What can we all learn from the pastime of Ekalavya in Mahabharata ???

[krsna 3]

The pastime of Ekalavya

 

 

One the most perplexing pastimes in Mahabharata is related to Ekalavya. Why should a seemingly noble and brave prince be penalized by a noble and self-realized teacher? As in other pastimes in the Mahabharata, there is much more here than the superficial interactions of the personalities, and ultimately there is a very valuable lesson for all of us to learn in this pastime.

 

 

Ekalavya the Nishada prince:

 

Ekalavya was the son Hiranyadhanus, the king of Nishadas. The Nishadas were jungle tribes that lived in the fringe of cities and were generally considered to be outcastes. The Srimad Bhagavatam explains how in ancient times there was a cruel king named Venu who had forbidden any form of worship other than to himself.

 

Much aggrieved by this, the powerful Brahmans had then killed him by the powers of their Vedic chants. Then by churning the lower part of his body they created a man described as short, dark, fierce and submissive. On the orders of the Brahmans this man began to live in the forests and from him descended the race of the Nishadas.

 

Ekalavya was very ambitious to become a famous warrior and in order to fulfill this ambition he approached the most qualified teacher of his time, Dronacarya. When Dronacarya had become the teacher of the princes of the Kuru dynasty, his fame spread far and wide with that of his pupils. Kings from all over the country send their young princes to get training from the famous Drona and Drona would graciously accept them as his students.

 

However Drona refused to accept Ekalavya as a student explaining that he only accepted Ksatriya princes as his students. A much disappointed Ekalavya returned but undaunted, he made an idol of Drona and began to practice very rigorously. He would also observe Drona instructing his disciples and would later practice the same moves. So fixed was he in his practice that soon he became extremely skillful in the use of bow and arrow.

 

Ekalavya encounters the Pandavas:

 

Once the Pandavas went into the jungle to practice their skills in hunting. They were accompanied by some dogs for the purpose of flushing out their quarry. One of the dogs happened to stumble upon Ekalavya practicing his archery. Alarmed at the unusual sight of the short, dark person, the dog began to bark furiously. Ekalavya was very much disturbed by the barking and expertly shot several arrows into the mouth of the dog.

 

When the whimpering dog ran back to the Pandavas, they were amazed to see the skill with which the arrows had been shot into the mouth of the dog without hurting it. Curious to see the archer, they traced the path of the dog and finally came upon Ekalavya. When Arjuna inquired about his identity, Ekalavya introduced himself as a Nishada prince and a disciple of Guru Dronacarya.

 

Drona had once promised Arjuna that he would make him the foremost archer in the entire world. However, Arjuna considering the skills of Ekalavya to be superior to his own inquired from Drona how could he have given him the promise when in fact he was training Ekalavya to be an even better archer.

 

Drona confronts Ekalavya:

 

A mystified Drona visited Ekalavya and was greeted with great respect by the young Nishada. Drona then inquired that despite the fact he had refused to accept Ekalavya as his student, why did he claim to be his student. Ekalavya then showed Drona the idol he made and explained how in his heart he had accepted Drona as his teacher and how he would observe him teaching his students and then practice before Drona in the form of an idol.

 

At this Drona demanded his guru-dakshina or the traditional payment given by the student to his teacher as a token of gratitude. In dakshina, Drona asked for the right thumb of Ekalavya. Well knowing that without his right thumb his prowess as an archer would be greatly diminished, Ekalavya without hesitation sliced off his right thumb and presented it to Drona.

 

Lessons from this pastime:

 

There are many vital lessons to be learned from this pastime. Superficially it seems that Drona, in order to preserve the supremacy of his favorite disciple Arjuna acted out of selfish interest. However that is only the partial truth. The beauty of Mahabharata is that its characters are not entirely black or white, but very much like its readers, they are shades of gray. While Drona did to some extend have his self interest in mind, as later revealed by him there was much more to it.

 

Qualifications to learn:

 

In Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says that it is much better for one to perform his own duties, even imperfectly than to try and perform the duties of another person. A bona-fide teacher instructs a pupil according to the capability of the pupil to handle the knowledge. Drona did not consider Ekalavya, a Nishada, qualified to handle the immense power he was imparting to his other students, and therefore he had refused to instruct him. In fact Drona did not reveal all the secrets of warfare to even his own son Ashvattama.

 

During the course of Mahabharata when ashvatthama witnessed the extraordinary powers of Arjuna he inquired from his father as to why Drona had not given him the knowledge of all these mystic weapons, despite the fact that he was his favorite son. Drona replied that he did not consider Ashvatthama to have sufficient control over his senses to judiciously use these powerful weapons.

However Ekalavya forcibly stole this knowledge from Drona and thus he was punished by Drona.

 

Approaching a spiritual master:

 

All scriptures enjoin that the only way to learn is by approaching a spiritual master, inquiring submissively from him and rendering service to him. When Drona refused to accept Ekalavya as a disciple at the time this potential relationship ceased to exist. However Ekalavya persisted unilaterally. Disciple means subjecting oneself to the discipline of the Guru. However Ekalavya did not do this, he actually used Drona solely for the purpose of enhancing his own reputation as a warrior. Drona thus considered Ekalavya’s behavior to be improper. Ekalavya was later killed by Lord Krishna in a battle (the details of this battle are not given).

