In the previous episode, we had witnessed an important analysis of how a “Guru-Sishya” relationship be, and what are the various roles that a Guru and a Sishya should play, so that effective transfer of knowledge happens from the Guru to the Sishya. We had witnessed simultaneously as to how Arjuna was a devoted and a proactive student and how he ensured that he outsmarted his Guru subtly by learning lessons that were only meant for Ashwatthaama. On the other hand, we’ve also witnessed where Guru Dhronaachaarya went wrong – He showed partiality towards the other students and kept his own son Ashwatthaama on a higher plane, so that Ashwatthaama obtained an undue advantage of learning some secretive lessons that others did not get to learn. However, Arjuna’s shrewdness and proactiveness limited this from happening too much.
Moving on thus, we’re going to witness how Guru Dhronaachaarya is going to react to Arjuna’s extreme proactiveness. As we’ve witnessed earlier, Arjuna was once trying his bow and arrow techniques in the dark and he was constantly practicing it without a break. As the others were enjoying their meal in the dark, Arjuna had other plans. His mind was working like a computer and he immediately took the bow and arrow to start practicing his skills in the pitch darkness. As Guru Dhronaachaarya was hearing some unusual sounds at a certain distance in the dark, he did not understand who was making that sound. As he comes out of his hut and sees, it was none other than little Arjuna who was trying his bow and arrow in the wee hours of the night! Upon seeing this, Guru Dhronaachaarya was extremely impressed and amazed at Arjuna’s keen interest to excel!
Guru Dhronaachaarya thinks within himself thus, “Oh wow! This was something that I did not want to teach Arjuna – Using the bow and arrow in the dark! However, without even me teaching it, he has somehow mastered the art by himself! Wow! I never expected this from a student, and this is the first time I’m finding a student who is extremely proactive in learning! Without a doubt, this little Arjuna is my best student! Till now it was me who had committed a mistake of avoiding Arjuna for Ashwatthaama! But I realize that I’ve made a mistake! Rather than training Ashwatthaama specially, I should give this special training to this little Arjuna! He is going to be a great warrior in the future without a doubt, and my contribution to shaping up this little child is extremely important!”
Thinking thus, Guru Dhronaachaarya runs up to the little child, hugs him and appreciates him for his proactiveness and keen interest to learn. Moreover, Guru Dhronaachaarya observed another important uniqueness in little Arjuna – Normally when people use the bow and arrow, it is a usual habit that they use one hand constantly to hold the bow and the other hand constantly to use the arrow. For instance, if we look at how Bhagawan Rama employed the bow and arrow, He normally holds the bow firmly in his right hand, and uses His left hand for the arrows. However, in Arjuna’s case, it was different – Arjuna could easily hold the heavy bow in either of the hands and employ it! For instance, Arjuna could hold the bow in the right hand and employ the arrows with the left hand. At the same time, he was having the equal power to hold the bow in his left hand and employ the arrows from the right hand! This is an extremely rare talent to find!
In English, we call this “Ambidextrous capability”. For instance, we might also observe today that some people are very good at holding the pen in their right hand and write, whereas some are good with their left hand in writing. However, it is very difficult to find someone who is good at using both the hands equally for writing. This is what we refer to as the “Ambidextrous capability”. In Sanskrit, we call this “Savyasaachi”. Arjuna is also nick-named as “Savyasaachi” because he was able to use the bow and arrow with equal power in both the hands. It is said that in the Kurukshetra battle, Karna had lost the war to Arjuna purely because he was not able to judge which hand Arjuna employed to hold the bow and from which hand the arrows came! The change in hands happen at a lightning speed with Arjuna that nobody could even understand or comprehend in which direction the arrow is going to come and hit them!
Upon seeing this ability at such a young tender age, Guru Dhronaachaarya was extremely impressed and he thus benchmarked Arjuna as his greatest student ever! To get such a certificate from the great Guru Dhronaachaarya isn’t an easy thing to achieve, isn’t it? So for today, let us congratulate little Arjuna and celebrate his achievement and with this, let us wait for the next episode to find out how Guru Dhronaachaarya fine-tuned Arjuna’s skills and how he used Arjuna to seek his revenge on King Drupada! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 