The difference between a teacher and a guru is that a teacher is only concerned with teaching while a guru goes beyond a teacher and not only teaches the reality of life to students but also ways to deal with it.

If we look at pages of history, we see the role of a guru, his importance and his nature in many places in religious texts and stories. In Mahabharata, Shri Krishna was Arjuna’s guru on the battlefield.  Not only did he preach to Arjuna but also he would balance him whenever Arjuna would stumble. But, today’s teachers’ are different. A teacher can be a guru, but it will be wrong to consider a guru as just a teacher.

It is possible that only a handful of teachers can be guru.All the people around us, big or small things related to nature that teach us something should be treated like a guru, while we should become disciples. Although a disciple is more important than a guru as the guru’s importance is only because of the disciple.

If a student is not willing to learn from a guru then he cannot be a guru. Guru is dependent on the disciple. Teaching is a prepaid service…We are talking about the teacher. In today’s times teaching is more of a business than a profession. It is like a prepaid service. First take the money and then teach. Should there be a separate day for those teaching like this?? I think should not, if it is so then there should be a day for every profession.

I see that teachers teach from books or explain formulas to solve questions. This is only teaching, not ingraining. Ingraining means to give a shape. And this is the work of a guru, to give it a shape and prepare for the future, so that the student does not falter but always shines in life.

The role of a guru is very big. Father, mother, brother, sister, various relatives, knowledgeable people who we interact with many times in a day are all gurus.

Everyone has life experiences. We learn a lot by observing their daily activities.

In our country full of vedas and purans, we have made days like Guru Poornima (June-July) to honour the guru. This is observed on the birthday of Veda Vyasa. Veda Vyasa arranged the four vedas, purans and the Mahabharat. The veda, puran teach us the art of living. Indian culture originated from there. This is why Guru Poornima is celebrated to pay special respect to the guru.

It is important to always respect the guru. Without a guru there is no speed meaning life takes a break without a guru. Everything around us that teaches us something is a guru. Therefore it is important that teachers’ day should be considered as teachers’ day and not as guru’s day. The position if a guru is much higher than that of a teacher.

(The writer is a Mathematics Teacher at Government Plus Two High School, Chandwa)