The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Drupada establishing the “Kaampilya Desha” for himself and in the meanwhile, we had also witnessed the important event of Drshtadhyumna taking birth, who is later going to be the one to kill Guru Dhronaachaarya. At the same time, we had also witnessed Amba taking her rebirth as Shikandi according to her pledge that we had seen earlier. This Shikandi is neither a male nor a female completely and is going to be responsible for killing Bhishmaachaarya later on. Readers should be very careful in remembering all these important points because these things would again surface at a much later stage. If we’ve to trace back at that point, it might be difficult. Hence, readers are requested to take notes and mark all these important points and the corresponding episodes in which we’re mentioning them. 

Moving on further thus, as the “Gurukula” sessions are over, the talk of appointing the “Yuvaraja” for Hastinaupra surfaces. All the people in Hastinapura express their wish that Yudishtra should be nominated for the post. Bhishmachaarya and Guru Dhronaachaarya were also extremely happy with the people’s wish and thus conclude that Yudishtra should be the “Yuvaraja” of the kingdom. As Yudishtra was an embodiment of being firm in his decision making, being compassionate and kind to everyone around, being an epitome of “Dharma” himself, he was an obvious choice for all the people. Thus, with the blessings of all the seniors in the kingdom, King Dhirdiraashtra wholeheartedly coronates Yudishtra as the “Yuvaraja” of the kingdom. Even at this point in time, readers should remember that King Dhirdiraashtra did not have any bad intentions about Paandu’s sons. The grand ceremony takes place and the coronation happens with a lot of grandeur. A great number of sages assembled at Hastinapura to participate in the event. With the due blessings of all the sages, Yudishtra takes over as the “Yuvaraja” and is about to start ably assisting King Dhirdiraashtra in all the administrative affairs of the kingdom. 

As this was happening, Duryodhana was fuming at the other end. We’ve already witnessed how Duryodhana and the Paandavas were becoming enemies slowly and steadily every passing day. Bheemasena and Duryodhana were direct fighters one on one too! As Yudishtra was being elevated, the jealousy within Duryodhana also increased multifold. He was having so many thoughts running in his mind. He was clearly having an inferiority complex within himself that if Yudishtra and the Paandava brothers grow in power, they would outsmart him and the Kauravas to snatch all the wealth and property. If this happens, he would become a mere popper and a slave to the Paandavas. This was clearly running in Duryodhana’s mind. 

With this thought in mind growing further and further every passing day, Duryodhana decided to confront his father one day! He directly storms into King Dhirdiraashtra’s cabinet and confronts his father thus, “Oh father! You’ve coronated Yudishtra as the “Yuvaraja” isn’t it? Have you forgotten that you’ve got a son by name Duryodhana who is also equally eligible for the post?” Initially King Dhirdiraashtra did not understand why Duryodhana was fuming in this way. He had no bad intentions against the Paandavas and he treated all the children as his own. King Dhirdiraashtra replies back thus, “Oh Duryodhana! Yes, I know that I have a son by name Duryodhana! But Yudishtra is also my son. As a king, I saw all the aspects of “Dharma” adorned in Yudishtra, and hence he was an automatic choice to be the successor of the kingdom after me. Moreover, all the people including Guru Dhronaachaarya and Bhishmaachaarya had opted for Yudishtra. If such is the case, how can I go beyond their words to deny them? Isn’t it the duty of the king to pay heed to the words of his subjects and act accordingly? Moreover, what is wrong with Yudishtra? He has all the qualities to become an able administrator isn’t it?” 

As King Dhirdiraashtra explains his stance thus, Duryodhana starts fuming even further! He realizes that such confrontations don’t work! He has to use the emotional card now. Unless and until he targets the father-son relationship and play with that emotion, things aren’t going to change. Thinking this way, Duryodhana replies thus to King Dhirdiraashtra: “Oh father! You’re only looking at things as a king, and not as an able father! Have you even thought about your son’s future? If Yudishtra adorns the throne tomorrow, he would become extremely powerful and push us all into slavery. Would you like to see your son to be a slave to your brother’s son? What kind of a father are you? Don’t you have even an iota of compassion towards your son? Did you even think once about this “poor” Duryodhana when you took the decision to coronate Yudishtra? Who is he? Where did he come from? Afterall he was roaming in the forest with his brothers and mother and by hook or crook, they entered inside Hastinapura! You want to give importance to them over your own sons?” 

Saying thus, Duryodhana started shedding tears! That was it! These words from Duryodhana were extremely powerful and made King Dhirdiraashtra think! Now what is King Dhirdiraashtra going to do? Let us wait till the next episode and find out as we continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the birth of Drshtadhyumna and Draupati from the “Yaaga” that King Drupada offered out of vengeance towards Guru Dhronaachaarya. He was desperately looking out for ways to kill Guru Dhronaachaarya for the insult that he had obtained after facing defeat in the hands of Arjuna and Co. Even though Guru Dhronaachaarya was diplomatic in giving back half of his kingdom, King Drupada did not expect that he would face such a situation ever in the hands of Guru Dhronaachaarya. King Drupada’s ego was such that he did not want to receive anything from a “poor” friend. This became an insult in his mind and he was fuming within himself for many months together. After a lot of thinking, King Drupada decided that war is not going to be the affair through which he could win over Guru Dhronaachaarya. He should do something else cleverly and with a trick in it. It is at this time, he conducted a huge spiritual offering and from that, two children were born. One was Drshtadhyumna and the other was Draupati. 

