In the Mahabharta, Ekalavya was born a Nishada, a confederation of jungle tribes in Ancient India. He wanted to become an archer. Drona was “Guru” (teacher) of Pandavas and Kauravas. Ekalavya approached to Drona and requested to accept him as his student. Drona was quite impressed by young Ekalavya’s sincere interest and keen desire to learn, and more so, to master the art. Consequently, Drona started inquiring about Ekalavya’s background and family and learned that Eklavya was born into a Nishada family. Drona rejected Eklavya saying not eligible for this education of archery as he did not belong to Kshatriya.
Eklavya was deeply hurt by Drona’s refusal. Disappointed but still firm on his ambition to learn archery, Eklavya left the palace. He was determined to master archery, and went into the forest. He began a disciplined program of self-study over many years.He made a statue of Drona. He accepted the statue of Drona as his guru and practiced in front of the statue every single day. His belief that the statue would teach him kept Ekalavya going with his immense practice of archery. Eventually, Ekalavya became an archer of exceptional prowess, greater than Drona's best pupil, Arjuna.
One day while Ekalavya was practicing, he heard a dog barking. Before the dog can shut up or get out of the way, Ekalavya fired seven arrows in rapid succession to fill the dog's mouth without injuring it. The Pandavas came upon the dog, and wondered who could have accomplished such a feat. Searching the forest, they found a dark skinned young man, clad in all black with long hair and strong muscles. He introduces himself as Ekalavya, a pupil of Drona. Drona then asked his right thumb for his “Guru Daskhina” (teaching fee). Without any hesitation Ekalavya presented his right thumb to Drona. Drona did these things to keep his promise to make Arjuna the best archer at that time, and it was not possible for Arjuna to surpass Ekalavya in his fit condition. Drona was criticized by many scholars for his horrendous deed with Ekalavya. Once Drona had stated that education was for everyone and the doors of education on anyone could not be closed. He contradicted himself. Ultimately, however, the Mahabharata did not settle these moral ambiguities, and leaves the tale open to speculation and discussion.
Despite the loss of his right thumb, he started practice with his left hand and four fingers of his right hand. He fought more laudable battle with his left hand as well. Ekalavya has been lauded by many scholars as an epitome of achievement, who achieved great heights of accomplishment through his own self-initiative, to which the nobles of the Kuru house could only aspire through formal tutelage.
It does not matter, how many rejection you get in your life, what is your family background, what is your education background. Have belief on your instinct, have confidence on your power and capacity, and have undaunted set goal in your life. No matter what… you can surpass anyone with your disciplined self-study, diligent effort, conviction and determination. It does not matter whence you are coming and where you are standing, but it does matter where you want to go. Bhagwat Gita chapter 9 verse 32 divined the same “O son of Partha, those who take shelter in Me, though they be of lower birth--women, vaisyas [merchants], as well as sudras [workers]--can approach the supreme destination”. Aim high. In sooth, there is no other road to genius than through voluntary self-effort.
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