Ekalaiva

[Guest guest]

Dear Sai brothers and sisters Has swami said anything

about why Dhronacharya asked Ekalaiva to give his

thumb as gurudhakshina or can anyone explain why

Sairam

Saradha

[Guest guest]

Sairam,Pranams at the Divine Lotus feet of Our Beloved Bhagwan,

Dear sister in sai, Sarada,

each Yuga has had its own Dharma and peope/ society/kingdom had to

follow them.

It was like possessing a weapon without proper licence.

Ekalavya had cracked the intricate techniques in the field of bow &

arrow and developed enough skill.

Dronacharya concluded that Ekalavya was not an eligible candidate to

possess this , as, it would be very dangerous for such high powerful

weapon to be safe in the hands of an innocent person like Ekalavya . He

could be exploited by evil forces like the Kauravas who were active at

that time.

Therefore Dronacharya deactivated his capability by asking for his

right thumb.

In modern parlance ,( i may be corrected if wrong,)

its like North Korea having Nuclear weapons. They can be accosted by

terrorist nations or evil forces , evenif NK may not have such intentions.

 

I do not have any refence to Bhagwan's message on this topic.

Sairam

Crishnan

[Guest guest]

In a discourse Bhagavan Baba speaks about this history to show us the dakshina

that a disciple must to be ready to give to his guru ,

EKALAVYA

Introduction A student's distinction lies in his devout pursuit of knowledge,

and not merely in his heritage. This manifests in a splendid manner in

Ekalavya's life. He worshipped an idol of his 'Guru', learnt his lessons in

archery in the Master's absence, and mastered the art. When his master desired

the thumb of Ekalavya's right hand as a fee, which might cripple him, Ekalavya

smilingly sacrificed it. A boy who had grown up in the forest thus developed

into a great personality - a fine example for others to emulate.

Author - Nagamani S.Rao

[Guest guest]

Sairam,

 

The following is taken from sandeha Nivarini by Swami. read at

http://laluni.helloyou.ws/askbaba/sandehanivarini/sandeha01.html

 

Bhaktha: If the disciple acts according to the promise made to the Guru,

irrespective of what the Guru may turn out to be, and honours him as before,

can he realise the goal?

Swami: Certainly, what doubt is there? Don't you know the story of Ekalavya?

Though Dronacharya did not accept him as his disciple, he installed an image

and took it as Dronacharya himself; revering as such, he learnt archery and

achieved mastery of all arts. Finally, when the Guru, blinded by injustice,

asked for his right thumb as his fees, he offered if gladly. Did Ekalavya

take to heart the injury done by the Guru?

 

 

sairam

 

Venkat

[Guest guest]

Dear crishnantv,

yr logic is interesting. I heard similar logic from my

fahter when I asked him ( I was about 12 yr old at

that time) if justice was delivered to Ekalavya.

There is a problem in applying Dharma of one yuga in

another yuga. Not only that, even place makes it

difficult to apply justice. However, as we are all

rational people, we can not accept any thing, unless

we reason it out.

 

Swamy gave us a guidleine, certain things have to

accepted with faith. As our understanding level

increases, we can apply dharm based on past,present

and future karma(actions). Till then, we have to

observe and apply the dharmaic principles to our best

of abilities. It is all the more diffcult for those

who are in power to decide the right thing. Any wrong

step will bring their down "Rajyanthe narkam

dhruvam"(at the end of , king will go to hell)

Each king used to have one minister and one sage, like

King Dasaratha had Sumnatra and Vashista to advise.

 

I do not know if Drona delivered justice. But Ekalvya

folowed Dahrma by giving Guru Dakshina.

 

sairam,

Rajasekhar- Bahrain

[Guest guest]

Dear Brother in sai, Rajasekar,

sairam

my pranams to you.

kindly let me tell you something more.

