Gurukul in the 21st century

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Introduction

Bharat literally refers to someone who is absorbed in the pursuit of knowledge. This has been the cultural identity of India from time immemorial. Traditionally there have been many forms of educational institutions in India – ‘AcharyaKul’, ‘Gurukul’, ‘Paathshala’, ‘Vidyalaya’, ‘Agrahara’, ‘Vidyapeeth’, ‘Vishva Vidyalaya’ etc. When we visualize such an educational institution or a Gurukul, then the picture which comes in front of us is that of a natural environment in a jungle with an ashram, in the ashram there are many small, thatched huts and rishis are doing yagya. There are deer running around, some students studying under a tree, somewhere vedas are being recited. Everyone seems to be happy and content.

But when we look at the education institutions of today, we cannot see this imagery. Today’s picture is that of a large concrete building boasting of electronic boards and latest technology, concrete ground with little or no greenery, bored & tired children wearing blazer suits travelling long distances in yellow school buses on crowded streets and polluted environment. The benchmark of a good institution seems to be correlated to large buildings, latest technology, air-conditioned classrooms & school buses- basically good amenities! Institutions which do not have that sort of infrastructure are not considered good institutions. This is having a stark difference from the imagery of a traditional Gurukul. A lot seems to have changed since those days. This includes the uniforms, language, subjects, context, mentality of the students and the teachers etc. Everything seems to have changed.

If someone wants to start a Gurukul in today’s time and age, then, there needs to be absolute clarity on the concept of a traditional Gurukul, how it can be made contemporary & set in today’s context. This understanding should become the foundation of the educational institute. There should be clarity on all its elements- from the vision to its principles to putting the team together, to its infrastructure to managing its operations efficiently, etc.

When there is clarity of thought process then there will be two aspects of execution – One to transform the existing educational institutions running under the governmental framework and second would be to create a new Gurukul grounds up. There is higher probability of maintaining the purity of the concept of a Gurukul when we start from scratch. That is the audience this article is addressing.

Various aspects of a Gurukul

To start a Gurukul, there are 6 important aspects where clarity of understanding is required. Two of these aspects are before the start of the Gurukul and four aspects kick in after the Gurukul is started.

Aspects to be considered before starting the Gurukul are:

  1. Who should start a Gurukul? Should it be the education department of the government, should it be an industrialist, should it be someone very rich, should it be a teacher or somebody else.
  2. What should be the preparation?

Aspects to be considered after starting the Gurukul are:

  1. How do I get teachers and acharyas in the Gurukul? This is where most of the Gurukuls struggle.
  2. What standards of child development should the Gurukul follow? The definition of the standards of development is very important in ensuring the Gurukul is going in the right direction.
  3. What would be the economic model to run Gurukul operations? Money is needed to run the operations in a Gurukul. We need to consider in what form and shape the cash flow needs to be managed.
  4. What would be the other operational aspects of the Gurukul? Aspects of day-to-day management, systems, processes, etc needs to be considered.

We will delve into each of these aspects one by one.

Who should start a Gurukul?

One of the characteristics of Indian way of building systems is whoever is supposed to do a specific task should do it with a sense of utmost responsibility and sincerity. For example, if the citizens of a country need food to eat, then it is the farmers responsibility to cater to their needs. Traders are supposed to manage the supply chain to ensure that every person has access to the yield. If there is life threat to citizens of any country, then their protection is the responsibility of the army and the police. In the same way, if the citizens of a country want to become knowledgeable, it is the responsibility of the acharyas to cater to that need. In this way, whoever is assigned a responsibility based on their capability, then that responsibility is his duty. This has been a tradition of this country. Gurukul and related education system is the responsibility of the acharyas. It is not the responsibility of the government.