We had also witnessed yesterday that Draupati had another name called “Krishnaa”. This should not be confused with Bhagawan Krishna. The phrase “Krishna” means “Black” color. For the masculine gender, the name would be “Krishnaha”, and for the feminine gender it would be “Krishnaa”. Readers should not confuse between both. What we’re seeing here in the case of Draupati is “Krishnaa”. She was named so because she was extremely black in color during her birth, as she came out of the “Homa-Kunda” (Sacrificial fire offering). This is where Sanskrit as a language is extremely significant. If we change one alphabet here or there, the entire meaning of the word will change. This becomes a problem in the modern day when people go behind something called “Numerology”, wherein people say that if we’ve to have a certain “luck” factor, we should have a certain number of alphabets in our names. According to that, they would add or eliminate an alphabet from our name. This entire concept might be true for names in English or any other language, but not for native languages of Sanskrit or Tamil. Basically, numerology is a foreign concept and not Indian. We should understand this first. Now we would see that there is a fundamental error that all of us make – How can a foreign concept be applicable to Indian names? If we keep English names like Peter or John or whatever, then perhaps numerology might be applicable. But if we have names like Rama, Krishna, Shiva, etc. how on earth would numerology be applicable? We’ve seen how meanings change with the change of one alphabet in Sanskrit. We’ve to be very careful not to fall into such traps. 

Moving on further, both these children were born to King Drupada. Draupati had another name also, called as “Yaagnyaseni” because, she was born out of the “Yaaga” that King Drupada had performed. Readers might remember that we spoke about a person called “Shikandi” who was neither a male nor a female. We might remember that Amba wanted to marry the king of “Shaalva Desha”, but he refused to marry her because Bhishmaachaarya was in the picture. However, Bhishmaachaarya was not ready accept Amba when she came back to him. Both of them made Amba go back and forth and finally she got angry and avenged to give Bhishmaachaarya a befitting lesson, isn’t it? We should not forget any instance that we had discussed earlier. Else, we would not be able to understand the sequence later on. This Shikandi is the person who is none other than Amba in the re-birth after Amba jumped into the fire and killed herself. She had the garland that was given by Bhagawan Muruga, which she had hung in front of the kingdom of King Drupada. Earlier, King Drupada refused to fight Bhishmaachaaraya because he knew of Bhishmaachaarya’s might.

Now, this same Amba takes re-birth from the same Homa-Kunda from which Drshtadhyumna and Draupati were born. However, King Drupada was scared of Shikandi for some reason and he chased him away to the forest later on. This Shikandi is the person who is going to kill Bhishmaachaarya. Similarly, it is Drshtadhyumna who is going to kill Guru Dhronaachaarya and Draupati is the person who is going to marry all the five Paandava brothers, and is going to be an instrument for all these people to kill their targets! We shall witness how all these are going to conspire in the coming episodes. 

Thus, as per the agreement, Guru Dhronaachaarya would retain part of the kingdom that is south of river Ganges, and King Drupada would rule the part of the kingdom that is north of river Ganges. After a few years, King Drupada establishes a new kingdom for himself on the banks of river Ganges called “Kaampilya Desha”. So for today, let us understand until this point and let us wait till the next episode to take this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Guru Dhronaachaarya’s students trying to take on King Drupada. Readers should remember here that it was Guru Dhronaachaarya’s vengeance against King Drupada that made him train his students according to the strengths and weaknesses of King Drupada. As the lessons got over for the students, it was time for their first war – An opportunity to exhibit their skills and learning in a real-time war situation. It was the Kauravas’ turn first, and Duryodhana led his army along with Karna and the others to invade King Drupada. However, King Drupada proved to be too strong to all these people! The entire army came back with a lot of bruises and drubbings. As the Kauravas tasted defeat, it was now time for the Paandavas to have a go at King Drupada. Yudishtra was left to stay with Guru Dhronaachaarya and the rest of the four went in pursuit of King Drupada. However, the result was different this time – Arjuna made King Drupada run for his money as he wasn’t able to withstand the accuracy of Arjuna’s sharp and focused arrows! As King Drupada accepted defeat, Bheemasena started destroying the rest of King Drupada’s army and also the civilians in the city. However, Arjuna promptly stopped Bheemasena from doing any further damage. Subsequently, the four Paandava brothers arrested King Drupada and brought him to Guru Dhronaachaarya. 

As King Drupada and Guru Dhronaachaarya see each other, Guru Dhronaachaarya has a sense of relief and extreme satisfaction that his vengeance has been accomplished! On the other hand, King Drupada did not know what to talk about and how to react, as Guru Dhronaachaarya had the upper hand and he was a captive. Guru Dhronaachaarya talks to King Drupada thus, “Oh Drupada! Even today I respect you as my friend. I do not have any grudges against you. It was you who had promised something to me and failed to deliver it, and you paid the dividend for it. Now that your entire kingdom is mine, I shall give you half of the kingdom to rule. That is because of my respect towards you as a good friend. As a king, I shall be able to make friendship with you only if you are also a king. Else I’ll not be able to do so isn’t it? This is the reason why I’m donating half the kingdom to you!” As Guru Dhronaachaarya says thus, King Drupada did not have another option but to accept Guru Dhronaachaarya’s deal. With this, King Drupada was released and subsequently he went back to his kingdom. 

As King Drupada reaches his place back, he is fuming with anger and frustration! Even though Guru Dhronaachaarya accepted him as a friend and gave him half the kingdom, King Drupada couldn’t accept it. He took it as a huge insult from Guru Dhronaachaarya. He had sleepless nights after that, thinking of ways to counter Guru Dhronaachaarya. He eventually learnt from his war experience that it was nearly impossible to defeat Guru Dhronaachaarya and his students on the battlefield. There should be some other way in which King Drupada could have the upper hand. Finally after a lot of thought processes, King Drupada decides to conduct a “Yaaga” or a Spiritual Offering. This “Yaaga” was conducted by King Drupada with the special intention to counter Guru Dhronaachaarya. As King Drupada conducted this huge “Yaaga”, he came to be known as “Yagnyasena”. 

