Hindu Itihāsa Series: Your worst enemy
Prologue
The kingdom of Aryavarta is under the leadership of Dhritarāshtra. The princes, both pāndavas and kuru had recently come under the tutelage of the great Dronāchārya. It did not take long for the pāndavas to get closer to the teacher as they encompassed all that was considered a behaviour suited for good students. But even among them, Arjuna was who Drona favoured more. This open favouritism is something the kuru princes did not approve of. To Duryodhana, it was like a thorn in his foot on the way to one day ruling this great kingdom. Chakravarti is what they called the kingdom, one whose rule spreads in all eight directions.
The story begins
Guru Drona openly favored the pāndavas and especially Arjuna, his most precious student. A fire burnt in the hearts of Duryodhana, Dushāshana and Dushālā their only sister. Duryodhana kept wondering to himself about the reason for this favoritism. What was it!! What were these Pandavas doing that Drona saw them as Devatās and the Kuru princes as spoilt brats.
Arjuna on the other hand was like a sponge when it came to learning. His attention wouldn’t waver when the Guru spoke. This was his dedication to his studies. He would wake up early, finish his puja post a bath and start the day of practice with the Guru in the gurukul. While the kuru princes were usually lazy and always cracking jokes amongst themselves, Arjuna made sure to not let any moment go to waste.
Drona however had a trick up his sleeve. Having finished the day’s activities, the princes were served supper at night in the dining area of the gurukul. Drona made sure that there always was light whenever the princes ate. He had specifically instructed the helpers in the gurukul, “Whatever happens! DO NOT! And I say DO NOT feed the students in dark”.
The reasons for this weird request came as a surprise for the helpers as they did not understand why he asked them to make sure that the princes did not eat in the dark. It was only Drona who truly knew why.
Months passed by like a speeding train until one evening when the princes had finished their practice. Arjuna was easily the best warrior amongst the lot. Though archery was his forte, he was equally skilled with other weapons as well as knowledge of society. He was well on his way to master both shāstra and shastra. However, Arjuna off late had reached a plateau.
He couldn’t quite understand how he could improve himself further. Guru Drona would ask him to look inside for the answer but that had not helped. It was all that he could think of. Even now while all other princes ate and talked, he was lost in thought. He made a morsel of his food in his hand and as he slowly moved his hand towards the mouth, a strong wind extinguished the lamp.
But to his surprise, Arjuna still was able to put food in his mouth. It was now that he realized what eluded him this far. His hands having repeated the actions so much, knew exactly where his mouth was. Be it a brightly lit room or absolute darkness.
This is what he was missing. He started practicing in the dark, alienating his skill from every other help. It is said that at the peak of his powers, Arjuna did not need to see the target to shoot. His control over his senses was such that even the slightest sound would make him turn and point to the exact location of the source.
Lesson
Like Arjuna, we too are bounded by restrictions that are put on us. Sometimes by our own selves and sometimes by the circumstances we find ourselves in.
In the midst of all this, it’s easy to lose confidence if one isn’t well prepared. This is where Arjuna understood the value of practice, the value refining one’s abilities to such an extent that there is no parallel. As the famous quote goes,
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
I hope this piece gives you some insight about the the value of practice as well as putting yourself in a difficult position in order to excel. It’s an effort to preserve teachings from our scriptures and I will be writing about more tales from our itihãsa and dharmashãstras in the future.
— Deepak Choudhary
Magha Krishna Ekadashi, Vikram Samvat 2081