When an acharya decides to create a Gurukul, one main distinction needs to be understood. That distinction is between the service sector and commercial sector. Traditionally too, commercial sector involves activities where the driving force is profit making, albeit in a ‘dharmic’ way. Service Sector involves activities wherein the intention is serving to nourish the life of fellow human beings without the intention of profit making. So, when one serves, money is not exchanged as a return for that service. Gurukul and education system in general, is a system which falls under service sector. There are many people in the society who want to serve the society. They can be rich people, people who are a part of government administration, parents, teachers etc. The usual steps of opening an educational institute have been either of the two ways:

  1. Some rich people, philanthropists, who feel that children in the society should get good education, start an educational institute.
  2. Government under some welfare scheme establishes a public educational institute.

Once the institute is set in one of the above two ways, then teachers are recruited to teach. This processes of opening a Gurukul is the source of all the problems in the education system today.

The right process of opening a Gurukul involves a capable acharya, who decides to setup the institution. Such an acharya should have three fundamental qualities:

  1. He should be a well-wisher of the society. He should be willing to work for the betterment of the society as a goal of his life.
  2. He should be knowledgeable and should be looking forward to expanding his realm of knowledge. Knowledgeable means knowledgeable in Indian Knowledge Systems. He should understand the Indian philosophy of life, should understand how to create a lifestyle based on that philosophy, understand the resulting behaviours in depth and are knowledgeable about how the political systems, economic systems, social systems are created based on those behaviour patterns. He is an acharya who understands the national problems and has an intention of catering to national needs.
  3. He should have the skill of teaching and must be well versed in dealing with students and in dealing with his subject.

These qualities make an acharya eligible to establish a Gurukul. One needs to spend time and effort to acquire this eligibility. The more capable the acharya, the stronger the foundation of the Gurukul. To attain more and more maturity as an acharya is very important. Understanding national needs in  the global context and creating a local setup to cater to it is the mantra. Understanding it conceptually, creating a practical approach to it, planning to build a conducive environment, appropriate systems and a suitable mentality would be some of the elements of pre-preparation by acharyas.

Such acharya’s mindset should be based on Bhartiya Jeevan Drishti. In Bhartiya Jeevan Drishti, there is deeper understanding and appreciation of aspects such as sacrifice (त्याग), restraint (संयम), selfless service (सेवा), cultivating meditatively (साधना), asceticism (तपश्चर्या) in social life. These aspects are placed at a higher pedestal than wealth, position or glory. While wealth, position and glory have its place but doing things which are in everybody’s interest, for everybody’s welfare and service to all are some of our ultimate life values. When social and political systems are built on these values, its look and feel is entirely different. That changed look and feel is the need of the hour.

Such would be the type of acharyas which would be required to start a Gurukul. If it means to spend a little more time to get to this stage, it is advisable to give that time. It is also a great idea to form a core team of 3-4 aligned people. If these things are in place, then the acharya should show the guts to start a Gurukul. This evaluation is the first steps towards the journey.

What should be the preparation?

At the outset, the Gurukul idea is being conceptualized and nurtured and this activity must be given sufficient time and energy. Physical institution creation can wait. It can be done at ease & must not become the focus in the initial phase. Enough time must be spent on getting a sense of the reality and operational details. This process can have the following sequence of steps:

  1. Visiting all the institutions which that run as Gurukuls.
    • Collect information, get to know about their inspirations, about the favourable situations they had, their challenges and how they faced them.
    • This should become the foundation of your Gurukul’s journey and help you articulate your own ideology.
  2. Getting to know the history of Indian education of last 150-200 years.
    • Understanding the effect of impairment for Indian Education, how the society and systems changed, how the Indian mentality changed.
    • Analysing the chronology of events and reaching to the right conclusions.
  3. Thinking about and creating a mental map of how the curriculum and pedagogy should look like based on today’s time, circumstance and need.

The curriculum of the Gurukul will be based on the research and the preparation of the acharya who is starting the Gurukul. It depends on acharya’s understanding of the problems the nation is facing, understanding various aspects of development including educational aspects, systemic aspects and economic aspects, and understanding the philosophy of Indian life. The curriculum of the Gurukul should not be influenced by or be based on the government accreditation. Government accreditation of curriculum or passing examination conducted by government agencies is not what a Gurukul aims at or stands for.

