Determination!


Drona taught Kuru princes & many others who came to become his disciples including some of Vrsni princes & Karna


Karna became a great friend of Duryodhana & because he was jealous of Arjun, he taunted him at every opportunity. Arjun always stayed on Drona’s side & because of his great devotion to his guru, excelled in skills, strength of arms & perseverance & became foremost among all pupils. Drona had a special affection for him & was convinced that none would be able to defeat Arjun in battle


Despite his great affection for Arjun, Drona naturally favored his son Asvattāma. When he sent his disciples to bring water, he gave them narrow mouthed vessels so that it would take them long time to fill. But he gave Asvattā a wide mouthed vessel so that he returns first & in the interval so gained, instructed his son in several superior methods of using weapons. One day Arjun came to know about this & from that day he quickly filled his vessel by Varuna weapon & was able to return at the same time as Asvattā to received same teachings


Arjun’s devotion made him very dear to Dronācharya. The guru gave instruction to cook to never give food to Arjun in dark & never disclose to him that he has given this instruction. Then one night as Arjun was eating, a strong wind suddenly extinguished lamp. As he continued eating in dark out of habit, thought occurred to Arjun that he could practice shooting arrows at night in the same way


Next night Drona could hear twanging of Arjun’s bowstring at night. He embraced his dear disciple & exclaimed-who else possesses such determination! Rest assured that I’ll make you unparalleled in use of bow. Drona began to teach Arjun art of fighting on horseback, on back of elephant, on chariot & on ground. He also taught fighting with mace, sword, lance, spear & dart, together with fighting many men at same time


As Dronācharya continued giving lessons, his reputation became widespread & 1000’s of kings & princes flocked to Hastināpur to become his disciples to learn science of arms

 

Determination is what we all strive for. It is the perseverance of our intention in face of external obstacles that tend to dishearten & de-energizes us. Our priority to put our intention above emotion feeds us to be determined. As emotions are flickering, sometimes they are with us & at others against us


When our intentions are based on something higher than our emotions then it is sustained. Our mind & senses induce desires & emotions that often run contrary to our principles, our intelligence & our best interest. Such self-sabotaging emotions need to be curbed. In fact, keeping our emotion subordinate to our intention is the essence of determination


This can easily be done thro’ Yoga(connect) practice. Bhagvad Gita says that amongst all Yogas, Bhakti Yoga(devotional connect) is Supreme. When we connect to Krsna, we can get higher taste, keep our lower emotions at bay & stay fixed in our intention


Thoughts? #gameoflife

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