IMG-20160321-WA0131

Author: Padmavathi

“Life as a teacher begins the day when you realize that you are always a learner”. – Robert John Meehan.

I always aspire to be a student in this universe……………..

Life is so beautiful. Each day is a new life when we wake up. Its twists and turns keep us on the edges like a Hitchcock movie. I began to feel that a good education in the conventional sense was no guarantee of wisdom or prudence when it came to looking after our own life experiences. When I volunteered, some six years ago to help organize a seminar on the Philosophy of Vethathiri Maharishi at the University of Madras, little did I imagine the roller coaster ride that my life would take? In the blink of an eye, I found myself enrolled in the M.A. degree course in Philosophy.  But I never found Philosophy alien.  I took to it as a fish to water.  That is not to say, it was smooth sailing.  Formidable pieces like the “Sivagnana Bodham” stretched my cerebral cortex to incredible lengths.  Yes, I graduated with a First Class and emerged with a more holistic view of life on earth.

I believe that Transformational phase in our lives is only through igniting young minds

Being with children who are in need of remedial in a special school, taught me patience and acceptance of children with various learning disabilities. Which I think no universities would have helped me to learn these emotional skills

Conducting Yoga and meditation workshops for St.Louis School, Chennai, for Blind, deaf & dumb boys, was really a challenging thing for me when I started teaching, but then eventually I understood its only the language of universal, divine love which helps us to connect to any life on earth.  The boys were so affectionate and loving towards everyone they come across because they carried no prejudices.  These were my observations and inspiration to continue my services and it has also helped me to be a student always in the universe. I am here to use my full potential for the humanity, that’s my purpose of coming into this wonderful planet.

My little sniffs of German at the University made me land in Germany as part of a student exchange programme, which made me understand people all over the world are same though they differ in their cultures, geography, languages, etc., in the sense its only love which keeps everyone connected together. Then I was in a deep contemplation that the community is the platform for me to surely learn to be modest and humble which are the most significant qualities to be a good human being, which will help me to evolve to higher dimensions. The German visit broadened my vision. I became seized with the passion to serve humanity as a whole.  Earlier in Chennai was hosting a few German children.  One day, I had to rescue a German girl from the swarm of mosquitoes at her host’s house.  While mosquitoes coexist with us, for Germans mosquitoes are verily the harbingers of death.

Once again, fortunately fate planted me in another school as a teacher of philosophy. My assignment to plan a collaborative programme with the Cambridge University was challenging, but made me learn a lot.  Students came back to me with the same love and affection even after leaving the school.

 

Learnings:

Let’s believe in 0{8ead27c4518c0b10559874054ae3fda4d54ed4b9784c4144c679fdb93c45d0af} expectations is equal to 100{8ead27c4518c0b10559874054ae3fda4d54ed4b9784c4144c679fdb93c45d0af} happiness.

It also reminds me of Sri Aurobindo’s quote

“To do the right thing in the right way in each case, at every moment one must be in the right consciousness”. This is the exact learning for us through our life experiences.

Once our mind is set as a student, even with umpteen numbers of degrees, we find a teacher in the form of our life partners, our own children, friends, colleagues, enemies, nature, sentient beings and insentient beings. Yes…………….. this is how life teaches us to be more tolerant, to have a higher level of acceptance, be non-judgmental and to be sacrificial.

“Stone walls do not make a prison, nor iron bars a cage.” The human spirit is indomitable. That is how people survived the Auswitz.

Never stop learning because life never stops teaching- Chanakya