34. The test of archery

Once Drona decided to test all his disciples. In the absence of the princes he called a sculptor and got a nice blue winged bird made and placed it on a treetop. Then he called all the princes and asked them to be ready with their bows and arrows to behead that bird. A they lined up beneath the tree, the Master first called Yudhisthir and asked him to aim at the target. As Yudhisthir readied his bow looking at the decoy bird, Drona asked, ‘Son, can you see the bird and me and your brothers around?’ Yudhisthir replied: ‘Yes, master. I can very well see the bird and you together with other brothers assembled here.’ Drona was greatly unhappy hearing the answer. Asking Yudhisthir to just disappear he then called Duryodhan, repeated his question and got the same answer. Drona tried with a number of other advanced students but their answers were no different.

At last Drona asked Arjun to come forward and take an aim at the bird. As Arjun looked at the target holding his bows firmly in hand, Drona asked him:’ Son, what do you see?’ To this Arjun replied, “Master, I can see nothing other than the bird’. Drona put the next question: ‘Are you able to see the full body of the bird?’ ‘No Sir, I can see only its head and nothing else’- replied the disciple. Satisfied with the answer the Master ordered: ‘Behead it’. No sooner he said, an arrow issued out of Arjun’s bow like a flash of lightening and the next moment the beheaded bird fell to the ground.  Dronacharya was delighted and reckoned now he would be able to settle the old score with King Drupad. Incidentally, as Drona was training the princes, he could never forget the insult and humiliation at the hands of his friend Drupad. The fire of revenge often consumed him denying any peace. He had a plan to take revenge and reckoned that the time for action has nearly arrived.

33. The Secret of Brahmastra - Part 4

The disciples were listening with rapt attention. Their eyes told that they wanted to listen more and more. Meanwhile, Ashwathama had a query:

‘Sire, is there any counter to these weapons?’

‘Few, very few indeed. A Brhama Astra can be countered by another Brahma Astra or  Vashnav Astra or Pashupat Astra and likewise. All these three categories are equally potent. They are the powers of the Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva respectively - each of them forming part of the all important trinity in charge of 'creation', 'maintenance' and 'destruction' of the universe.

‘But sons, the consequences of these Astras countering each other are simply devastating. Since these are equally powerful, their continued friction can annihilate the whole ‘creation’.’

‘But can’t the warriors who used them take these back?’ Arjun enquired.

‘Yes, it is possible. But that requires the person to have even higher orders of control over mind – so high that only very very few can achieve such a state.

‘And it may sound strange to you – once you have attained such a state as to acquire these dangerous celestial weapons, you have almost turned into a ‘Yogi’ who is a master of his mind and senses and one who has surpassed the normal base human natures like greed, jealousy, vengefulness etc. In fact one attaining that stage loses much of the motivation for which he wants to acquire these weapons as a normal human being. It almost turns out that such a person is motivated to use these weapons only to serve some higher purpose, not narrow personal ends. Such are the glory of them!’

Dronacharya stopped and looked at Arjun and Ashwathama to know their mind. Arjun said he would like to begin the lessons right then. Ashwathama also decided to follow suit.

Dronacharya was happy. He asked both to turn up for the first lesson the very next day.