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710
I am the Soul
And Brothers! Dronacharya, owing to the attachment he had for Arjun, took the help of deceit and asked, “I do not need anything, just give me the thumb of your right hand.”
The tribal youth, with great pleasure and with laughter on his face, cut and placed the thumb of his right hand at the feet of the Guru. There was no anguish in him for even a moment. Brothers! That disciple was Eklavya.
What did he offer? Everything he had! Howsoever expert an archer may be, his entire art depends on the right thumb! If that thumb goes then there is nothing left. Eklavya sacrificed his entire knowledge. Brothers! This is sacrifice! This is disciplehood! The Gurudev was being partial while making such 'a demand, yet Eklavya thought, “Let anything happen on his part, on my part I should give at the Guru's feet what he demands, without any hesitation. That is my dharma!'
This situation is very thought provoking indeed! How far can the respect, honour, devotion and dedication towards the Guru be taken? Only as long as the Guru loves, pampers, calls the disciple his son, or remains favourable to the disciple? Or does the devotion-dedication continue even after being subjected to strict punitive lessons from the Gurudev, in spite of having sacrificed everything? Generally it so happens that as long as the Guru is favourable to the disciple, he is the Guru; otherwise a nobody. Just as it happens in your worldly interaction. If the parents are favourable to the children then they are “my parents'. But when they happen to come in the way of the children, then all relations are abandoned. The children dig their heels in and say they cannot get along.
Brothers! This does not work in the field of spiritual pursuit. Unless and until a disciplehood like Eklavya is awakened, the eligibility to remain at the feet of the Guru or to get into sadhana does not occur at all. Only an eligible jiva can attain the atma.
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