WHY GURU-DISCIPLE ??
How self mentoring is egregious !
Guru-Disciple tradition of learning prevails in india from times immemorial. This tradition of learning is called as gurukul learning where disciples stay with guru learn the nuances and the perceptions about culture,economy and get a clear picture about the world currently we are in. It is more of a theory and practical approach combined. We may consider only India had this sort of learning culture but surprisingly Egypt and Europe too had this culture prominently. The famous Swiss banks of today had their mentoring from the MEDICI family, who were the first people to invent 24 hour clock system in 15th century, so that they can keep track of time for the money lent and to calculate the interest rates for the repayment. The famous michelangelo had learned the art of sculpting in the guru-disciple format and then was forced to create a mind blowing ceiling art in the chapel which was later ordered by the king. The great philosopher plato was the disciple of socrates. having said all this, what makes having a personal mentor so important ?
We are all born in under a certain circumstances, which shapes our basic perception of reality and the world. This basic perception will give rise to a basic belief system. This belief system we have only applies to the micro world we are born, but on the macro level we may or may not be as competent as we think we are. This lag between what we have and what is ideal for us can be fixed only by a mentor of that particular field. This lag can easily be fixed if we try to fix on our professional or learning any particular form of art, but the same is difficult when the self itself needs to be polished. In simple words, gold dust or raw gold can be polished and converted to bars, but making it a jewellery is a whole new dimension than making a gold from a gold mine. Self mentoring does not work as the gold cannot become jewellery all by itself. You may ask, but we are humans and have thinking capacity, there comes the problem. lets us take for example, one has a severe anger issues. The max he can try to do it is effectively control it, but with the right mentor the whole aspect of anger can be converted into something else. Hence shaping the self more effectively. This cant be done by oneself. we can gain knowledge and try to apply in a creative manner and bring excellence, but we dont have the control on what we are becoming, that needs to be addressed by a guru, like lord krishna who adviced and mentored prince arjuna and held the chariot for him.
