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’. Earlier he had told his disciples about both Divyastras and
Brahmastras. It was time to begin imparting the lessons to the deserving few. He
was thus addressing his most favourite disciple Arjun and his son Aswathama,
whom he felt worthy:
‘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 focused
mind can impart them with life force. These weapons mobilize elemental forces from
the Nature which make them so powerful and devastating.’
