Dronacharya
was one of the greatest warriors of his time. He had learned the secret of
powerful weapons from the great Parashuram himself.
 |
| Parashuram (Left) and Dhronacharya (Right) |
When he
arrived at Hastinapur, Bheeshma entrusted the Pandavas and the Kauravas to his
care and asked him to teach the art of weaponry to them. The Pandavas and the
Kauravas were quick to learn and soon picked up various skills.
The
Pandavas and the Kauravas were cousins but they grew with intense rivalry since
childhood. Especially the Kauravas were very jealous of the Pandavas.
Dronacharya
was an impartial teacher and treated all the students equally but could not
help admiring Arjun the most. Arjun was not only the finest archer, he was also
the most focused, enthusiastic and resolute amongst all students. However, the
Kauravas misinterpreted this admiration as favoritism and they continually
complained about it.
Dronacharya
decided that it was time to prove Arjun's uniqueness to the rest of the
students and remove their misunderstanding. He organized a 'concentration test'
for his students. He ordered them to gather on the ground near the ashram.
There on the tree he had placed a wooden bird with a prominently painted eye.
He then addressed all the students, “Young princes, today I want you to show me
your skill in archery. On that tree is a wooden bird with a painted eye. All
you need to do is to strike the eye of that wooden bird.
All the Pandav and Kaurav princes held
their bows and aimed their arrows at the target before them. Dronacharya first
called Duryodhan and asked him, “What do you see?” Duryodhan started to list
off everything that met his eyes, “I see the bird, its eye, the tree, branches
of the tree, its moving leaves, fruits on the tree, the sky, the river...”
Dronacharya
told him “You cannot strike the eye of the bird, go back.” Then he called Bheem
and asked him, “What do you see?” Bheem replied, “Gurudev, I see the bird, its
eye, the tree, its fruits etc..” Dronacharya told him to go back. Then he
called Yudhisthir, “What do You see, Yudhisthir?” He said, “Gurudev, I see the
bird and its eye!” Dronacharya sent him back.
The same
pattern was followed for every students but Dronacharya was not satisfied with
the any of their answers.
Finally,
he turned to Arjun and asked, “What do you see?” “I can see only the eye of the
bird,” replied Arjun without breaking his eye contact with his target.
“Can't
you see the trees and the sky or even the branches?” Dronacharya asked.
“No
Gurudev, all I can see is the eye of the bird and nothing else,” he said,
holding his bow steady and maintaining his unwavering gaze.
Dronacharya
said, “Now hit the target!” Arjun shot the arrow and hit the mark.
Dronacharya
turned to the other princes and said, “Did you understand the point of this
test? When you aim at a target, you must concentrate all your attention on it.
Intense absorption of your physical and mental faculties on the task you
perform is the key to success. When I asked you all to aim at the eye of the
bird, the rest of you were seeing other things as well, like tree, its fruits
and leaves, and people around, because you were not concentrating singularly on
your target. Only Arjun was totally focused. Now you know why I am so fond of
Arjun.” Dronacharya's test silenced the Kauravas and all understood that Arjun
was indeed the best student.
Moral:
1.
Concentration is an important quality for us to inculcate. Whether it is study,
sports or art.
2. To
achieve the goal which is given by our Guru to attain God and His divine love,
we unfailingly have to single-mindedly concentrate on God. There are many other
distractions in the world which will try to tempt us or disturb our focus from
God, but just like Arjun, we need to concentrate on God only and nothing else!!
