title “When All  Thy Mercies , O MY GOD” and published it in his newspaper “The Spectatator” on 9 August 1712. It is a hymn inspired by Psalm 89:1 “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever “ and was first published following an essay on gratitude, accompanied by the following introduction:

            “I have already obliged the public with some pieces of divine poetry which have fallen into my hands, and as they have met with the reception they deserve, I shall from time to time, communicate any work of the same nature which has not appeared in print, and may be acceptable to my readers.”

            “When All Thy Mercies, O My God ” is a great poem of gratitude to God whose mercies are unlimited and are provided to every human being from the beginning till the death of his life. The poem gives concrete examples like:

                 Unnumbered comforts to my soul

                  Thy tender care bestowed,

                   Before my tender heart conceived

                   From whom those comforts flowed.                  

It is not only in present life that God pours His manifold mercies upon His children but as the poet says:

                     Through every period of my life

                      Thy goodness I’ll pursue

                      And after death, in distant worlds,

                        The glorious theme renew.

The poem ends with the stanza”

                         

                        Through all eternity to Thee

                        A joyful song I’ll raise;

                          For, oh, eternity’s is too short

                        To utter all Thy praise!

 The lyrical quality of the poem has made it an all-time popular hymn.

                          Here are three more exemplary stanzas:

                       

When in the slippery paths of youth

With heedless steps I ran,

Thine arm unseen conveyed me safe

And led me up to man.

 

Through hidden dangers, toils and deaths,

It gently cleared my way;

And through the passing snares of vice,

More to be feared than they.

 

O how shall words with equal warmth

The gratitude declare,

That glows within my ravished heart?

But thou canst read it there.

 

                                    ********

G. R. Kanwal

1^st July 2023

 

THE TRUE BEAUTY

 

THE TRUE BEAUTY

            “THE TRUE BEAUTY” is the title of a very short poem written by the English poet Thomas  Carew (1595 –22 March 1640). He was born in West Wickham, United Kingdom, and died in London.  By occupation, he  was  one of the four cavalier poets, the remaining three being Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelace and Sir John Suckling  who were courtiers.   They all supported King Charles 1 during the English Civil War (1642-1651). The king himself took interest in fine arts and supported poets. His opponents were called Roundheads who supported Parliament.

                Cavalier poets celebrated “beauty, love, nature, sensuality, drinking, good fellowship, honour and social life.” For them each day of life was most important, as if it was the last day , and had to be enjoyed as much as possible.

                     Thomas Carew’s  poem reads as follows:

 THE TRUE BEAUTY

He that loves a rosy cheek

Or a coral lip admires

Or from star-like eyes doth seek

Fuel to maintain his fires;

As old Time makes these decay,

So his flames must waste away.

 

But a smooth and steadfast mind,

Gentle thoughts and calm desires,

Hearts with equal love combined,

Kindle never-dying fires-----

Where these are not, I despise

Lovely cheeks or lips or eyes.

 

                                   *********

G. R. Kanwal

30.06.2023

 

A CHRISTIAN PRAYER

 

                       A CHRISTIAN PRAYER          

Given below is a Christian prayer which is just like other prayers carried in various sacred books of the world. It is quoted by Dr. Bhagavan Das in his book The Essential Unity of All Religions published in 1936.

According to several biographical sources Dr. Bhagavan Das was an Indian Theosophist and a distinguished public figure. He worked for some time in the Central Legislative Assembly of British India. He was, however, an advocate of Indian freedom from British rule. He was the  founder of  Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith. As an eminent scholar, he had received many educational and literary degrees. The Government of India awarded him Bharat Ratna in 1958 for his contributions to education, philosophy and social reform. Born in Benares on 12 January 1869, he passed away on 18 September 1958.

The Christian Prayer mentioned above reads as follows:

     “Lead me, O Lord, in Thy righteousness. Make Thy Way straight before my face. Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Keep back Thy servant from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

         Search me, O God!, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me; and lead me in the Way Everlasting.

          Show me Thy Ways , O Lord ! Teach me Thy Paths ; and lead me in Thy Truth; Thou art the God of my Salvation. Open Thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law. Quicken Thou me according to Thy Word. Remove from me the way of lying. (Source: Bible; Old Testament; Psalms.)”

                                                            *******

G.R.Kanwal

29. 6. 2023

              

REMEMBER

 

                REMEMBER

In a great poem, which is destined to become classic, the English poet  James Falconer Kirkup (1918-2009) advises us to remember that “NO MEN ARE FOREIGN”, by which he means that all human beings are alike.  It is another matter they live in different countries, follow  different  religions, speak different languages and wear different uniforms. Despite these differences, they are our brothers. The land they walk upon is earth like our own and their harvests are subject to the same effects of air, water and sunshine as ours . They ,too, are fed by peaceful harvests and starved by war’s long winter. Physically , too, they resemble us, work like us and win hearts by love.

                 With these similarities, says Kirkup, there should be absolutely no reason for disunity and hate among men of different lands. He adds:

“Let us remember, whenever we are told

                          To hate our brothers, it is ourselves

                           That we shall dispossess, betray. Condemn.

                    

                     Also remember: “We who take arms against each other, it is the human earth we defile.  Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence of air that is everywhere our own.”

 

                        Kirkup concludes his poem with the message: “No Men Are Foreign, And No Countries Strange.”  

                      

                                                                        ********

G.R.Kanwal

28.6.2023                   

 

 

 

THE OLD FAMILIAR FACES

 

THE OLD FAMILIAR FACES

The other day I had a call from a friend who is now more than 100 and a  few months old. He is  a retired army officer and also an Urdu poet of some merit and that is how he came into contact with us being a member of our circle of poets. It was long ago.  The circle is still  alive and meeting on a Sunday every month but the friend concerned has ceased to participate in its programmes.  His other- day call had a special purpose and that was he wanted to see the faces of old familiar poets  in the  type of those monthly meets in which he used to participate . I promised to fulfil his request as soon as possible and in the best possible manner.

                This incident which has deep sychological significance of human unions and separations, especially , during the periods of childhood and boyhood , reminded me of the best-known poem of the English poet Charles Lamb (1775-1834).

                Lamb was not a regular poet  He was a great essayist. He wrote only three or four poems, the one mentioned here is very famous among the young and the old.

                Here is the full text of the poem:

The Old Familiar Faces

I have had playmates. I have had companions

In my days of childhood, in my joyful school-days;

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

 

I have been laughing, I have been carousing,

Drinking late, sitting late, with my bosom cronies;

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

 

I loved a love once, fairest among women:

Closed are her doors on me, I must not see her ---

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

 

I have a friend, a kinder friend has no man;

Like an ingrate, I left my friend abruptly;

Left him, to muse on the old familiar faces.

 

Ghost-like I paced round the haunts of my childhood,

Earth seem’d a desert I was bound to traverse,

Seeking to find the old familiar faces.

 

Friend of my bosom, though more than a brother,

Why wert not though born in my father’s dwelling

?

So might we talk of the old familiar faces.

 

How some they have died , and some they have left me,

And some are taken from me; all are departed;

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

 

G.R.Kanwal                                                         *******

22^nd June 2023