This was a huge “Yaaga” and all the Brahmana Rishis from all over the place were called for it. As the “Yaaga” was proceeding, a male baby came out of the “Yaaga”, and this baby is none other than “Drshtadhyumna”. Subsequently, a female baby also came out of the “Yaaga” and this baby is none other than “Krishnaa” or “Draupati”. Thus we can see here that Drshtadhyumna and Draupati share a brother-sister relationship and were born out of a Yaaga. They did not have a natural human birth. They were blessed by a “Devata” and with this, they took birth in this world. Both of them were born for a definitive purpose. It is this same Drshtadhyumna who is going to kill Guru Dhronaachaarya during the Kurukshetra battle and we shall eventually see how this happened. 

Thus, we should understand here that King Drupada performed a “Yaaga” to seek vengeance against Guru Dhronaachaarya for the insult that he had given. From the Yaaga, two children were born – Dhrshtadhyumna and Krishnaa (Draupati). So for today, let us understand till this point and let us wait till the next episode to continue this further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed a huge war of words breaking out between Karna and Guru Dhronaachaarya as the former stormed into the “Ranga-Bhoomi” to showcase his talents. He was initially given the permission to have a one-on-one with Arjuna with the bow and arrow, and Karna was too good to be handled by Arjuna! With his exceptional skill set, Karna literally made Arjuna run for his money! This shocked the entire gathering out there, and till that point, the world did not realize that there was another person who is either as good as Arjuna or even better than him in the art of handling the bow and arrow. As the others were feeling happy and were starting to appreciate Karna for his exceptional talent, Guru Dhronaachaarya had other ideas! He did not like anyone getting better than Arjuna in this art form. He was looking for ways and means to downplay Karna, like he did in the case of Ekalavya previously. However, as the entire “Ranga-Bhoomi” was up in applause, Karna wanted to showcase his talent in the “Dvanda-Yuddha” with Arjuna. Karna was growing in power all of a sudden, and this time, Guru Dhronaachaarya stopped him then and there! He did not want Karna to proceed any further! 

This created a huge war of words and Karna defended himself that he had every right to be part of the “Ranga-Bhoomi” event and participate in it. However, Guru Dhronaachaarya maintained that Karna was a charioteer’s son and he is not eligible to be here. Finally, Duryodhana saw this as an opportunity to quickly pull Karna by his side, and immediately appointed Karna as the king of “Anga Desha”. Now Duryodhana replied to Guru Dhronaachaarya on behalf of Karna that he has every right to be part of the “Ranga-Bhoomi” and he should go ahead with the “Dvanda-Yuddha” with Arjuna! Irked by this, Guru Dhronaachaarya got up immediately and walked away! This insulted Karna even more! Thus, from this day, Karna carried this insult in his heart and every time he came across Guru Dhronaachaarya, he was fuming with anger! 

Thus, we can see here how opportunistic Duryodhana was. He was looking out for someone who can excel Arjuna in the bow and arrow, and correctly spotted this Karna who was ticking all the boxes! He thus wanted to use Karna to defeat Arjuna and prove a point. It is only with this intention did Duryodhana gave Karna a shoulder to lean upon. However, Karna mistook Duryodhana’s gesture as a great friendship and went behind Duryodhana without understanding the fact that he was being used! This is where Karna went wrong! Thus, the learning for all of us here is that, if someone is trying to glorify us for no reason, we should first think as to why is this person doing it. We should analyze and find out keenly whether we’re being used by this person for something else. Karna failed to do this analysis and thus fell into Duryodhana’s trap right royally! In due course, we’re going to witness how Duryodhana madde Karna dance to his tunes, and made him a dummy! 

Moving on further thus, as the “Ranga-Bhoomi” event was over, Guru Dhronaachaarya finally called up all his students to express his wish. This is when he talks about his earlier revenge with King Drupada. He explains to the students as to how he was once insulted by King Drupada for asking a section of his kingdom as promised by him. Guru Dhronaachaarya wanted someone from the students’ group to take up the challenge, wage a war against King Drupada, win over him, tie him and bring him to Guru Dhronaachaarya’s feet! Accordingly, Guru Dhronaachaarya sent all of them together – The Paandavas and Kauravas. At that time, all were together only and there were no differences between both the camps. 

Thus, the Paandavas and Kauravas make their way together to King Drupada’s city entrance. At this point in time, Duryodhana and Karna felt that they both should go first, along with Ducchaasana and the others and the Paandavas should wait outside. Arjuna too agreed to Duryodhana’s words and the Paandavas did not come to the warfield. Duryodhana and Karna called King Drupada to come out and fight with them! King Drupada too got the signal and realized that these people were none other than Guru Dhronaachaarya’s disciples. He got angry and thus a huge war broke out between King Drupada and the Kaurava army! King Drupada was not an easy person to be defeated by any means. He was an expert in the art of warfare and he made Karna and Duryodhana run for their money! Youngsters as they were, Duryodhana and Karna at that time did not have the maturity, smartness and the precision to counter King Drupada! It was thus a battle of youthfulness vs. experience! King Drupada was not an easy nut to crack and thus, he chased away all these Kauravas, who ran back! 

