What is a Good Teacher? – Part 02
My 2nd memorable moment was with our Hatha teacher Santhana OR. Sana. He used to be an engineer and work even for corporations, but felt he always had to struggle in the job. And had to put on or Don a different persona almost to get things done. It always was a lot of effort to get by while teaching yoga felt natural and effortless to him. On top of that, he also made his students happy. So it was a win-win in his eyes. And he never looked back.
After one of our session, I approached him with the same questions we are exploring here, he said: “I have had many great teachers, but only one guru.“ That perplexed me and maybe it was the confusion he saw in my eyes that made him point to the paintings in the ashram. On it was Krishna with other Indian goddesses playing a flute. After allowing me a few moments to contemplate the painting, he asked pointing again to the painting: “Do you know why the flute is playing the wonderful sounds?“ I was not sure what he meant, so he continued: “It’s because it is empty…“ I nodded and as I was chewing on what he said, he added: “Once you become empty, you will automatically become a teacher. Yoga is about unity. Those that think they know are still students, but those that realize they don’t know anything are teachers.“
Now that made total sense for me. I was really impressed by the wisdom of someone I would probably consider almost a beggar back in Europe. Having this thought made me realize that I was still a student, but it also showed me the way I need to walk. Humility and gratitude are key in preparing ourselves, while judging only shames us. You see, it applies to any aspect of our lives, for it is the divine that acts through us only once the vehicle is in the right disposition, (i.e. cleaned, empty, et cetera) can the Divine become manifest.
If you are, let’s say, a footballer and your football shoes are not properly prepared you won’t be able to play properly and the same can be said of any art type. Obviously in yoga it is the same, with the added difficulty that what we are preparing are not footballer shoes, violin, medical instruments, etc, but our body and mind. This takes a lot of time and dedication. Consider the modern individual whose attention span is very short and who needs constantly new impressions to feel alive. On top of that, since we are changing, any change is always associated with pain.
Maybe this is the reason why it is so difficult for many of us to change, for subconsciously we associate it with pain, so we shy away. If we weren’t afraid of pain, the whole pharma industry would crumble within days. However, since we are always looking for shortcuts, especially when it comes to overcoming or avoiding pain the pharma industry thrives. What is needed is to regain sovereignty over our health.
One could argue that our Ashtanga yoga teacher Elvis had a deeper knowledge of the asanas and his body was much more representative of what we would regard as a Yogi, but he rarely talked during his classes plus he had an aura of conceitedness around him as if he was wasting his time or that we were, to put it simply, a useless students. To be honest, some of us in the course probably were, but this approach was almost the opposite to Sana.
Elvis placed focus on perfection, while Sana was all about kindness and patience. He might not have known as much as Elvis, albeit being older and his body might not want to play along as the one of Elvis, but that didn’t stop him from inspiring and motivating his students to persevere despite their own challenges and limitations. He always said that first comes respect for our body. We should always respect our individual limitations and by continuous effort overcome them. Therefore, we can say without a shred of doubt that to possess knowledge is crucial, but if you cannot or don’t want to transmit this knowledge. What’s the point?
Having said that, timing probably also plays its role. Maybe Sana is the ideal teacher for beginners, those that are merely embarking on their spiritual journeys, while experienced students could regard him as tedious. On the other hand, they would really appreciate Elvis for he would enable them to perform the most complex of asanas to perfection. Be as it may, we always have to have gratitude to all our teachers, regardless of what we think of them in the given moment. We might even have had bad teachers, but as long as our heart is in the right place with our mind and body prepared, we will receive Divine knowledge and the Divine will manifest through us. Like the sculptor revealing a statue from a block of marble, we shall emerge from our journey anew.
