Ekalavya...

Ekalavya was the son of a hunter, he would secretly watch the royal princes of the Pandava and Kuru families learn archery under their able teacher Dronacharya. It was a rule in ancient times that the teacher to the royal family cannot teach any other. So Ekalavya would hide and learn the tricks of trade, he would then run back to his forest and practice archery in front of a statue of Dronacharya that he made. He would treat it with utter devotion, like it was his master and bring flowers and fruits to offer.





 Ekalavya had become so adept with the bow and arrow that even by listening to the wolf attacking the sheep from far , he would shoot right into the eye of the wolf thereby saving the sheep. This was so rare that news spread far and wide about this skill of Ekalavya's. Dronacharya and Arjun the crown prince came to know of this and so one fine day went to confront Ekalavya and on reaching the forest what do they see, they are greeted by this hunter boy and he is practising in front of Dronacharya's statue.

In anger Arjuna reminds Dronacharya that he had promised to make Arjuna the best archer in the world and now, here is this hunter boy of all people who is such a skillful archer, this was a breech of royal promise.

Dronacharya is in a fix and as he realises the greatness of Ekalavya he came up with a solution. He asks Ekalvya to give his thumb as Gurudakshina* ,for having learnt Archery. Without blinking his eye Ekalavya does so...and you know what Ekalvya lives on as an example of a Perfect student, no one remembers Dronacharya as a great teacher though:(

When I first heard this story there was nothing but symapthy for Ekalavya, it was only after Guruji shared this in a satsang that two things struck me
firstly that a Guru cannot harm a disciple even if he wanted to, cause the disciple is always taken care and nothing can touch him...as his faith is his protection :)
2ndly the act of surrender (even if its just a lifeless statue) empowers one to move forward from strength to strength, and in such a way that nothing can stop you...
so for all my dear friends who have CONNECTED to their GURU- dont ever let it go,
for those who are yet to experience it, praying that you do so ASAP,
and those who think they dont need it, you have no idea what your missing...

Love
Shilpa
Jai Gurudev!
*in  the eastern world there is a very sacred tradition that a student offers a gift to the teacher for the knowledge imparted
Image source: google images