Ekalavya's faulty approach ?

June 25, 1999

Guna-mani wrote:

> Another question which pops up here is that Arjuna was the

> disciple of Dronacarya, but his spiritual master that was not

> Drona was it? What kind of guru was Drona? Did he teach more

> than warfare?

As far as I understand from Mahabharata, Drona was the martial

teacher of the Pandavas and the Kurus. He wasn't their spiritual

teacher.

> Arjuna surrendered to Krishna as his disciple,

> but he did not reject Drona did he?

No. He did not have to.

> Does that mean that it is

> possible to have more than one initiating/diksa spiritual

> master?

There is one diksa-guru, ie. the one that formally initiates one

into the disciplic succession, but it is possible to receive

spiritual instructions from many siksa-gurus including one's

diksa guru.

> Or was it a different guru-disciplerelationship?

The Pandavas also had Dhaumya as their guru, when they were in

the forest. But he was more like the brahmana who performed daily

sacrifices on their behalf. So these were all different

gurure/disciple relationsships the Pandavas had with Krishna,

Drona, and Dhaumya.

>The

> question is if this example actually can be used directly to

> prove anything about the way spiritual knowledge is passed on?

> Maybe there is another lesson to be learned from it?

Well, it is said that spiritual knowledge can only be passed on

through a bona-dide disciple of a bona-fide disciplic succession.

So that cannot be changed. But as far as I know Drona wasn't

responsible for the spiritual training of the Pandavas.

Ys, Jahnu das

June 25, 1999