If you have not read about the first two disciple of Sage Dhaumya, please read about them before reading this one:
First disciple: Click Here
Second disciple: Click Here
COMPARED TO HIS TWO comrades, one who had to make himself a human dam and the other who almost died of hunger and blindness, Veda had it easy.
Dhaumya’s task for him was to serve the preceptor’s household in the manner of a slave. Though it says that he worked like an ox,
Like an ox under the burdens of his master, without a murmur he bore all travails caused by heat, thirst and hunger.
one cannot escape the feeling that he suffered less than Dhaumya’s two other disciples. The trial of Upamanyu seems particularly harsh, even allowing for the fact that it was common practice for teachers in those days to test their students before declaring their education complete. What could justify first starving a boy, blinding him, and then forcing him to please the gods? And why does Veda get away with such a light task when his two predecessors had to undergo deeper hardships?
A possible explanation is this: The education system in those days was one to one. The teacher designed a student’s ‘curriculum’ after taking into account what he already knew and what he needed to know. For instance, if you already knew the verses of the Rig Veda, your teacher will not waste any more time reciting them to you again.
Similarly, the tasks you were given will be aligned to the character development that your teacher wishes you to undergo. A student who has a propensity for being lazy will be given household chores; a student who is particularly vulnerable to food will be asked to look after the cattle and refrain from eating; a student who, perhaps, is obsessed with cleanliness will be tasked with lying down in the mud in order to stop the flooding of a meadow.
Those who fail at their tasks – like Upamanyu does repeatedly – will be punished, but not permanently so. They will be given a chance to redeem themselves, and indeed, at the end of the story, faced with the temptation of a cake given by the Ashwins, the boy displays that he has conquered his greed when he insists that he must first offer it to his preceptor.
The story of the three disciples, I think, gives us two important messages. One: each man’s trials are his own. The task of performing daily household chores to the preceptor’s satisfaction is as onerous to a sloth as the task of learning to resist the lure of a tasty food item is to a glutton. The extent of a man’s suffering under the weight of a problem is wholly dependent on his ability to meet it. There is, therefore, no objective way in which we can conclude one problem to be lesser or greater than another.
The second message is this: failure to overcome our inner psychological demons may bring us great punishments, like it did in the case of Upamanyu, but all such setbacks are temporary, and with sufficient power of the will and proper guidance, we can all aspire to eventual success and its rewards.
Now that all the three parts, I have a question for you: Were the punishment given to Upamanyu was too hard compared to the tasks of other two??
Please comment down your views on the ancient system of education.
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