Saturday, September 03, 2011

Arjun's eye

'I must only warn you of one thing. You have become a different person in the course of these years. For this is what the art of archery means: a profound and far-reaching contest of the archer with himself. Perhaps you have hardly noticed it yet, but you will feel it strongly when you meet your friends and acquaintances in your own country: things will no longer harmonize as before. You will see with other eyes, measure with other measures. It has happened to me too, and it happens to all who are touched by the spirit of this art.'
~ from Eugen Herrigel's 'Zen in the Art of Archery'

3 comments:

JC said...

It is said, "Old order changes / yielding place to new", for the wise ancients realised that with the passage of time, material in the physical world deteriorates, and every object therefore has a certain generally expected life span only,,, which however could be enhanced if due care is taken from time to time and at proper times,,, but eventually it must die. ie, death of all life forms on earth is inevitable...

Still, one might find earth itself is in existence, for example, for over 4 billion years today, and is likely to continue for billions of years more...

And, despite limited life span observed in mortal humans on earth, the wise ancients sought what the purpose of human life on earth really could be,,, because even today one realises that earth has evolved with time... That is, it believbly started as a fire ball billions of years ago, and exists suspended in space, in the apparently perfect form today, ie, it virtually is immortal...And, on the other hand, the variety of innumerable forms of life it supports, though mortal, all continue to perform some useful functions related with any particular form... Thus man, realised as the head of the animal world, also must have some specific purpose expected from one!?

That's where comes the expected role of the Wise, Gurus or Masters...

Maybe one could find as the Truth (that remains unaffected by time) in the form of teachers and students in schools/ colleges even today from their outcomes at teh end of the year say when test results are declared, ie, marks obtained ranging between zero or near zero to 100 or near it!

Arjun is the one who got 100 in marksmanship out of all the students of Guru Dronacharya!

amruta patil said...

Ultimately (for me), the most poignant thing about Arjun was that he was neither the strongest nor the wisest nor the most handsome of the Pandav brothers.

He was not the best archer in the land - Eklavya proved that early on, as did Karn. And his pedigree, while of divine extract, was of Yadav woman + a Samsaric god (Indra). Even on that count, he was superseded by Karn (Yadav mother + the sun god).

Arjun was surpassed by others in all qualities but these: unmatched focus, and unwavering alignment with consonance and divinity.

arjun said...

that's a good reminder !! Thanx