As Duryodhana and Co. came back with bruises all over their bodies, the Paandavas decided that they should have a go at King Drupada. They made a plan to keep Yudishtra with Guru Dhronaachaarya and the rest of the four people set out to fight King Drupada. However, this time the enemy camp was super strong with Bheemasena and Arjuna in the forefront! King Drupada underestimated these four people to be the same like Duryodhana and Co. who he had defeated earlier. A huge war broke out now, and King Drupada was made to run for his money! Arjuna ensured that he took on King Drupada in such a way that he wouldn’t be able to retaliate to any of Arjuna’s sharp and precise arrows! Thus, King Drupada at one stage gave it up and accepted defeat! As King Drupada was defeated, Bheemasena now started to destroy the entire kingdom of Drupada Desha. He saw this as a chance to show his strength and immense raw muscle power. 

However, Arjuna stopped Bheemasena from doing this, because the instruction from the Guru was only to defeat King Drupada and bring him as a captive. Nothing other than this should be done! Bheemasena too agreed and the four Paandava brothers bring King Drupada along with them as a prisoner to Guru Dhronaachaarya! So for today, let us understand up to this point and let us witness in the next episode how Guru Dhronaachaarya reacted to this entire heist event! Stay tuned! 🙂 

We’re at a crucial juncture wherein Karna is announcing his arrival at the “Big stage” for the first time since his birth. We have witnessed that Karna was born to Kunthi Devi, but was brought up by a charioteer family. He too enrolled himself with Guru Dhronaachaarya for the formal education along with the likes of Duryodhana, Arjuna, Bheemasena, etc. As the lessons got over, the “Ranga-Bhoomi” event was held at Hastinapura, where each and every child who had learnt under Guru Dhronaachaarya had to exhibit his talent and learning to the people of the kingdom, including the king himself. As this was happening, Arjuna was emerging as a clear outlier, as usual. However, when the gathering was about to announce this to the public, Karna stormed inside and dared Arjuna to take him down! A huge fight erupted between both of them with the bow and arrow and Karna was slowly having an edge over Arjuna! This enthralled the audience and the “high-command” sitting there, except Guru Dhronaachaarya, who was once again fearing whether Karna would outsmart Arjuna! It is to be noted that Guru Dhronaachaarya was having the same fear when Ekalavya challenged Arjuna, but he dealt with Ekalavya easily because he was just a mere hunter’s son. However, his tricks weren’t going to work with Karna to downplay him. Karna was emerging victorious and made the audience take note of his enormous power and precision with the bow and arrow. 

Next, when Karna wanted to show his talent in the “Dvandha-Yuddha” with Arjuna, Guru Dhronaachaarya objected to it. He has had enough with Karna now! He doesn’t want Arjuna to be on the losing side and hence, tried to downplay Karna by saying that this is not the place for him to showcase his talents, as this is a place for princes only. However, unlike Ekalavya, Karna reacted firmly to Guru Dhronaachaarya’s argument and a heated debate burst out between the two of them in public! Karna demanded an answer for the injustice that was being meted out to him, just for the sheer reason of him being a charioteer’s son. Guru Dhronaachaarya on the other hand was unrelenting in his argument that Karna did not have the moral obligation to come into the “Ranga-Bhoomi”. 

As this was going on, Duryodhana was sitting in the corner and observing the entire proceeding. He was first of all mighty impressed with Karna’s prowess with the bow and arrow. Upon looking at Karna’s innate precision in warfare, Duryodhana decided that there is someone here today, who can really give Arjuna a run for his money! Till date, Guru Dhronaachaarya was proclaiming to the entire lot that there’s never going to be anybody who could be better than Arjuna isn’t it? This was burning the fire of jealousy in Duryodhana all these days! However, upon seeing Karna who was a potential challenger to Arjuna’s capability, Duryodhana saw this as an opportunity to “use” Karna to bring Arjuna down! 

With this intention, he immediately stepped in between the two of them who were arguing. Duryodhana talks thus, “Oh Guru! So your argument is that, Karna couldn’t take part in the “Ranga-Bhoomi” on par with all of us just because he is not a prince or a king, isn’t it? I shall change that today – From now onwards, Karna would be the king of “Anga-Desha”, which is not having a king till date because of various reasons. From today, Karna is on par with all of us and I’m announcing to all of them gathered here that he is also a prince and a king like all of us! Hence, he automatically obtains the right to exhibit his talent in warfare amidst this “Ranga Bhoomi”! Now Karna, you can exhibit and showcase to the world what you’ve got in you!” 

This argument and announcement made by Duryodhana all of a sudden amidst the “Ranga-Bhoomi” did not go well with Guru Dhronaachaarya! He immediately raises an objection thus, “Oh Duryodhana! How can you make such abstract announcements just like that? Who gave you the power to do so? What qualification does this Karna have to rule a kingdom? What experience does he have to look into the administrative affairs of a kingdom? Neither you nor this entire gathering knows Karna’s capabilities! Just because Karna is good in the bow and arrow technique, how can he become a king of a state? This is not justifiable in any means!” As Guru Dhronaachaarya makes a sweeping statement thus, Duryodhana was in no mood to relent from his stance! He proceeded with coronating Karna as the king of the Anga-Desha then and there! This again, did not go well with Guru Dhronaachaarya and he stages a “walk-out” from the “Ranga-Bhoomi” because he felt that he was insulted by Duryodhana and the high-command seated there. 

