In last night’s satsangh, Sivathasanji from our Melbourne Chapter who is on a visit to Bahrain spoke about Mentoring. 
Although he spoke only for a few minutes, he made some very powerful statements. I have tried to recall his thoughts..
A “Mentor” is someone who helps to guide his student. While the student makes the transition in the process, the mentor himself remains the same. He stands by, guides and watches the student learn and guides him as and when he needs it.
There are 3 prominent mentors in our scriptures, each of whom adopt a different style of mentoring.
Vishwamithra mentors Shri Rama in the Ramayana. Rama was a young inexperienced Prince and Vishwamithra comes up to Dasaratha and takes the young princes to the forest to train them. It is this time that Shri Rama becomes an archer and marksman par excellence through various experiences. This is also a “coming of age” for the young prince since he also makes the mental transition from an adolescent to the young man who gains the conviction to abandon his kingdom, luxuries and wealth in order to obey his father. Vishwamithra, after playing this very important role of mentor, then quietly departs and rarely makes an appearance again in the Ramayana.
A second mentor is Jambhavan, the elderly bear. It is Jambhavan that makes Hanuman aware of his own greatness. Very often, students do not even know their capabilities and it is great Mentors that help bring out the student’s talents by making them aware of their own excellence.
The third mentor is Lord Krishna. Unlike the other mentors, Lord Krishna stays alongside Arjuna and provides him not only with knowledge but also protects him. He symbolizes the phrase “friend, philosopher and guide” and stands beside Arjuna serving him while educating him as well. One may ask, “Why did Krishna give the wisdom of the Gita to Arjuna in the battlefield? Surely, there were plenty of opportunities to have done this on many occassions before. The Pandavas were in the forest for several years before the war and there were certainly many times when this could have been done?”
The reason for the above is that every thing that happens has a prescribed time and space. This is an unchangeable part of the “Laws of Nature”. A fruit cannot drop from the tree unless it becomes ripe. One can force a fruit to become ripe, but it does not have the same taste and quality as one that ripens on its own. So too, the timing for imparting wisdom needs to neccessarily match with the timing when the student is ripe to learn. The mind of the student needs to be conditioned and seasoned by the mentor who then provides him the right knowledge.
After this wonderful talk, Sivathasanji also gave us some thoughts for contemplation..
(A) How do we constantly redefine ourselves and adapt to the changing times to keep the Satsangh fresh and invigorated?
(B) How do we involve and integrate the youngsters so that our efforts continue to pass on to the next generation?
Thoughts, feedback and comments are welcome..
Please feel free to correct/add if I have missed out any important thoughts.
If you would like to send me a Satsangh takeaway from a Satsangh that you attended, please do so and we can share it with our readers (now over 250 visits per day!)
Thanks to Sivathasanji for re-igniting the fire of thought..
There is no such known law of nature which required the wisdom of Gita needs to be given to Arjuna only in the battlefield.
The “Law of Nature”, as mentioned in the post relates to the fact that events generally happen at a prescribed time and place. These are based on various unknown factors that we may not fully appreciate, since our knowledge is constrained by our faculty to understand within our constructs of time and space.
Here, the battlefield can be interpreted at a literal level, but even more so at a metaphorical level. The battlefield is symbolic of the everyday conflict that happens between good and evil. Arjuna is the representative of every human being who is torn between the desire and need to perform his pre-ordained duties and the various attachments, such as those to his family, friends, possessions etc that come in the way of his being able to do this.
In the midst of this conflict, when Arjuna who was torn apart by confusion seeks the mentor(Krishna) with humility and completely surrendering his ego, it was then that he got the guidance and message of the Gita.
Must say very good perception of how a mentor should be.Nowadays mentors are hard to find, teachers are abound. Good post.
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