Voice of the Guru: The Guru Tradition

This work on the Guru Tradition is a translation of the Sage of Kanchi’s discourses on Guru -tattva contained in the second, third, fourth and fifth volumes of the Tamil Daivattin Kural(“Voice of God” or “Voice of Divinity”) published by Vanati Patippakam, Madras. This book is an excellent translation of the lectures on Guru-tattva-the concept of the Educator-delivered in Tamil by Pujyasri Chandrasekharendra Sarasvati Svami, Acharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Pitha, popularly known as “Peryival”, during the long sojourn of the Acharya in the metropolita city of Madras and its suburbs between October 1957 and about the end of the year 1959. The translation into English has been done by R. G. K. , formerly assistant editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India. The translation of the speeches on the Guru-tattva printed in this volume is elegant. It is so simple as can be easily understood. The Gurudeva’s discourses on the concept of the Guru covered in this work encompasses the entire ambit of preceptors and teachers from the sage-gurus, the preceptors and teachers from the sage-gurus, the preceptors of gurukulas of the distant past and adhyapakas of pathasalas down to the college professors and schoolteachers of the present time. The patient reader will not fail to note the wide gulf separating the value-based, devoted, disciplined and systematic study that prevailed in olden times – with the consequent attainment by the student of good and perfect knowledge for its own sake-and the educational set-up of today which is devoid of any affectionate or intimate contact between teacher and taught and which for its aim the securing of degrees-deservedly or otherwise-as passports to mere material prosperity with the resulting decay in human values and the rise of problems like indiscipline in our educational institutions.