麻豆社

Good Morning.

As young people prepare to return to school, the air is filled with mixed emotions. Especially, for those who鈥檝e had formal exams cancelled and are now relying on their teachers鈥� assessments. There seems to be a sense of uncertainty as to whether teachers will be able to fairly assess without emotional bias.

Two of the most talked about personalities in Hinduism are Arjun and his combat teacher Dronacharya. Once, at a time when Arjun was still in training, Dronacharya overheard another student accusing him of favouring Arjun and ignoring the rest. To prove him wrong he decided to put the students to a simple test. He placed a wooden bird in a tree and asked all of them to shoot the bird with an arrow. But before he allowed them to do this, he asked them to tell him what they saw. One by one all of them answered 鈥淚 see a wooden bird, the branches, the tree, the leaves moving and other birds鈥�. When it came to Arjun鈥檚 turn, he answered 鈥淚 only see the bird鈥�, he took his aim and shot the wooden bird in the eye.

Many hear this story and it inspires them to be more focused in order to achieve the results that they want. But years later, it is this very same focused, Arjun, now a famous warrior who despite his ability, becomes bewildered and does not want to fight, just as his greatest battle, the Battle of Kurukshetra is about to begin. This is when the famous conversation between the Hindu God Krishna, and Arjun known as the Bhagavad Gita takes place. Krishna brings another dimension to Arjun鈥檚 learning, he guides Arjun to consider his motives in the context of who he is and to whom. Why should he fight? Who is he fighting for and what is he fighting for? What Krishna highlights is that the consequences of our choices are not just based on the action we perform but also the motivation behind the act.

We are always being assessed or assessing others, and whilst Krishna鈥檚 primary purpose in the Bhagavad Gita was to introduce the concept of doing what's best for all people all of the time by connecting with a more permanent spiritual sense of self, he is also very alert to the fact that human life is not perfect.

It鈥檚 a complicated road through human emotion and experience that shapes our actions and achieves our purpose. But if our motive is broad-minded, forward thinking and compassionate then ultimately, we will make choices where we are doing the best thing for most people for the foreseeable future. I believe this will empower teachers to be better able to put irrational feelings of attachment and aversion aside and think about the longer term impact of their decisions on many more levels. As my Guru often reminded me 鈥渋t's not just about doing the right thing but doing it in a way that has the most empowering or loving effect鈥�.

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