Civilization flourishes with the promotion of culture, but when the cultural values deteriorate, the civilization of a society breaks down, as we have known from the fall of the Egyptian, the Greek and the Roman civilizations.

The great religious masters of India, using their own ingenious efforts, have time and again revived the philosophical and religious values for which India stood and thereby arrested the deterioration of the culture. When culture deteriorates there is an increase in barbarity and immorality in the country and its philosophy is misinterpreted, leading to confusion and chaos among its people.

This, in short, is more or less the sad condition of the present world. The need of the hour is to arrest forthwith the deterioration by reviving the great philosophical and religious values of life. In no other literature in the world have these values been so beautifully and exhaustively dealt with as in the sacred books of India. In this context we may note the following advice given to the students by the Rishi of the Taittiriya Upanishad :

The practice of what is right and proper is fixed by the scriptural texts; is to be followed along with reading the texts oneself and propagating the truths of the same.

("Truths": this means that practicing in life what is understood to be right and proper is to be pursued along with regular studies and preaching.) This Upanishadic passage closely parallels the corresponding function that we have in our colleges today, which goes by the term, "Convocation Address". The students of the Gurukula are given some key ideas on how they should live lives dedicated to their culture, consistent with what has been taught to them as the goal and way of life.

It must be the duty of the educationists to see that they impart to the growing generation not merely some factual knowledge or some wondrous theories but also ideals of pure living, and training in how to live those ideals in practical life.

In short, the secret of a sound culture is crystallized in this convocation address; this portion is more exhaustively amplified in the section that follows the address. In this section the teacher presents twelve immortal ideas of living and rules of conduct.

An equal number of times he has insisted that the student continue his study of the scriptures and propagate the immortal ideas of his culture all through his life. In these passages, we find that the brilliant students are repeatedly commissioned to continue their study and be preachers throughout their lifetime.

The Upanishadic style lies in its brevity. Use of even a syllable more than the minimum required is considered as a great sin; yet, here we find in a small section twelve repetitions of the same idea; study (swadhyaya) and discoursing upon the Veda with a view to making others understand (pravachana).

For this missionary work the Rishis never saw any necessity in organizing a special class of teachers. The preaching activity was built into the duty of every householder. In the pursuit of his vocation, the householder was not asked to spare any special time or to sacrifice his duties either towards himself or towards his own children, the society, the nation or the world.

But while emphasizing the need to pursuing his duties at all these levels, the Rishis asked him to keep continuously in touch with the scriptures and to preach the same truth to others. The great qualities that the teacher has insisted upon are:

(a)The practice of what is right and proper as indicated in the scriptures (ritam);

(b) Living up to the ideals that have been intellectually comprehended during the studies (satyam);

(c) A spirit of self - sacrifice and self - denial (tapas);

(d) Control of the senses (dama);

(e) Tranquility of the mind (sama); (f) Maintenance of a charitable and ready kitchen at home in the service of all deserving hungry fellow beings (agni); (g) Practice of concentration and ritualism through fire worship as was in vogue in the society of those days.