If this aspect is not thought through, then there is very high probability that the curriculum being used in regular government schools will eventually be adopted in the Gurukul, succumbing to parental or external pressures because of lack of clarity on our own vision. And that would mean that there would be no difference between the Gurukul and regular run-of-the-mill schooling system. In a Gurukul, we want to sow the seeds for the next generation to uphold good virtues, ethics, cultured and become a generation who can give shape to the society based on Indian ethos, who can guide the administration to build systems based on forethought & foresight (Indian knowledge traditions) etc. When this happens, we can say that the curriculum has achieved its goals.

As the curriculum is being carved, we need to have clarity on two aspects in the area of knowledge. These are ‘aspects of principles’ and ‘aspects of implementation’. The principles are eternal whereas the implementation changes based on the country, times and circumstances. Implementation plan should take into consideration the local situation (place where foundation of Gurukul will be laid), holistic situation of the nation, the mentality of the local population and the conditions in the world. That is why there should be clarity on both the aspects:

  1. What are the principles which would characterize development?
  2. Based on those principles, how should implementation look like for 21st century?

This step requires study, deliberation, contemplation and spending time with it.

The Gurukul can start with 10 to 12 small children also, but its goals and context should be comprehensive. Comprehensiveness would mean having the context of the needs of the nation, covering education from childhood to becoming a youth ready to take on responsibilities, covering at least two generations in its setup. When we think with such a comprehensive and long-term context, we realize that just because we thought about it, just because we did some ad-hoc preparation and we quickly started the Gurukul, things would not work out. Such an exercise would have major implications. We should take at least 3-5 years to contemplate, study, research and articulate the vision of Gurukul and its operations. This exercise should be done along the seed team of acharyas. Without this, we would not be able to achieve the goals for which Gurukul was started. First, a holistic conceptualization needs to be done, then as a small part of a big picture, Gurukul should be started at a smaller level. This would create the right foundation of a Gurukul.

How to create a team of acharyas?

An acharya is the central axis around which the whole Gurukul revolves. Acharya is not an asset or a resource. First few years of a Gurukul should be focused on creating a team of aligned acharyas. It should also be focused on creating the entire educational program, the curriculum, and the pedagogy. Land, building, corpus, resources etc. are also to be considered but these are not core requirements to start the Gurukul as is creating a team of aligned acharyas. This clarity should be there in our mind.

How should the people joining the Gurukul as acharya be? They should have a mentality for serving the society and the country, rather than viewing it as a way of making money earning. The spirit of seva via education should be primary. Money is required to meet the needs, but the needs should be based on the concept of austerity. People with such mindset are the people who would pass the minimum criteria of becoming associated with the Gurukul. The core team of Gurukul should conduct regular outreach programs for people in their immediate circle of influence. The aim of these programs would be to inspire them and get their mindshare. A rough outline for these outreach programs could be:

  1. Arrange for regular meetings, video shows, talk shows on wide range of topics which depict the world situation at large, situation of Bharat, situation of the education system etc. These topics could range from ‘chemical farming disasters,’ ‘forest cutting,’ ‘state of education,’ ‘state of rivers/water bodies in Bharat’, ‘family system in Bharat’ and many more…
  2. Get them to think about issues, in the discussions keep observing their inclinations, attitudes and suitability.
  3. Some people will stay on and show interest. Focus on people who continue to show interest, are ‘doers,’ ‘have a deeper sense of seva bhava’. Get them to come observe the Gurukul, find ways of engaging them, spend time in understanding their needs, their temperament and give them time to understand the working of Gurukul. This is your potential target lot.
  4. The initial set of people have to be hand-picked- one at a time, and this is the longest process as there is no set pattern here.
  5. Once a core team is formed, trainings can be strengthened, and mentorship program can be formalized.

Apart from these another important set of people to be groomed are parents of the children who would take admission in the Gurukul. All these aspects require some thinking about the training modules for the prospective teachers.

