Metacognition, colloquially understood as "thinking about thinking," serves as a criticaldeterminant of academic success and a foundational pillar for lifelong learning. This paperprovides a comprehensive examination of the dual-component framework of metacognition—comprising metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulation—and evaluates its urgentnecessity within the contemporary Indian education system. While modern Westernpsychology provides the essential structural vocabulary and empirical metrics formetacognition, this research argues that the ancient Indian Gurukul system utilized asophisticated, indigenous version of these strategies through the pedagogical triad of Shravana(attentive acquisition), Manana (reflective deliberation), and Nididhyasana (deepinternalization). By meticulously synthesizing these ancient reflective practices with modernpedagogical tools such as cognitive modeling and reflective scaffolding, this paper proposes astrategic roadmap designed to transition the Indian classroom from its current state of rote-dependency toward a model of cognitive autonomy. This transition aligns with thetransformative goals envisioned by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, aiming tocultivate self-regulated learners capable of navigating an increasingly complex globallandscape through heightened self-awareness and mental agility.