As this happens, Karna too felt extremely insulted! This insult was burning in Karna’s mind from this moment onwards and this continued till the end. Thus, Karna was looking at every opportunity to teach Guru Dhronaachaarya a befitting lesson for what he had done to him! On the other hand, Duroydhana decided that all his focus is now going to be on bringing up Karna’s popularity amidst the entire gatheringe, so that he could use Karna to challenge Arjuna in the warfield! This is how people planned against each other in the entire Mahabharata! This is just the beginning, and we’re going to see many more such things as we move in further! So for today, let us understand how Karna emerged from nowhere to become the king of Anga-Desha, all thanks to Duryodhana! Since Duryodhana was the only one who came to his rescue at a time wherein he was insulted left, right and center, Karna’s friendship with Duryodhana blossomed! We shall witness in the next episode, the continuation of this interesting and important discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the importance of “focus” and “concentration” in whatever task we do. This was illustrated by Guru Dhronaachaarya to the children by using the assessment technique of hitting a bird on top of a tree trunk. While everyone failed in the assessment, there was again only one person who succeeded, and that person was none other than Arjuna himself! He was the only one who was able to aim at the bird’s eye accurately and hit it exactly how he should do it. With this, Guru Dhronaachaarya was mighty impressed with Arjuna and explained to the others that if there is one person who was an epitome of concentration, it is Arjuna. By benchmarking Arjuna thus, Guru Dhronaachaarya taught the children as to how they should also develop this attitude of complete focus while performing a given task. This is a great lesson not only for the kids out there, but also for all of us too in both our professional and personal spaces. 

Moving on thus, as the days closed in, it was time for that one final test that all of them have to give. Now that the lessons from Guru Dhronaachaarya are over, the children have to showcase their ability and learning in front of the king and the other important dignitaries of the Hastinapura kingdom. Guru Dhronaachaarya meticulously prepared all the kids for the so-called “D-day” and all of them were ready to go for the kill! As the day arrived, a “Ranga-Bhoomi” was prepared amidst a huge open space. Normally, a “Ranga-Bhoomi” is a place wherein the newly-educated children would be able to showcase their talents in front of the king. There was a huge gathering there, including Bhishmaachaarya, Guru Dhronaachaarya, Sage Kripachaarya, etc. adorning the place. King Dhirdiraashtra also made his way and sat amidst the elite gathering. 

Now the “Ranga-Bhoomi” event commences. Each one of them comes forward and exhibits their talent and learning. Duryodhana came forward and exhibited his strength and valor. Subsequently Bheemasena came forward to exhibit his strength and expertise. Eventually as everyone come by, Arjuna also comes and exhibits his talent. At one stage, the entire gathering started coming to a conclusion that there was none in the group who was as good as Arjuna! He was a clear outlier than the rest of the crowd. At a time when the entire gathering was about to declare Arjuna as the best amongst the lot, there was one person who stormed inside the “Ranga-Bhoomi”! As this person came in, the entire place was shining bright as if a thousand suns had risen up the horizon! This person was none other than Karna! 

As we all know, Karna was the son of Soorya Bhagawan, who was actually born to Kunthi Devi before her marriage, but she had left him to be brought up by a charioteer family somewhere outside the city of Hastinapura. This same Karna had grown up and was also part of the Gurukula of Guru Dhronaachaarya. Now he too wanted to be part of the Ranga-Bhoomi activities, and requested permission! As Bhishmachaarya and the others gave him the same, Karna got into a direct fight with Arjuna with the bow and arrow. To everyone’s utter amazement, Karna was slowly emerging powerful! The fight was extremely intense between the two, and people were wondering who this Karna was and where was he from! Nobody knew that Karna was Kunthi Devi’s first son, and all they knew was he was a charioteer’s son (Raadheya). As time went by, Arjuna was slowly losing ground and Karna emerged powerful! This made everybody stand up in awe and appreciate the little boy for his exceptional talent with the bow and arrow. As Karna was the first person in the world to challenge Arjuna’s prowess with the bow and arrow, he wanted to get into a “Dvandha-Yuddha” with Arjuna. Normally “Dvandha-Yuddha” means physical fighting with each other. As Karna requested permission, this time, he was denied! 

As Guru Dhronaachaarya denies permission to Karna, he stands up and explains the rationale behind his decision thus, “Oh Karna! This place is only for princes and not for charioteer sons like you! Whatever talents you’ve shown till now are great! But I wouldn’t allow you to proceed further, as you do not belong to the people here!” As Karna hears thus, he is extremely pained at heart. He replies back angrily thus, “Oh Guru Dhronaachaarya! Till today, I’ve given you all the respect that you deserve! But today, you’ve proved your true colors of “differentiating” your students based on their background and creed. Is this what this Hastinapura kingdom is all about? What kind of a rule is going on here? This “Ranga-Bhoomi” is a testing place for everyone who has learnt lessons from you! Where has it been said that this place is only for princes and not for anybody else? Show me the proof!” 

With this, the argument between Karna and Guru Dhronaachaarya escalated to a different level, however, there was one person who was watching this Karna vs. Arjuna fight very closely! Who was this person and how did he intervene to solve this argument? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Guru Dhronaachaarya committing a massive sin of disabling a student’s talent and capability altogether to satisfy a personal agenda and the ego associated with it. The victim of Guru Dhronaachaarya’ heinous crime was Ekalavya, wherein he had to sacrifice his thumb finger of his right hand to Guru Dhronaachaarya’s greediness and jealousy, which made him largely inefficient while using the bow and arrow. If there’s no thumb finger on the right hand, how does one hold the bow and stabilize it? Even without the thumb finger, Ekalavya tried his best to use the remaining four fingers to employ the bow, but he wasn’t able to match Arjuna’s potency in the art. This is another instance wherein Guru Dhronaachaarya conducted himself in a partial manner. Initially itself we’ve witnessed how Guru Dhronaachaarya tried to give more undue importance to his son Ashwatthaama over Arjuna and the others, but thanks to Arjuna’s smartness and proactiveness, this bid was foiled successfully! However, Ekalavya fell into this trap and had to lose his thumb finger, which brought down his capability for no fault of his! Of course, for all that he had committed, Guru Dhronaachaarya is going to pay a heavy price, and eventually we shall see how he is going to be punished! While he’s being meted out with the punishment, we shall once again come back to this tragic Ekalavya episode and connect the punishment to this poor boy’s pain and misery. 