Following could be some of the aspects of such a preparation plan:

  1. Preparation for activities within the Gurukul
    • First thing is to understand what it means to be an acharya and acquiring the skill and capability on those lines.
    • Second is to understand the type of students which come to a Gurukul and realizing, understanding and creating capability to get those students.
    • Understanding the relationship between an acharya and student, and creating capabilities to build such a relationship.
  2. Preparation for activities outside the Gurukul
    • Understanding the type of relationship which needs to be established with the parents / guardians of the children.
    • Creation of awareness in the society about the need to Gurukul education, about need for supporting the Gurukul economics via events, workshops etc.
    • Engaging the government authorities to ensure that policy frameworks for the society allows the Gurukul system to flourish.

All these aspects are very important for a Gurukul apart from polishing the proficiency in the subject which needs to be taught.

Understanding the developmental model in a Gurukul

The developmental model of a Gurukul is not based on the marks students get in an exam. Rather it needs to be much more comprehensive. There are three aspects of these which needs to be considered and accordingly systems need to be created for them. These aspects are:

Education

There are two vital parts of development in the educational aspect

  1. Education for internal development: This would entail development of the Panchkoshas. While deciding on the curriculum and pedagogy, the subjects would be used as a medium to bring out the innate possibilities of the human potential. This requires good development of the Annamaya kosha, praanmaya kosha, manomaya kosha, vigyaanmaya kosha and anandmaya kosha.
  2. Education for external development: This would entail how well we adjust with the fellow human beings in family, society, nation and the world. It also entails our connections with the nature including non-living things, plant life and animal life. It would also entail our journey towards our Moksha (मोक्ष) as we continue to take care of our desires (काम) and ways of fulfilling them (अर्थ) as we live our lives as per the guidance of Dharma (धर्मं).


Considering these as the fundamental principles, we need to focus on creating the following systems in a Gurukul:

  1. Subjects and Curriculum
  2. Pedagogy
  3. Assessment techniques
  4. Relationship between the acharya and the student
  5. Process of acquiring knowledge
  6. Primary and secondary tools of acquiring knowledge.
  7. Personal, societal, national and global context of education.

Not only do we have to study about all these topics, we need to understand it as per our context or Bharatiya context.

For example: The subjects and curriculum need to be detailed out to cover the head (ज्ञानात्मक), heart (भावनात्मक) and hands (क्रियात्मक). aspects. We need to consider how to contextualise it as per the child development cycle i.e., age appropriateness. The planning and execution of this needs to be in accordance with the following age brackets & in sequence:

  • 0 – 5 years – Shishu Avastha (शिशु अवस्था)
  • 6 – 12 years – Baal Avastha (बाल अवस्था)
  • 12 – 18 years – Kishore Avastha (किशोर अवस्था)
  • 18 – 21 years – Tarun Avastha (तरुण अवस्था)
  • 21+ years – Yuva Avastha (युवावस्था)

System

Two fundamental principles of this aspect would be:

  • Knowledge should always be held above economics, politics, governance. Governing bodies and society in general must be seek guidance and advice of knowledge keepers of the society i.e. the acharyas.
  • The teacher must be at the helm of any education system. He should have complete autonomy (स्वायत्त) and freedom to run the institution. Government and Businesses should play a supporting role rather than controlling role.

Economics

Three fundamental principles of this aspect would be:

  1. Free Education: Knowledge should be freely shared (निःशुल्क). The exchange of knowledge should not involve price tags.
  2. The goal of education should be acquisition of knowledge, not earning a living.
  3. The responsibility of managing the economic needs of the Gurukul should be with the society.

Based on these three aspects, the systems of the gurukul should be designed. The importance of these aspects would only be realized when the content and systems are Bharatiya in nature. How the content impacts the thought process, worldview, mindset, understanding of life and the world, the decisions of life, all these needs to be in the centre, in focus.

