The discussions that were held in
his mansion house marked the beginning of his education. The traditional
ceremony of vidyarambh tool place after his fourth years. If Panditji wished,
he could have himself taught Vedas and scriptures to his son. But he believed
that a person should definitely obtain knowledge under guidance of a teacher.
There was a teacher by name Pandit Roopram in that tiny village that used to
run a school at his residence. Panditji handed over his son to the teacher. Taili
used to tell that after a small worship the teacher handed over a Patti (wooden
board). It was painted white. There were no slates and slate-pencils during
those days. There were different ways of teaching alphabets in different
regions. Pandit Roopram used greu (red clay soil) dissolved in water as ink and
a pen reed for teaching alphabets to the students. On the day of initiation,
Roopramji dipped the pen in greu solution and gave it to Sriram and holding his
hand, wrote 'ga' in Hindi on the Patti and spelt it. Sriram immediately
imitated his teacher and before he could utter any words to introduce the
alphabet, Shriram said "Ga for Gayatri". The teacher was dumbfounded
because he never imagined that a child of three years of age could identify and
define an alphabet and that too, in his own way.
He typically introduced the
letter 'Ga' with word 'Ganesh'. He believed that by introducing 'Ga' for
Ganesh, it would lead to intellectual blossoming of the child. Ganesh is the
presiding deity of intellect and hence was considered as a good beginning to
the learning process. When Shriram uttered 'Gayatri' without being taught about
it, the teacher and all those present there were astounded. Later the teacher
asked Shriram about who taught him that 'Ga' stands for Gayatri. The child
replied that nobody had taught him this and said that his father spoke about
Gayatri in the Bhagavat Katha. Teacher Roopram and father Roop kishore were extremely impressed. Both
of them caressed the child as a token of their blessings and affection.
In those days, parents felt that
it was good to let the child stay with his teacher. More the student stayed
with the Guru, more he learnt form him. 15-20 students stayed in Pandit
Roopram's school. There were students who came from neighboring villages also.
The number of students who came to learn from him was two times more than the
number of residential students. At times, every day scholars world end up
sleeping at the school instead of going home. Guruji used to treat all the
students with loving care. One could easily see the discipline exhibited by
students in studying, eating, sleeping and sitting. But this was not enforced
on them. This was evoked in the hearts of students with love and affection. For
example, guruji would personally wake up the students who slept in his house.
It is normal for children to sleep till late hours in the morning even though
they may not be tired. It gives them lot of pleasure to laze in the bed. In
such situations, the teacher himself world cajole them out of the bed and offer
them morning refreshments and make them sit for study after giving them a bath.
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