Student-Teacher Relationship

I BELIEVE in Guru-Bhakhti. But every teacher cannot be a Guru. The Guru-Shishya—the teacher-discipline—relation in this sense is something spiritual and springs up spontaneously. In any case, it is not an artificial thing or a product of pressure from without. Such teachers still exist in India. (It should not be necessary to sound the warning that I am not speaking here of spiritual teachers who have the power to lead the aspirants to liberation.) Such teachers have no use for flattery. Respect for them must be natural and so is the love of the teacher for his pupil. That being so, the teacher is ever ready to give, and the pupil equally ready to receive. Ordinary things we may and do learn from anyone. For example, I may learn a great deal from a carpenter with whom I have nothing in common and who may even have many faults. I just buy from him the requisite knowledge even as I buy from a shop-keeper my needs. Of course, here too, a certain kind of faith is necessary. I must have faith in the knowledge of carpentry of the carpenter from whom I want to learn it. If I lack that faith , then it is clear I cannot learn anything from him. But devotion to a teacher is a different matter. Where education aims at the building of character, the old teacher-disciple relation is absolutely necessary. In the absence of a feeling of devotion to the teacher, the building of character must become difficult of achievement.

— The Problem of Education : p. 155