Today being Guru Pūrnimā, let me narrate the stories of Arjuna, the Pandava prince who was the delight of his Guru Drōnāchārya.

Guru Drōnāchārya was appointed as teacher to teach the art of warfare to the princes of Hastinapura – the Pandavas and Kauravas. Though he was teaching the Kuru princes, many other boys from many regions near and far flocked to Drōnāchāryā’s Gurukula to learn and master the use of various weapons. Karna was also a student there learning from Drōnācharyā. But amongst the hundreds of students, there was only one favourite student of the Āchārya and that was Arjuna.

Why was it that only Arjuna shaped up to be the best student –  even better than the Āchārya’s own son Ashwatthāma? What did it take of Arjuna to divert the grace of Drōnāchārya towards him and thereby become the world’s best warrior that he never lost any of the battles he fought? Here are those instances that might have made this possible – as narrated in the Mahabharata. The instances highlight the qualities of an ideal student that Arjuna was, that earned him the special status.

Unconditional obedience:

When the Kuru princes assembled for their very first class under Drōnāchāryā, the first question asked by the Guru was this. “There is a special task which is dear to my heart. I want to ask all of you as to who would be willing to do it after you complete your tenure of study under me and become skilled in using weapons?” (The task which was later revealed  after years of training were over was that of defeating King Drupada and bring him to Drōnā to settle a personal score with him).

 The rustling voices came to a stop. Pin-drop silence. Princes looking at each other, some puzzled, some confused, some thoughtful – the question racing in all of their minds except one was “What would be the Guru’s task?” Their answers would depend on the ‘What’.

However, in just about a moment a lone  but firm voice answered “ I will Āchārya! I will do whatever task you ask me to do!” – That was the voice of Arjuna. He had declared his obedience unconditionally. Guru Drōna was so much pleased that he embraced Arjuna and blessed him again and again.

This was the first impression Prince Arjuna made in the Guru’s mind. Guru Drōnā was looking for just that type of person – one with unconditional obedience who would carry out his orders without batting an eyelid. Arjuna was  that person. In this very first instance a very deep foundation was laid for the cherished relationship of the Guru with the Sishya.

Self- motivation:

Guru Drōnāchārya had observed the eagerness of Arjuna to learn whatever he could. He wanted to further test his eagerness to learn and had a plan in his mind.  So he approached the cooks of the palace and told them that they should ensure that the place where Arjuna ate food was always well-lit. Food should be never served to  Arjuna in the dark. The cooks took care and followed the instructions meticulously and the place where Arjuna ate was always well-lit. However, one night while  Arjuna was eating dinner, a strong wind blew and all the lights went off. (In those days the lights were oil lamps).

Arjuna was already eating his food. He continued eating and this was the first time he was eating in the dark. Arjuna suddenly noticed that his act of eating was not interrupted by the absence of light. The hand was automatically taking the food right to his mouth without any hitch and going back to the plate back and forth. Arjuna then realized the power of ‘muscle-memory’. This triggered a new idea in his mind.

He thought, “If the hands could be trained by practice to exactly deliver the food to the mouth without the help of eyesight, would it not be possible to train the ears and hands  to aim and shoot in the dark only by hearing the sound of the object and not seeing it?” Arjuna immediately wanted to test this ‘theory’ of his and put his thought into action that very night. He had accidentally started learning the art of ‘Shabdavedi’ – shooting the target only with the help of sound!

Arjuna was so self-motivated that he did not wait to ask his Guru if such a skill was possible or wait for the skill to be taught. One day Guru Drōna heard the twang of Arjuna’s bow-string  at midnight. He rushed to where Arjuna was. Arjuna told him of the incident which made him explore this skill. The Guru was elated at this attitude. He embraced Arjuna and declared “I shall strive to make you the greatest archer of the world. I say this truly to you!”  This second instance shows that the self-motivation of  this student made his Guru extremely happy and determined to make him the best archer!

Ingenuity and enterprise:

Guru Drōnāchārya was very attached to his son Ashwatthāma (which was, but natural) and wanted him to outshine all others in whatever was being taught. He could not teach him extra lessons separately as it was a Gurukula with children staying there all the time. So he devised a plan. He would give pots to all the children and ask them to go to the river and get water from there before the class started. There was a difference in the pots. While all the pots had very narrow mouths, the pot he gave to his son Ashwatthāma was a wide-mouthed one. Naturally Ashwatthāma would fill the pot in a jiffy and run back to the Āshrama and manage to learn one or two secret doctrines concerning the use of celestial weapons before the other boys came back.

While no other student noticed this, the ever-watchful Arjuna found this out. However, he did not confront the Guru or raise his voice against the ‘discriminatory tactic’ used by Guru Drōnāchārya. He had already been taught the Mantra of the Varuna Astra – the chant which bound the deity of the waters. So from the next day onwards, he took the pot and used the Varuna Mantra filling up the pot in no time. He reached back even before Ashwatthāma.

Drōnāchārya was taken aback as he had never expected this. Arjuna was as humble as ever, no pride that he had been smart enough to use the Varuna Astra, no anger on the Guru for being partial to his son and no ill-feelings towards Ashwatthāma. His thirst was only for knowledge and knowledge alone. Drōnāchārya was once again bowled over by this sense of enterprise for the sake of knowledge exhibited by Arjuna. This instance further strengthened their bond.

Unwavering focus:

Guru Drōnāchārya had a test for all his students. On a high branch on a tree, there was an artificial bird kept as target. Starting with Yudhishtira, the Guru asked all the students to come forward one by one with a bow and arrow in hand.

Addressing Yudhishtira who was the first to take the test he said, “Do not hit the target before answering my questions”.

When Yudhishtira was ready, the Guru said, “Look at the bird on the tree. Your target is the bird’s head.”

“Yes!” said Yudhishtira.

“Do you see the bird?” asked the Guru.

“Of course!” said Yudhishtira.

“What parts of the bird can you see?” asked the Guru.

“I can see the bird’s head, its beak, its feathers, its legs….” Yudhishtira went on.

“What about the tree? What about your brothers? What about me? Can you see all of this?” asked Guru Drōnā.

“Very much!” replied a smiling Yudhishtira. I can see everything you have described.

With a frown of disapproval the Guru told Yudhishtira to stand aside.

The same test was done with all the students including Duryodhana and his brothers and everyone met the same fate as Yudhishtira failing miserably.

The last one was Arjuna. He took up his position with the bow and arrow. The Guru asked the same questions – whether Arjuna could see the tree, the leaves, his brothers, the Guru etc. All the answers were an emphatic ‘NO’

When asked about the parts of the bird Arjuna could see the reply was “I can see only the head of the bird”.

“Shoot” said Guru Drōnāchārya and twang of the bow-string was heard and the next moment the bird’s head dropped with a ‘Plop’.

Guru Drōnāchārya was extremely pleased as he embraced Arjuna and showered his blessings once again.  Arjuna’s unwavering focus had once again won the heart of the Guru!

Through all these instances and more, Arjuna earned the grace of the Guru which is the supreme blessing one can get. It is never earned by subject knowledge alone.

No wonder that Prince Arjuna was the mightiest warrior of his times!

Happy Guru Pūrnimā!!

Note: References from Mahabharata – BORI Critical Edition