Talks Excerpts 474 and 475 combined. Swamiji shares a heart-breaking story of self-sacrifice.
From Mother Radha’s recordings of Swamiji.
If you are restless for God even the stones can reveal God to you – let alone the gurus.
An example of this is given in the Mahabharata when Ekalavya went to Dronacharya to ask if he would teach him archery. But Dronacharya refused, because he only taught the Kshatriyas and the Brahmins. [Such was the custom of the day]. Ekalavya was neither of these; he was an outcaste, a forester and he used to shoot birds and wild animals.
I feel so sorry for Ekalavya. He is described as being a tall, slender man, dark in colour – Arjuna on the other hand is described as fair and bright. And Arjuna, being a Kshatriya, could be taught by the guru.
Thus, Ekalavya went back to the south [of India] and there made a simple statue [murti] of Dronacharya. He prayed to it every day and practised archery.
After many years Dronacharya went to the south with his best pupil, Arjuna. He had promised Arjuna in the meantime that he would not teach archery to anybody else, and therefore Arjuna would remain the best archer.
When they came to the south – and there are many versions of this story – they came across a dog barking and suddenly it was shot in the mouth by six arrows at incredible speed. When Arjuna saw this he looked at his guru and asked, ‘But who can do this? I thought I was the best?’ Just then they saw a slender, dark man coming out of the forest.
Ekalavya prostrated to Dronacharya and Dronacharya blessed him. Arjuna looked at his guru suspiciously and thought to himself: ‘It looks as if he’s taught somebody else.’ Dronacharya caught his thought and asked the stranger, ‘Who is your guru?’ Ekalavya said, ‘Maharaj, you are my guru.’ Dronacharya was shocked to hear this, and of course Arjuna’s suspicions were even stronger.
Disciples are jealous, there are no two ways about it. Guru bhais [shishyas/disciples/chelas of the same guru] must watch themselves. Do not let this jealousy appear. The other man must be your guru personified, or your Deity [Ishta Devata] personified. Only then can you keep this jealousy down.
Arjuna looked at his guru. Dronacharya asked Ekalavya, ‘But when did I teach you?’ He replied, ‘Maharaj, do you remember years ago a young boy came to you and asked you to teach him archery?’ ‘Yes’, said Dronacharya, ‘but I refused him.’ ‘Yes, Maharaj, you refused me, but I came back here to the forest. Come and see my statue. Meet my guru.’ When Dronacharya saw the distorted statue, he asked, ‘Who is this a statue of?’ You, Maharaj’, came the reply. It did not look like Dronacharya at all. ‘It’s me?’ he asked. ‘Yes. I prayed to you as my guru, I worshipped you. And that is how I learned archery,’ said Ekalavya.
Dronacharya thought to himself: I have to keep my promise [of exclusivity] to Arjuna. So he said, ‘This means I am your guru and you have to give me guru dakshina.’
Says Swamiji: Here we come to the very beautiful part. I feel like crying when I think about it. I had hoped my guru would live for a little while, so that I could prove to him, by his grace, that I too could be like Ekalavya. But he did not give me the opportunity.
Ekalavya then said, ‘Lord, I have surrendered my body, mind and soul to you. What else can I give you?’ Now the most important instrument in archery is the thumb, so the guru said, ‘I want your thumb.’ Ekalavya said, ‘Is that all, my Lord? Take it.’ He cut it off and gave it to his guru.
Ekalavya prostrated and walked into the forest contented, for he had surrendered his all.
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These recordings or the excerpts from them, were made from the early 1970s onward, by Mother Radha, a close devotee of Swamiji’s and edited for uploading here by our gurubhai and her son, Brother Tim. Please be mindful that what Swamiji was saying may have been specific to an individual or a group of people with him, at the time.