Another aspect which needs to be established is the understanding for relationship between subjects. This relationship is in the form of an inverted tree structure with each node having primary-secondary relationship with its sub-nodes. This is also referred in Chapter 15 of Bhagwat Gita. The methodology of teaching and learning should be based on this methodology. There should be clarity on what is primary and what is secondary. Of all the subjects, aadhyatm shastra (आध्यात्म शास्त्र) is primary and all the other shastras are secondary to it. This is the uniqueness of Bharatiya Jeevan Drishti.

All this is going to be a journey. This is also a journey of growth for the acharya. Acharya should keep the following two important things in mind during this journey:

  1. Become a strong link in the knowledge traditions. This means that the knowledge which came to us from our acharyas, we internalise it, keep it pure, add our own flavour to it, enhance it (in Hindi, typically referred as सवाया करना, i.e. making it 125%), and then pass it on to the next generation of students.
  2. Live our life according to the discipline of the shastras. This means lifestyle, dietary habits, daily routines, seasonal routines etc. needs to be as per the shastras.
  3. Live our life according to the concept of duty (स्वधर्म). This duty is to show the right path to the students, the society and the nation.  

Learning is a continuous process. Growth & refinement of the acharya too is a continuous process. As the acharya becomes more and more refined, the student can learn a lot in his mere presence. Thus, transference of knowledge from the acharya to the student (शिष्य) becomes more and more subtler. This is the path of sadhana (साधना) and austerity (तपश्चर्या) for the acharya.

Economic setup of a Gurukul

One of the fundamental principles of a Gurukul is to keep the education free from economic shackles. The practical aspect of this is that if there is somebody who does not have money, he or she should not be deprived of education. Another aspect is that knowledge is superior to money, so we cannot evaluate a superior thing with an inferior thing. With this as the foundation, as the framework, we really need to think about ways of meeting the needs of the Gurukul and sustain the acharyas’ livelihoods. If it is a residential Gurukul, then their boarding, lodging and all the other requirements needs to be taken care of by the Gurukul. The acharyas needs are to be taken care of by the Gurukul. Money is required to build infrastructure, for the resources, land, etc. How to setup systems for this needs to be thought through.

Our Rishi’s have suggested 4 ways managing the economics of the Gurukul. They are:

Samitpaani (समित्पाणि)

When a child starts his or her formal education, then based on the financial condition of the family, he brings something for the acharya out of respect, gratitude and freewill. This is not admission fee since what needs to be given and how much to be given is not decided by the acharya.

Bhiksha (भिक्षा)

To manage the economic operations of a Gurukul, Bhiksha is an accredited channel. This should not be equated to begging. Both the acharya and students go out for collecting bhiksha. Through this they arrange for food, clothing and other necessary items. Traditionally, the rules for bhiksha collection were-

  1. Not to go to the same house everyday for bhiksha collection.
  2. You cannot go to your relatives or loved once for bhiksha collection.
  3. You cannot go to a house where there is a possibility of getting a lot of bhiksha (pre-calculated).
  4. You should not cut a sorry figure while collecting bhiksha. Since it is being done for the Gurukul, there should be a sense of pride in the same.
  5. Since it is a social right of the Gurukul to raise the money through this means, it is important to maintain dignity and be your natural self.

These rules may need to be contextualized to today’s times as the gurukul’s were traditionally nurtured by the king who generously gave the acharya things such as land, food, cows, resources etc. In the absence of such benevolent kings, as well as citizens (praja) who don’t fully understand the concept of bhiksha. In Gurukul traditions, Bhiksha is thought of as one of the powerful mediums for managing the needs.  

Guru Dakshina (गुरु दक्षिणा)

Via this medium, the student gives financial donation to acharya. It is given on completion of the formal education. This should not be confused with fee. This is given without any evaluation of the seva extended by acharya and was traditionally given as much as possible based on the financial capacity of the student’s family. Here also nothing is decided by the acharya. Today we have changed this methodology into fee and salary. We should look at how we can contextualise Guru Dakshina in today’s time and age.