So for now, let us move on further with what happened next. As the days and months progressed, the lessons were going to come to a close for all the children, and they were at a stage of final graduation. As the children were about to graduate, Guru Dhronaachaarya wanted to test them. He wanted to assess how much of the subject the kids have really grasped. Thus, he sets a small bird on the top of a tree trunk as a target and asks each one of them to come forward. All the kids were standing one after the other – Yudishtra, Duryodhana, Bheemasena, Arjuna, Karna, etc. Guru Dhronaachaarya calls the children one after the other. Duroydhana was the first to be called. He comes up and Guru Dhronaachaarya asks him thus, “Oh Duryodhana! What are you able to see in front of you?” Duryodhana replied enthusiastically thus, “Oh Guru! I’m able to see the beautiful tree and its trunk full of leaves! I’m able to see everything around the tree!” Guru Dhronaachaarya upon hearing this answer from Duryodhana, asks him to leave the spot! He calls out the next person and asks the same question. The answer is the same! Guru Dhronaachaarya asks him to leave too! Subsequently, Yudishtra was called up and was asked the same question. Yudishtra replies thus, “Oh Guru! I’m not able to see anything, but the tree and its trunk!” Guru Dhronaachaarya asks him to leave the spot too! 

Finally, Arjuna was called up and he came to the spot. Guru Dhronaachaarya asked the same question to him, for which Arjuna replied thus, “Oh Guru! I cannot see the tree or trunk! I cannot see anyone who is standing beneath the tree or by the side of it. All I can see is that one bird and its eye!” As Guru Dhronaachaarya heard this reply, he was extremely happy! He replies to Arjuna thus, “Oh Arjuna! Now take your arrow and hit the bird!” With this instruction, Arjuna hit the target perfectly and the bird fell off the tree trunk! Guru Dhronaachaarya was mightily impressed with Arjuna’s precision and concentration! With this, Guru Dhronaachaarya calls all the kids towards him and explains to them thus, “Oh children! Now do you understand what is meant by real concentration and focus? While performing a task, you should only focus on the task and nothing else! Your concentration should always be on the target and should never deviate here and there, just because something nearby is beautiful and attractive! This is how you would achieve perfection and precision in whatever you do!” 

Now this is an important lesson for all of us too – Guru Dhronaachaarya’s words are very important here. In fact, this is the same thing that Bhagawan Krishna is also going to explain later in the Bhagawad Gita to Arjuna too. Bhagawan Krishna says thus, “Oh Arjuna! If you’re desiring some shallow and hollow worldly affairs, all your energy is going to go in vain! Whereas, if you’re focusing on a high-level task (of attaining “Moksha”), your focus should be so perfect that your mind wouldn’t deviate here and there in pursuit of it!” We’ve also witnessed earlier that when Gaandhaari married King Dhirdiraashtra, she closed her eyes with a cloth permanently just because her husband was blind, isn’t it? After that day, she never took that cloth off her eyes – Not even for a single minute! She stood by her stance till her last day of life, isn’t it? Only when she had no other option but to protect Duryodhana from the wrath of Bheemasena during the final stage of the Kurukshetra war, she opened her eyes to give him all her power and energy to make him invincible, isn’t it? 

Thus, we can see here how meticulous focus on the task that we’re doing is extremely important to achieve the desired result. This is exactly what Guru Dhronaachaarya taught all the children with the help of this assessment technique. So for today, let us also understand the significance of Guru Dhronaachaarya’s assessment and let us wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Ekalavya’s arrival into the scene, wherein he challenges Arjuna to be a better person in terms of handling the bow and arrow. Ekalavya was spotted by Arjuna and the other kids as he had stitched seven arrows in a dog’s mouth, without harming it even a bit. This requires enormous precision and expertise and upon investigation, Arjuna came to know of Ekalavya and his dedication towards the Guru! Ekalavya’s Guru was none other than Guru Dhronaachaarya himself, but not directly! When Ekalavya had once approached Guru Dhronaachaarya for education, he had rejected Ekalavya primarily because he was a hunter’s son, and most importantly, since Guru Dhronaachaarya knew of Ekalavya’s potential, he did not want him to challenge Arjuna by any means. Guru Dhronaachaarya had a special corner for Arjuna and if someone tries to excel beyond Arjuna’s capacity, he did not like that and hence, downplayed that person. Ekalavya was a soft target for Guru Dhronaachaarya in this regard. However, as we had witnessed in the previous episode, Ekalavya never got dejected when Guru Dhronaachaarya rejected him. He took it in the positive sense and designed a statue exactly similar to Guru Dhronaachaarya, and with that, Ekalavya learnt all the skills and expertise of the bow and arrow with the help of that statue itself! 

