5 QUALITIES A STUDENT MUST POSSES

I read a very amazing sanskrit very once, which about the mainly 5 QUALITIES that a student must have. Infact each one of us is a student in our life, and this is why we should possess and try to cultivate these 5 qualities.

"KAKA CHESTA BAKO DHYANAM,SWAN NIDRA TATHAIWA CHA ALPAHARI GRIHATYAAGI VIDYARTHI PANCH LAKSHNAM."

VIDYARTHI - Vidya means knowledge and Arthi means one who desires knowledge. vidyarthi, all of us, posses panch lakshan, these five characteristic features and qualities.

The first one , KAKACHESTHA   Kaka = crow CHESTA = effort, kaka means a crow and Cheatham means effort, effort of a crow. All of us in childhood read the story of a crow, who has extremely thirsty and was flying around looking for some water. The crow found a pitcher of water. As the crow landed itself on the rim of the  pitcher and looked inside at the contents, he found there was water, but water was at the very bottom of the pitcher and there was no way the crow could drink the water by putting its beak inside. The crow started thinking what should be done and it comes a brilliant idea. It started looking around and started picking up in its beak tiny pebbles and putting them  inside the pitcher. Pebbles, pebbles by pebbles by pebble,the crow kept Working hard until the level of the water rose way up to the rim of the pitcher and the crow quenched it's thirst. Kaka Cheatham refers to the patience, hardwork and the effort of the crow. Yess ladies and gentlemen if we have to work on our lives, if we have to truly bring out what is within outside, we have to go through some painful sharpening of Kaka Cheatham, hardwork, and don't they say, that only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary, that is because 'S' comes before'W.'

The second quality of Vidyarthi is BAKO DHYANAM - means the intense focus of a crane. when one looks at the crane standing on one leg completely focused into the waters, the crane with one pointed attention is looking at the waters as the fishes are swimming inside the waters. The crane will allow the tiny, the small fish to swim around and not be satisfied with them. It allow the small fishes to go around and swim around. The crane will focus and wait for the big fish to come. If the crane settles with the small fish, it will loose the big fish and if the crane wants the big fish, it has to allow the big fish to pass by and go around. Similarly in life, when you want to focus what is important, we should allow the small things to pass by. we shouldn't be distracted by the things sometimes there will be interpersonal issues and conflicts, sometimes there will be health crisis, sometimes there might be a financial crisis, so many things keep happening in Life, let the small things pass by and focus on what's important.

The Third quality of a student life is SHWAN NIDRA shwan=Dog nidra = sleep.
Shwan means dog and NIDRA means sleep. Shwan NIDRA means sleep of a dog, or to be more precise the alertness of the dog.All of us have seen actually, what a dog is sleeping although the eyes are closed, the dog is very alert to the surroundings around it. Even if there is a little sound or even if someone walks very very slowly, the dog will definitely open its eyes. All those who want knowledge in their lives and want to pursue that is meaningful in life have to practice the quality of alertness. Although we may have eyees closed, doing, not literally, doing what we are doing in our lives. we shouldn't miss out to be alert to the world around us. There is lot to learn in this world from people, from objects, from situations, from surroundings. We will only learn when we are alert.

The fourth quality that a Vidyarthi must possess is ALPAHARI.
Ahar in Sanskrit means food and alps means less so literally, alpahari means that a Vidyarthi, one seeking knowledge should eat less. Now this is not what is implied by this world though.we have varieties of ahar like for example, for our tongue we have food, that's the agar. For our ears we have, sound, that's the ahar, music, talks. For our eyes, sight, people, beautiful Panaromic scenery is the ahar. So for each of the senses, there is ahar. And when this verse says that a Vidyarthi should be alpahari, it means we should be very careful of what inputs what we give to our senses, because whatever inputs we give to our senses actually go and make a very deep indelible impression on our psyche, on our inner system; in Sanskrit that is called SANSKAR.
sanskar means that indelible impression that sensory inputs leave on our minds. I tell you, we give so many inputs through our senses and they leave a very indelible Mark, sometimes unerasable mark on our consciousness and our minds. Therefore, when we talk about alpahari, it means we should be very careful to choose those sensory inputs which are of value and those things that we want our mind space to be filled with. Do not subject yourself to unwanted things in the world around us, which will go and occupy your precious mind space, which should not be taken by unwanted, less valuable and less priority things. Your mind space is meant and reserved for the most important and valuable things.
The fifth quality that a Vidyarthi must posses is GRIHATYAAGI.

GRIHA means home, TYAGI means to give up, leave. In the ancient Eastern world of India, Students would leave their home at early age and ho to study under their teachers or gurus in the school which was called Gurukul. GRIHATYAAGI mean leaving home, to go in pursuit of knowledge. In its real implied sense, grihtyagi doesn't means leaving home. It means leaving our comfort zone. If we living
in our comfort zone our home  represents a comfort zone. So if we going to live in our comfort zone, there is no question of  pursuing that which is of true value. Therefore, grihtyagi refers to coming out of comfort zone, which is what no pain no gain means.
And thus these 5 qualities
kakacheshta - effort of a crow.
bakodhyanam - the focus of. Crane.
 shwan nidra - the Alertness of a dog.
Alpahari - giving the right inputs to our senses.
grihatyagi - coming out of comfort zone. Zone are painful ladies and gentlemen but no points, no gains.
             
Thank you .

Follow up my next article which is on the "lessons of Life".To become a better person, a better individual, a learned person and a wise soul which leads to better human being.