Foreign disciple seeks Guru’s blessings on Teacher’s Day

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh): It is the Guru-Shishya (teacher-pupil) relationship that knows no bound. When a series of events were being organised at educational
institutions to mark the Teacher’s Day on Saturday, a foreign disciple of Banarasi Guru was also there to seek blessings from his guru.

"I know the importance of Teacher’s Day in India," said Diego, a 29-year-old youth from Argentina, bowing down to the feet of his guru Acharya Vagish Shastri. Diego, a yoga trainer in his country, has been learning Sanskrit from Shastri for the past three months. "Along with Sanskrit, he is also learning Kundalini yoga and meditation," said septuagenarian Shastri, who once corrected the Sanskrit pronunciation of pop diva Madonna through teleconferencing in 1998.

"Presently, Diego cannot converse in Sanskrit, but he will learn the skill within the next 15 days," claimed Shastri. A distinguished Sanskrit scholar, Shastri claims to have trained even an illiterate to speak correct Sanskrit through Vagyoga mnemonic technique. The Vagyoga, which he calls the yoga of voice, makes the learning of Sanskrit language like a child’s play. He also claims that he has imparted knowledge of Sanskrit to hundreds of foreigners. Shastri, who also worked as the director of the Oriental Research Institute of Sanskrit University, has authored over 16 books and published several research works.

Like Diego many other foreign disciples not only learnt Sanskrit and yoga but also took deeksha from him.