I hope you would agree , the rules, customs , faith differs from place

to place. it could even be diametrically opposite.

i was told , in some parts of India it is auspicious to carry

broomstick when you get into a new house, where as in south its not so.

i read Cats are auspicious for Omanis where as for us its not a good omen.

the rules of marriage , style of business contract, punishment for a

crime - vary from country to country.

How exactly we define Dharma ? First of all , are we capable?

 

Why did Lord Krishna say "Sarva Dharmaan Parityajya.... maam ekam

Saranam Vraja.."

 

"Sacrifice all Dharmas all rules and beliefs and faith" - He thundered

.... and continued..." and surrender to me"

- a one pointed surrender... maam ekam.

 

Lord Krishna didnot say Sarva Karmaan Parityajya-- meaning renounce

your duties

my dear Rajasekar,

fish cannot gauge the sky and grass can grasp only grass- that is my state.

whatever little i knew i just shared .

sairam

with Lots of Love to my Sai family and Pranams to our Beloved Bhagwan

 

Crishnan

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram Dear Brother and Sister,

At Lotus Feet of our Beloved Bhagawan,

 

Ekalavya accept Drona as his Master, and just because Drona wants Arjuna to be

the most best archer in the world, he asked Ekalavya to sacrifice his right

hand thumb, is it fair ?

Drona could have teach and bless Arjuna to be the best acher, isn't it should be the way?

 

After a certain initiation or prayer, Dakshina will be given to a Master, this

is to neutralise the energy, and Dakshina must be able to absorb the negative

energy and not human flesh or blood.

 

" Human being has been thought control of thyself, thought emotions, thought

matters which lead to action, nothing is beyond humans achivement if one could

control over thyself " Ekalavya mastered archery by his own action and

dicipline.

 

Krishna thought Arjuna how to control all of his sences by controlling the

chariot with 5 horces, so that he (Arjuna) will be able to start control of

thyself.

Does he able to control?

 

Does Drona have the ability to control of thyself ?

 

Sai RamSathya

[Guest guest]

in my humble point of view,drona has in his shoulders the duty of teach ,and

prepear to arjuna for the great battle bettwen the good and bad ,the darkness

and the light,

EDUCATION OF KAURAVAS & PANDAVAS

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Bhishma appointed Kripacharya to teach the princes. Kripacharya did the job for

a few years and his disciples became proficient in the arts of warfare and also

learnt other arts suitable for Kshatriya warriors. A need was felt for a more

capable teacher to impart advanced training in use of weapons to the princes.

Bhishma was eager to find such an able teacher. Once while the princes were

playing with the ball, the ball fell into a well. While they gathered around

the well trying to think of a way to retrieve the ball, there came a brahmin.

He was standing there listening to the boys. He told the boys that by using

skills or archery it was possible to get back the ball. The boys were

surprised. The Brahmin shot several arrows one after another. The first arrow

pierced the ball and other made a chain. With the help of the arrows the

brahmin got back the ball from the well and gave it back to the princes. They

were amazed at his

skill in archery and wanted to know his name. The brahmin was Drona, who was the

son of great rishi Bharadwaja and a disciple of Parashurama. Bhishma received

him with great honour and requested him to be guru of the princes to teach them

the use of weapons. Drona and Bhishma had been the Pupil of the same Guru i.e.

Parashurama. Thus Drona became the teacher of the Kauravas and Pandavas.DRONA

AND DRUPADA:Drona, son of a great rishi, Bharadwaja, while studying in the

ashram, was a friend of Drupada, the prince of Panchalas. Their friendship was

great and Drupada had promised to help Drona when he became the king of

Panchalas. Years passed, Drona married Kripa the daughter of Sage Gautama. A

son, Aswatthama was born to him. Faced with extreme poverty, Drona sought help

of Drupada, now the king of Panchalas. Drupada insulted Drona and sent him out

of his court. It was while returning from the court of

Drupada. Drona saw the Kaurava and Pandava princess-playing ball. Drona was the

greatest archer of his age. He had learnt the art from Parashurama himself, He

wanted revenge. When Bhishma appointed him as teacher of Kuru princes, Drona

was happy. He spent year teaching use of weapons to the princes. Among them

Arjuna showed extra ordinary devotion and interest to learn the art of archery

and in no time became the favourite pupil of Acharya Drona. Drona promised

Arjuna, that he would be the greatest archer on earth.

