Saha Naa Vavatu

I am contemplating on a poem from Krishna Yajur Veda - the one known as Shanti mantra, starting with Om Saha naa vavatu. It is a prayer both the teacher and student offer together when they start the lessons for the day. It roughly translates to

May God protect both of us

May God nurture both of us

May we work together with great energy

May our study together be effective (May it bring internal and external light / illumination )

May there be no animosity among us

Let there be peace

What struck me was the last but one line which says "May there be no animosity among us". Being a coach by profession, I kept thinking deeply about this single line for more than a month. A coach has to make the coachee think in new ways, learn, grow to be more effective / powerful than the coach herself. There are a lot of opportunities for difference of opinions and disagreement along the way. To make someone think in new ways, the coach has to make them realise the limitation of their current thinking. To make them learn, the coach has to help them unlearn many things. The coach also has to push the coachee to actions outside their comfort zone. Three different dimensions where the coachee can hate the coach!!! When the coachee becomes more conversant than the coach herself, the coach has the potential to hate the coachee!! If the coach has to deal with more coachees concurrently, it gets more complex. Dynamics between the coachees, and relationship of each coachee with the coach (both reality as well as perceived by the coach & other coachees) can aggravate it further. The outputs produced and outcomes created by the coach and coachees can trigger additional conflicts too. Wow!!

Not only that!! Though coaching process appears to be linear, it is spiral; that is, challenging/realising the limitation of current thinking, teaching/learning new ways, pushing into/applying the new ways and excelling in the new ways happen multiple times in multiple planes! In fact it is not even a regular or smooth spiral rather it is a squiggle with a quite number of instances for the egos to clash and for animosity to build!! Hmm…

The other intriguing point is the story behind the verse!! The story goes like this - When Yajnavalkya disagrees with his Guru Vaishampayana, the guru asks Yajnavalkya to return all that he learnt from the guru. Yajnavalkya vomits his knowledge in the form of food; the other disciples take the form of tittri birds and consume the vomited food and then produce what is known as Tittirya Upanishad - a part of Krishna Yajur Veda. Yajnavalkya quits his Guru and goes on to produce Shukla Yajur Veda. 

I am no scholar who can say whether this particular poem was written by Yajnavalkya or his Guru Vaishampayana or his other disciples. But it is interesting to think about who may have written the poem or at least who may have given the idea for the poem considering the following clues!! Tittiris don’t fly though they are birds; that is, they are incapable of being a typical bird!! Tittiri birds consumed what Yajnavalkya vomited and produced the verse!! What they produced is tagged as "Krishna" and what Yajnavalkya produced is tagged as "Shukla". Krishna means dark and Shukla means bright!! Yajnavalkya was the one who had animosity with his guru, so did he think this way?? Did the Tittiri disciples observe the animosity between their Guru & their teammate and prayed that they should not end up in such a situation?? Is there a different way to interpret Tittiri instead of non-flying birds? It is equally interesting to think about the Guru… what did he mean by return all the knowledge? How much of it was taught and how much was from Yajnavalkya? Why did the Guru decide to give the copyright to his other disciples or allowed it to be called as Tittiriya Upanishad? Why is Yajnavalkya a as popular name as Vaishampayana? Interesting clues and questions…