Arjuna’s concentration

Once upon a time there was a king called Dhritrashtra. He had a brother called Panduraja. Dhritrashtrar’s sons were called Kauravas and Pandu’s sons were called Pandavas. All these princes were the students of Guru Dronacharya. He used to teach them, along with other studies, archery. Arjuna was the third prince among the Pandavas. The Pandavas were five brothers and the Kauravas one hundred.

Among all the princes, Arjuna was the smartest and was always outstanding in his studies and particularly, in archery. Because of the interest and talent that he showed in the art of archery, he became the favourite of his Master, Dronacharya. Arjuna was a very hardworking student. He was sincere in his studies. Arjuna’s distinction made the Kaurava brothers jealous of him. But, this same distinction made him the favourite of his Master. Because Arjuna was the favourite of Drona, Duryodhana and others started envying him. They complained that the Master was partial and was showing favouritism towards Arjuna.

This complaint, however, reached Drona. He wanted to clear the mind of the young prices of this false complaint and prove to them that it was not Drona’s partiality, but Arjuna’s self-earned favour of the Master.

One day, Drona called the students and said, “See children, I am going to have a test of your talents in archery. You must short the sparrow on that branch.”

The students were very happy and readily answered, “Yes, Master.”

Then, Drona called one by one beginning with Duryodhana. Drona asked, “Duryodhana, you have to short that sparrow on that tree. Do you see it?”

Duryodhana replied, ”Yes, Master, I can see it.”

Then, the Master asked, “What else do you see?”

Duryodhana replied, “Master, I see the vast blue sky, big tree, thickly grown leaves, yourself, my brothers, Dharmaraja and others.”

Then, Drona said, “You can go”. Likewise, he called the other students. All others replied more or less in the same manner.

Then, Drona asked Arjuna, “Arjuna, do you see the sparrow on the top of the branch of that big tree?”

Arjuna replied, “Yes, Master.”

“What else do you see?” questioned Drona.

“None else, Master,” Arjuna replied.

Drona again questioned, ”Don’t you see the sky, the branches, the leaves, etc.”?

“No Master, I see nothing except the sparrow,” Arjuna replied in all humbleness. Drona was immensely pleased and said, ‘You can go, son’,  Now, by this test, we can understand what Drona wanted to impress upon his pupils. Even though Drona called this a test in archery, in fact it was a test in concentration. Drona wanted to teach the lesson that concentration on the work one does is most important. No distraction of any kind should be there for any student. Lack of concentration results in failure in each and every walk of life.

Narration: Ms. Sai Sruthi S.V.
[Sri Sathya Sai Balvikas Alumna]

Questions:

1. Why was Arjuna most liked by his Master Dronacharya?
2. Was the test conducted in archery or concentration? Prove it in your own words.