Mentor’s involvement in student’s growth: Teacher - Student relationship, a practice of 5000 years in effect to 21st century

The role of a mentor (Guru) in a student’s (Shishya) life in inevitable due to the former being instrumental in transferring knowledge and skills for years designed by an institution. The role of a teacher or a mentor is not only to provide the basic fundamental education of a selected area of study but to see it grow in a student in terms of acquiring the knowledge and mastering the skills to enhance proficiency in the allotted subject. The commitment and involvement here is a spiritual transaction varying from student to student where the extension of a teacher’s role is beyond the formal and the number of years dedicated till graduation level of study. The most essential extension is the period when the formal education ends, and the practical implementation of the skill acquired is required to perform. It is from its first performing phase till the level of seeing the student rise to his utmost successful phase of performance. This is what has been a traditional (Parampara) practice past 5000 years and has seen its reflection in different countries in different forms. The question here arises of how effective it has been previously and its relevance and importance in the current century especially comparing the volume of difference in the social environment 5000 years ago till date. Practiced by the author here, this tradition of the ‘Guru-shishya parampara’ has worked wonders if freedom and restraint of a teacher’s intervention and a student’s commitment is defined appropriately.