 

 

EKALAVYA: THE ARCHER

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While thus engaged in teaching the Kuru princes. Drona was approached by a youth

named Ekalavya. The youth begged Acharya to accept him as a pupil. As the new

comer belonged to “Nishada” caste, a lowborn, Drona refused to accept him as

his pupil. Disappointed, the young man went back to the forest. He made an idol

of Drona, and taking the idol as his teacher he started practicing archery. His

absolute devotion to the art and ceaseless practice endowed him with super

human skill in the art of archery.Once Drona went into forest with his pupil.

While they were busy hunting, a dog came back to them. The mouth of the dog was

sealed with arrows and he was unable to bark. This left them astounded. Even

Drona was surprised at such a rare skill in archery. Following the dog

trail,they reached where Ekalavya was busy practicing his art. Arjuna was very

disappointed as his dream of becoming the greatest archer in the

world was shattered. He could not be a match to this practitioner of archery.

Drona asked the youth who he was and from whom had he learnt such an art.

Surprised the youth touched the feet of Drona and was in deep joy to see his

guru. He showed the idol to Drona and told him about his request to Drona for

accepting him as a pupil. On Drona’s refusal he practiced in front of the idol

of Drona the archery regarding the idol as his teacher. Drona also realised

that his promise to make Arjuna as the greatest archer in the world never be

fulfilled as long Ekalavya was there. Drona than played a trick and he decided

that he wanted his Guru-Dakshina from the youth (ekalavya). It is said that no

one is free of his debt to his Guru unless he paid guru-dakshina at the end of

his training. The young ekalavya was only too pleased to pay gurudakshina. He

asked Drona to ask for it. Drona very smartly asked for his right-hand thumb.

Ekalavya without any hesitation gladly cut off his right

thumb and offered it to Drona. This would make ekalavya lose his skill in

archery. After that Drona and his pupil returned to their camps.

http://www.urday.com/dronacharya.htm

GURU DAKSHINA OF DRONA

Drona had not forgotten his insult at the court of Drupada. He was looking out

for an opportunity to settle his score. Such an opportunity presented itself to

him. The Kuru princes had completed their education, and they were required to

pay guru-dakshina (gift to the guru after one finishes the education). Drona

called his pupils together and reminded them that it was the time to pay

Guru-Dakshina. The princes were too eager to please the guru. They asked what

Drona wanted. Drona told, "I want you to conquer Drupada, the king of

Panchala." He wanted Drupada to be taken in alive and brought to him. The

princes marched towards Panchala with their armies. Drupada was surprised, as

there was no cause for enmity with the Kaurvas or with the Pandavas. He also

gathered his army and fought with them. First, Kauravas, under Duryodhana tried

to vanquish and capture Drupada but they failed. In fact they

suffered a defeat at the hands of Drupada.Then Pandavas joined the battle.

Arjuna, Bhima, Nakul and Sahdeva fought very bravely and made a very strange

type of battle strategy so that no soldiers were killed. They were successful

in capturing Drupada They brought him before their Guru Drona. Drona reminded

Drupada about the insults heaped upon him by Drupada. Drupada felt sorry and

apologized. Drona said: " Since friendship is possible only between the equals,

according to your perverse thinking, I divide your kingdom in two equal halves.

One half goes to you and I shall keep one. Since now we are equals, let’s be

friends." Drona, then allowed Drupada to go. Drona anger was quenched,but there

was fire burning in Drupada’s heart.He was very impressed by the bravery of

Arjuna and was very angry with Drona, as he returned to his capital Kampilya.

He had vowed to undertake a severe penance. He wanted a son who could kill

Drona and a daughter worthy of becoming a

wife of Arjuna.

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