Mahabharat Teachings - Arjun's Concentration

Once Guru Drona prepared a toy bird and tied to the top of atree. Then he called both Pandavas and Kauravas. All assembled in one place.First guru Drona called Yudhishthira and ask him to take bow and arrow and aimat the toy bird on the tree. Yudhisthira aimed at the bird. Then Guru Dronaasked

“Are you able to see the bird on the top of the top?”

Yudhisthira replied

“Yes Guruji I can see”

Guru Drona asked

“Are you able to see the tree, your brothers andme?”

Yudhishthira replied

“Yes Guruji I can see”

Then Guru Drona said that you are not able to concentrate100% on the target so you will not be able to hit the target. Like this Guru,Drona was calling all the students one by one, asking them to aim the bird andasking them what all they can see. Everyone was saying that they are able tosee other things as well along with the toy bird. Finally, Arjuna number came.

Guru Drona asked him to aim the toy bird and asked

“Are you able to see the bird on the top of thetree?”

Arjuna replied

“Yes Guruji, I can see”

Guru Drona asked

“Are you able to see the tree?”

Arjuna replied

“No guruji, I can’t see”

Then Guru Drona asked

“Tell me what all you can see”

Arjuna replied

“Guruji I can see only the head of toy bird, other thanthat I am not able to see anything”

Guru Drona said to release the arrow from the bow and hitthe toy bird. Then Arjuna released the arrow and it hit the head of the toybird.

From this incident, we can easily understand that if we wantto achieve something we should concentrate on that goal completely. Else wewill not be able to achieve what we want. So friends while working on importantthings don’t talk to others or think about something else and switch off allyour disturbances and concentrate completely on the work which you are doing.If you can do like this you will also hit the target like Arjuna for sure.

Mahabharat Teachings - Ekalavya

Ekalavya is a young prince of the Nishadha tribe. Listeningto the greatness of Guru Drona, Ekalavya went to Guru Drona and requested toteach him Archery. But Guru Drona rejected Ekalavya as he belongs to lowercaste.

Then Ekalavya went back to the forest. But his desire tolearn archery didn’t die. So he prepared an idol of Guru Drona with mud andconsidered himself as the student of Guru Drona. Ekalavya used to worship theidol of Guru Drona and used to practice archery in front of the idol. Like thisekalavya learnt archery and became a great Archer.

One day Pandavas and Kauravas went into the forest forhunting. A dog which belongs to Pandavas went to the place where Ekalavya waspractising and started barking at Ekalavya. Then Ekalavya shot seven arrowsinto the mouth of that dog so that it can’t bark. That dog went back toPandavas. Both Pandavas and Kauravas were shocked after seeing that dog. Theywent in search of the person who shot the arrows and found Ekalavya.

After seeing Ekalavya they asked him who was his guru andfrom whom he has learnt the archery. Ekalavya replied that Drona was his guruand shown them the idol of Guru Drona.

Both Pandavas and Kauravas went back and told about thisincident to Guru Drona. Arjuna was not able to digest that Guru Drona taughtEkalavya and made him a better archer than him. So he went to Guru Drona aloneand asked: “Guruji you told that I am your favourite disciple and told that youwill make me the best archer in the world but I think you made Ekalavya abetter archer than me”.

Drona didn’t understand what Arjun was saying so along withArjun he went to Ekalavya. Seeing Guru Drona Ekalavya received him with highrespect.

Then Guru Drona asked Ekalavya how you learned this Archeryfor which Ekalavya replied that he has learned with his blessings. Then GuruDrona asked what you will give me as Guru Dakshina. Ekalavya replied that hecan offer whatever you ask for. Guru Drona asked Ekalavya to offer hisright-hand thumb. Ekalavya without a second thought has cut his right-handthumb and offered to Guru Drona. Ekalavya lost all his skills as he lost hisright-hand thumb.

Some people say it is an injustice done to Ekalavya, somesay Guru Drona has done this for a reason and all. For now, we will keep thisargument aside and talk about a different point “how Ekalavya was able to learnarchery without Guru?”

Nowadays we can get info. about many things online or atleast there are many books available. But during those days Ekalavya didn’thave these sources. Some people say that Ekalavya used to watch what Guru Dronawas teaching to Pandavas and Kauravas from far. But I don’t agree with thispoint as Ekalavya used to be in the forest and even if we think that he used towatch from far, it’s not practical to learn by watching from that much fardistance.

So how Ekalavya did became expert in Archery?

I think Ekalavya was able to learn Archery because of belowpoints

1. Desire and Belief

Ekalavya had a strong desire to learn Archery so he didn’tgive up when Drona rejected him. He made an idol of Guru Drona and used toworship the idol with a strong belief that Guru will guide him. He might haveimagined as if Guru Drona is teachings him. So because of his strong desire andbelief, he might use to get guidance in the form of intuition.

2. Practice

Ekalavya might have practised a lot. He might have learnt bytrial and error method like he will try one method to achieve something if heis not successful he might have tried a different way. Like this, he might havekept trying until he found the best way to do that thing.

So friends learn these qualities from Ekalavya then you willalso be able to learn anything and get success.

Mahabharat Teachings - what will happen if we hurt innocent?

Once king Janamejaya who is the son of Parikshit and great grandson of Arjun was performing  great Yagna. There is a dog which belongs to Gods called Sarama. Sarama has a kid called Sarameya. This puppy Sarameya went to the place where Janamejaya was performing Yagna and was playing in the surrounding areas. Younger brothers of Janamejaya saw the puppy. They beat the puppy and made it to go away from that place.

That Puppy went crying to its mother Sarama and told what all has happened. Sarama got angry after listening to all this. Sarama met the king Janamejaya and told “Hey King, without proper thinking and kindness your brothers have beat my son, who is innocent and who has not done any mistake. If  good and innocent are punished without proper thinking, then sudden problems will come for sure in the life of those people”.

After saying the above words Sarama left from that place. Later King janamejaya along with brothers did prayashitta karma’s for the mistake done by his brothers.

There are many people who keep harming innocents physically/mentally just because they are in powerful position or financially/physically strong than others. They should keep in mind the words of Sarama. They might think that they have power and that innocents can do nothing. But it’s wrong, that innocents might not fight back but the pain they felt will come back with compound effect and will harm you for sure.

Somethings might look small but we can’t estimate how much it has hurt others. And if we hurt others who has not done any mistake it will us come back.

It is a common habit for many people to make fun of others by commenting about their size, color, habits, inabilities etc. But remember it might be fun for you but it will harm them mentally which will come back to you. If they have not done anything to you why should you comment ?

So friends from now even for fun sake don’t hurt people who have not done any mistake. Because it will come back to you for sure. And  If you feel that you have hurt someone in the past try to apologize and do prayashitta as Janmejaya did in Mahabharat