Thus, we can see how much of “Guru-Bhakti” Ekalavya had. Without even seeing the Guru if a student would be able to gain such an enormous amount of expertise, only Ekalavya can do such a thing ever! Thus, Ekalavya is an epitome of “Guru Bhakti” and demonstrates how one should respect the Guru even though he rejects you. Till now we’ve witnessed how Arjuna was exhibiting enormous “Guru-Bhakti”, but Ekalavya was a step more in this! Of course, Arjuna had no problems in exhibiting “Guru-Bhakti” because anyways he was getting the due attention from his Guru for whatever he did. In fact, Arjuna got special attention than anyone else in the group. Hence, it is not new that Arjuna would exhibit “Guru-Bhakti” towards Guru Dhronaachaarya. However, Ekalavya’s case wasn’t this. He was rejected by Guru Dhronaachaarya for a petty reason, if not anything else. If another kid would have been in his position, he would have taken vengeance on Guru Dhronaachaarya and tried to avenge the insult. But Ekalavya wasn’t in that category isn’t it? His mind was determined only to follow Guru Dhronaachaarya’s path and teachings, and even though Guru Dhronaachaarya rejected him, Ekalavya did not take that as an insult. Instead, he took it in a positive way and followed Guru Dhronaachaarya even more! If one has to gain expertise by just looking at the statue of a Guru, we can witness how much dedication and devotion did Ekalavya have towards his Guru. This of course, made Ekalavya a stand-out person when it comes to exhibiting “Guru-Bhakti” and not many people can match this! 

Moving on further, as the kids go and inform Guru Dhronaachaarya about this “new boy” who has extreme expertise in the bow and arrow technique, he too came down to investigate who this boy was. As Guru Dhronaachaarya realized that this boy is none other than Ekalavya, whom he had rejected earlier, he was puzzled! On one hand, his ego was haunting him! How can someone whom he had rejected, come out with flying colors like this? On the other hand, Guru Dhronaachaarya had given a certificate to Arjuna to be the best in bow and arrow techniques! What if this Ekalavya challenges that and proves Guru Dhronaachaarya wrong? Several thoughts were running in his mind! 

After a few minutes of pondering, Guru Dhronaachaarya comes to a conclusion. He decides to act smart here – He asks Ekalavya thus, “Oh Ekalavya! Now that you’ve learnt everything from me, you should give me a “Guru Dakshina” for what you’ve learnt, isn’t it? What are you going to give me?” Upon this, the innocent Ekalavya answered the Guru, “Oh Guru! I’m ready to give whatever you ask for! Please ask me anything!” Guru Dhronaachaarya saw this as a chance to cut down Ekalavya’s growing popularity. He immediately asks Ekalavya thus, “Oh Ekalavya! You’ve to cut down your thumb finger of your right hand and give it to me as your “Guru Dakshina”! Are you ready to do this for me?” Upon hearing this, Ekalavya did not even talk a word back! He immediately took his bow, aimed one arrow on his thumb finger on his right hand and cut it open! As blood was flowing out of his hand like a river, Ekalavya gave his bleeding right thumb as a token of “Guru Dakshina” to Guru Dhronaachaarya! 

Upon receiving it from the little child, everybody around were in tears! The main reason for people being moved to tears is that the world had lost a great person in terms of bow and arrow on that day, thanks to Guru Dhronaachaarya’s arrogance and jealousy! With this, Guru Dhronaachaarya was very happy and relieved that Ekalavya was no more in contention with Arjuna in terms of the bow and arrow! What a shallow mindset this is for a so-called great “Guru”! This is where “Adharma” comes to play yet again! We’re able to witness how a Guru or an Aachaarya should not conduct himself to a student. 

However, this did not deter Ekalavya! He was more than happy to give away his right thumb and with this, he still practiced using the bow and arrow with the remaining four fingers. However, because of the absence of his thumb, he was not able to hold the bow properly in his hands, and thus, he slowly lost his expertise in the art! How sad this could be! So for today, let us understand how Guru Dhronaachaarya put poor Ekalavya into untold misery for no fault of his! His dedication and Guru-Bhakti failed him miserably since he went behind a person who did not deserve his devotion and dedication! We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Arjuna showing his expertise once again by freeing Guru Dhronaachaarya’s leg from the clutches of a crocodile. As the others were panicking around doing nothing, Arjuna and his expertise came to the forefront once again as he took it upon himself to free Guru Dhronaachaarya’s aching leg from the crocodile’s mouth, and at the same time, without harming the crocodile in any way. This heroic act of Arjuna made him very popular amidst all of them and this led to Guru Dhronaachaarya giving him a huge certificate of honor that there is nobody else in this world who is as great as Arjuna in using the bow and arrow! This thrilled the little child as the certificate has come from a great Guru. But one day, when Arjuna saw a dog being stitched with seven arrows in its mouth, but without harming it in any way, he understood that there’s someone else who is equal to or greater than him in terms of employing the bow and arrow! 

As Arjuna investigated who this person was, he came to know that there was another child by name “Ekalavya” who was the son of a famous hunter. Arjuna and the kids went to see who this Ekalavya was. Upon seeing Arjuna, Ekalavya was very happy and introduced himself to him thus, “Oh Arjuna! I’m Ekalavya, son of Hiranya Dhanush. I’m a hunter and I keep hunting animals for my survival!” Arjuna was surprised upon looking at the little boy and asked him thus, “Oh Ekalavya! How is it that you’ve gained so much expertise in handling the bow and arrow? Who is your Guru? I would love to meet him and perhaps learn something better from him also!” Upon Arjuna’s enquiry thus, Ekalavya replied back, “Oh Arjuna! My Guru is none other than Guru Dhronaachaarya – The same Guru as yours!”

Upon hearing this from little Ekalavya, Arjuna was even more surprised! This has a small background story here, which many of us might know already. Ekalavya was extremely interested to learn the art of using the bow and arrow and approached Guru Dhronaachaarya to learn lessons from him. Guru Dhronaachaarya had inspected Ekalavya’s skillset and he knew that if he trains Ekalavya, he would end up being the best student – A step more than Arjuna! Hence, Guru Dhronaachaarya declined Ekalavya’s request! Guru Dhronaachaarya’s intention was that, there should not be any other person in this world who would be better than Arjuna in using the bow and arrow! Again, we’re seeing how Guru Dhronaachaarya had this “partiality” and “bias” attitude. With this, he chased Ekalavya away by saying that he was a mere hunter and that, he doesn’t want to teach hunters amidst the group of princes from the Hastinapura kingdom. 