Donations (दान)

Donation differs from Bhiksha. Bhiksha is given when you ask for it. Donation is when you receive without asking for it. It is based on will and feeling of the donor. Various people in the society and those holding government & corporate positions recognize the seva being done by the Gurukul and come forward to support the effort. Today this is called a government grant and CSR funds, respectively. These come with its own terms and conditions. No Gurukul would want to take donations with terms and conditions. In today’s times, the number of people giving voluntary donations have reduced. But still there are people who give donations, and this is considered a legitimate means of managing financial needs.

It is the responsibility of the society to ensure that the financial needs of the Gurukul are met. The systems for making it happen needs to be set up by the acharyas of the Gurukul. It requires some thinking and experimentation before a methodology is settled.

Running the operations of a Gurukul

Many aspects needs to be considered to run day to day operations of the Gurukul. This section tries to cover some of those aspects. This is an indicative list. These things can be learnt from various Gurukul and decisions can be made based on once own understanding.

  1. Admission process and number of students: This includes the process discussion with the students and parents, process of evaluation, number of students in each class, overall number of students in the Gurukul.
  2. Infrastructural needs: This includes the number and size of classroom, green spaces, pooja space, gaushala, arrangement for various activities, playground etc. These need not be vary elaborate and can be as close to nature as possible.
  3. Gurukul timings: Start time, closing time, number of hours, division of time across subjects, sequencing of subjects, holidays etc.
  4. Uniform: Types of clothes, shoes, hair styles, amount of makeup required, ornaments etc. Who all need to have a uniform.
  5. Sitting arrangements: Consider the seating arrangements as mentioned in shastras. Consider these arrangements for classrooms, office space, dining room, library, library etc. This should be according to the workspace, with practical and financial considerations.
  6. Schools Bags of the students: Do we need them? What things are allowed in the bag. Ways to reduce the weight and spending on such things need to be thought through.
  7. Transportation System: Should there be a limit to the distance of the house of the students, should there be arrangement to walk to the school, role of acharyas and parents in managing the transportation system, vehicle parking arrangements needs to be looked into.
  8. Resources required by the Acharyas and Students: Segregation of useful and useless resources, usage of mechanical tools, equipment required for various experiments, consideration of alternatives to costly equipment, their upkeep etc.
  9. Homework: How much, different ways to give it, reasons to give it, how to evaluate the homework, role of parents etc.
  10. Classrooms: Form and shape of the classes, windows, doors, blackboards, almirah, decoration etc.
  11. Cleanliness: Who all should participate in the cleanliness of the Gurukul area, toilets, ensuring cleanliness before and after food, arrangement for keeping the bags/shoes/lunch boxes, mindset of acharyas and students, their habits and behaviours, ways of maintaining purity of the space.
  12. Environment Friendly: Building construction methods and the material used for construction, choice of land, careful consideration of things like AC/Refrigerator/Vehicles etc., methods used in agriculture etc.
  13. Lunch Breaks: Arrangements of breakfast / lunch, ways of improving the understanding and scientific temperament of parents about food, ways of serving and eating, guest managements within the premise etc.
  14. Daily activities: Timetable of various subjects, good mix of subjects of head/heart/hands, frequency of various activities like agriculture, cleanliness drives, sports, Panchang, Gita recitation, prayers etc.
  15. Other Facilities: First-aid kit, library, food, water, toilets, garden, purity, love, happiness etc.
  16. Austerity: Controlled spending on various resources, maintaining simplicity and beauty, upkeep of everything, multiuse of various objects, usage of things without spending too much, keeping the systems as natural as possible etc.
  17. Cultural Activities: Activities which happen on daily basis, which happen on certain frequency, connecting these activities for various subjects which are taught in class, creating relationship with parents and the society via these activities etc.
  18. Educational Tours: Choice of places, connection to subjects, using these as ways to develop cultural/social/national understanding, development of practical knowledge etc.

Conclusion

Thus, we delved into various aspects of a Gurukul. It is a long journey, it is of national importance, it should be based on right fundamentals and right concepts, it requires a lot of patience and perseverance. May we all succeed in our endeavours.

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