 

Instructions by Lord Krishna:

 

In the Drona-prava, on the fourteenth day of the war of Mahabharata, Karna kills Ghatotkacha, the fearsome rakshasa son of Bhima. While the Pandavas are filled with lamentation, every one is surprised to see Lord Krishna smiling in great happiness. A much aggrieved Arjuna inquires the cause of Lord Krishna’s jubilation, the Lord replies, “O son of Kunti, if Jarasandha, Shishupala and Ekalavya, the Nishada prince, were not killed by Me, they would have become unbearably powerful and aligned themselves with Duryodhana in order to fight with you. Therefore I empowered Bhima to kill Jarasandha and also revealed to him the secret of killing the Magdha king by bifurcating him.

 

From within his heart I inspired Drona to ask for the thumb of Ekalavya and I later killed Ekalavya in battle. Thereafter I arranged for the death of Shishupala by encouraging him to commit more and more offenses against Me. Similarly I arranged for the death of Ghatotkacha to utlizie the infallible dart of ! Karna and also because many times in the past I have known Ghatotkacha to have disrupted Vedic sacrifices. It is my eternal duty to destroy anyone who disrupts the path of virtue.”

 

From these instruction we can ascertain that Drona had acted justly, in the interest of religiosity and virtue to punish Ekalavya. The pastime reveals the proper basis of relationship between a guru and his disciple, and the importance of executing one’s own duty according to one’s propensity and capability.

 

Ekalavaya violated both these tenets and for this he was rightly punished. Perhaps it was because of his unswerving, though misguided faith in Dronacarya that Ekalavya received the benediction of being killed by none other that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna Himself.

 

Submitted by Narendra

 

[Guest guest]

No sorry,

Firstly dronacharya did instruct his son ashwathhama in more things than he deserved to, like the brahmastra. Whom later ashwathama misused, on the sons of pandava, and was punished severely by the Lord.

Secondly, Eakalavya didn't steal the knowledge of Drona without his wish. That would be impossible. Knowledge is not a commodity to be stolen.Well may be material means of knowledge like say a book may be stolen, and with intelligence learnt. But in this case it is not possible.

Like a devotee stealing Bhakti from a Guru without obtaining his Grace would be impossible.

when Ekalavya approached Drona, he said he won't teach and asked him to practice by himself if he wishes.

Ekalavya did that, and made an idol of Drona, and took him as an inspiration. So if anything, Ekalvya learnt it on his own.

Even Drona was surprised that somebody could learn so much merely by inspiration.

So actually Drona had NO right to ask any gurudakshina out of Ekalavya as he was NOT his Guru and didn't teach him anything.

Drona did cheat Ekalavya on a selfish purpose. It is unfair to blame Ekalavya for practicing archery after obtaining permission from Drona.Also, archery is the duty and livelyhood of Nishadas, who are hunters by profession.So even in accordance with Sri Krishna's message, he was

practicing something that comes naturally to him. Infact that was partly the reason why he was so good at it.

 

Further, what right does Drona have to promise anybody that he will be the best archer in the world as he were well Krishna Himself?. what control does he exert over so many other capabe archers of the world who are not his disciples?

Would any bonafide guru promise his disciple that he will be the best devotee on the earth?

I don't think so.

[Guest guest]

Further, Drona also rejected Karna on grounds of his common birth. On what grounds, may I know?

 

Coz in Gita, the lord said caste is determined by karma not by janma. Hence, wasn't he discriminating against karna or ekalavya who by birth may have been anything but by karma would qualify as kshatriya?

 

So, swadharma in Gita I understood to be dharma instinctive to a person by His nature which determines his profession or caste , not a dharma decided by birth in a particular caste. Usually both may be same, coz a person's conditions of birth do influence the karma he may choose, and his aptitudes but not here in this case.

 

Is it right to decide somebody being unfit or fit based on their birth. Like, I don't think any Guru would reject initiation of a pupil based on caste?

If karna be wicked(say some people), then so was duryodhana too wicked and much more so. Why was he taught?

[akshar 1]

Sacrifice

[Guest guest]

It's easy, Drona promised Arjuna that he would be the greatest warrior on earth. When he saw Ekalavaya's skill he knew he was better than Arjuna, so in order to keep his promise he had Ekalavaya cut off his thumb thus rendering his skills useless.

 

Also Krishna advised Arjuna to kill Karna in that situation, because he knew Karna had a good chance of winning as he was superior in skill to Arjuna. When it comes to war, there is nothing like fair play. It is not a game with rules, it's dirty.

 

The mesage is that with practice and dedication one can hone his skills to perfection, ragardless of caste and background. This was at a time in the vedic civilisation when when ksatriyas were shocked that an outcaste could be come as good or even superior to them. That is why Bhishma said that birth wasn't important any more to determine your true varna. Ekalavaya was born into a family of tribal outcastes, but he was really a ksatriya inside.