As Ekalavya heard this, he was disappointed! But he took this as a challenge! Normally, if we get such answers from a senior person, we would just quit our interest completely, isn’t it? We would get demotivated and sit in a corner and cry! However, Ekalavya was miles apart! He took this as a challenge, came back home and set up a statue like Guru Dhronaachaarya at his home! He was extremely determined in his mind that if at all he had bow and arrow lessons, it should be only from Guru Dhronaachaarya and nobody else! With this savage resolution, Ekalavya starts learning the lessons on bow and arrow from the statue of Guru Dhronaachaarya! Eventually, with the level of “Guru Bhakti” and the interest he had in the subject, Ekalavya was able to master the art of bow and arrow with ease, even with the help of a mere statue! It is thus with this expertise, he has challenged Arjuna virtually by hitting the dog’s mouth with seven arrows with great precision! With this, Ekalavya announced to the world that there can always be a better person in handling the bow and arrow other than Arjuna in this world! 

Such is the story of the great Ekalavya! So for today, let us understand and appreciate Ekalavya’s dedication and expertise in the subject of bow and arrow and in the next episode we shall understand some important lessons that Ekalavya teaches all of us! Stay tuned! 🙂  

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Guru Dhronaachaarya getting extremely impressed with Arjuna’s unique skill set and how he strived to develop it every day. Even those lessons that Guru Dhronaachaarya did not teach him, Arjuna made sure that he did not leave that behind. If one has to excel in something, he / she should constantly be on the lookout as to how to sharpen his / her skills in that field, and Arjuna was an epitome to demonstrate this important point. This is a vital lesson for all of us who are striving to excel in whatever we do in life. Happy thus, Guru Dhronaachaarya calls Arjuna and appreciates him for what he is, and accepts him as his best student ever! He was extremely proud and happy that he had a student like Arjuna, and eventually he realized his folly of giving undue importance to his son, by compromising on Arjuna. 

Moving on further thus, one day as Guru Dhronaachaarya was taking his customary bath in the river bank, a huge crocodile came and caught hold of his leg! As this happened all of a sudden, Guru Dhronaachaarya shrieked aloud and called people for help. He was clearly grimacing in pain as the crocodile strengthened its stronghold on Guru Dhronaachaarya’s foot. Of course, he could have easily protected himself and could have come out of the mishap, but he wanted to check how his students react to this unforeseen circumstance. He loudly called out his students for help. In fact, more than an act of saving the Guru, it was a test for the students as to how they react during critical times. All the students came running towards Guru Dhronaachaarya after hearing his fervent cries, and found out that his leg was strangled amidst the crocodile’s huge mouth! 

Unable to understand what to do, the children ran here and there in tension! They did not know how to react to this sudden situation! We too do the same thing, isn’t it? For instance, if someone suddenly calls us up and tells them that they’re going to come to our house for a lunch – What would we do? We would immediately start scrambling as to what dishes to make, where to buy the vegetables and how to plan which dish to make for whom, etc.! Ultimately the guest would come home and still we wouldn’t be ready with the lunch and we would still be scrambling here and there in some sort of a tension, isn’t it? This is exactly how these kids reacted too! They did not know how to reach when their Guru’s foot got entangled into the mouth of a crocodile. 

However, there was one boy who was calm and composed! That boy was none other than Arjuna himself! He clearly knew that it was a test and he was determined to somehow pass it. He quickly pulled his bow and arrow, aimed five arrows on the crocodile’s mouth and let the arrows do the talking. As expected, the arrows did not harm the crocodile in any way, but at the same time, freed Guru Dhronaachaarya’s foot from its mouth! Upon seeing this great level of precision and expertise, Guru Dhronaachaarya once again concluded that Arjuna was the best student ever. He had that precise amount of measurement in his mind and hands as to how to free the foot of his Guru, and at the same time, not to harm a living being or kill it. This is real expertise, isn’t it? Thus, Guru Dhronaachaarya was once again impressed by Arjuna as the other kids looked on with awe! He thus decided in his mind then and there that if someone has to challenge King Drupada on his behalf, it is none other than Arjuna! Even though he was a child, he had all the expertise to tackle any kind of war situation with ease. Thus gradually, Arjuna was getting more and more special attention from Guru Dhronaachaarya on how to employ the bow and arrow with more and more precision and accuracy. Guru Dhronaachaarya gifted him with “Mantras” and “Asthras” and taught him how to use them when the appropriate time comes. Arjuna was also very keen on his part to learn all whatever Guru Dhronaachaarya taught him. He was more than happy that he doesn’t need to learn it all by himself from now on! 

As days passed by, one day as the kids were returning home after a grueling day of exercises, they saw a dog which was coming towards them. The dog’s mouth was stitched with seven arrows and it was grimacing in pain. Upon seeing the dog, the kids were surprised. Arjuna was equally surprised as well! He had obtained a certificate from Guru Dhronaachaarya that he is the best to handle the bow and arrow, but he was surprised to see someone else is also there who is equally or more an expert in handling the bow and arrow! He straightaway went to the dog and checked how the arrows were stitched! They were stitched in exact precision wherein the dog was alive, as well as it can consume food without any problem! This proved that a great expert was at work! 

Now who was this expert? Where did he come from? What was his background? Let us wait till the next episode to witness a detailed accord on this interesting person! Stay tuned! 🙂