29. The secret of the Divyastras - the celestial weapons

It was a sultry summer noon, Guru Dronacharya was seen sitting under a banyan tree with two of his most favourite disciples – Arjun and Aswathama. He was giving them special lessons. His other disciples were sent to fetch water from the nearby river and they had not returned till then. The princes had a very hard training schedule right from the dawn. They were therefore enjoying the break and seemed to be in no hurry to return. But these two would not like to loose even seconds – especially Arjun was keen to make use of every bit of the waking hours in taking new lessons from his Guru. At present, Dronacharya was taking a special session on ‘divyastra’. He was addressing both– his most favourite disciple Arjun and his son Aswathama:

‘Divyastras are not for every one. Didn’t I try hard enough to teach these to many of you, but how many have been able to grasp? Few… very few.. ‘ and he continued heaving a sigh,

‘The fact is that divyastras are very powerful weapons that can cause huge destruction of men and material. To handle that power, mere skill does not suffice. One has to develop psychic power. One has to have exemplary self restraint and a meditative mind. Look, such weapons are driven by mantras. Thus only warriors of elevated and focussed mind can impart them with life force. These weapons mobilise elemental forces from the Nature which make them so powerful and devastating.’

Two worthy disciples were listening with rapt attention. They looked at their Guru with reverence. Their eyes however sought to ask him if he finds them worthy for this purpose.