Another poem based around an event in Mahabharat

Drona and Arjun

And tell me what do you see?

He demanded of the prince

‘My liege I see you...’

And?

‘I see the sky, the trees,

My brothers, my friends...’

The guru contemplated silently

And shaking his head, said

‘My son you are not yet ready for the test’

And so he called them all,

All the princes in his tutelage

yet none did he allow to stand trial,

By their power of observation

Stood summarily unimpressed

The wooden bird which was set

As target to the test,

Remained at rest

The arrow set in their bow

Did they see too little or much too more?

Finally he called upon Arjun

And went through the same motion

‘Set your arrow, to the bow

And tell me what you see?’

‘My liege I see a bird!’

‘If you see the bird,

then describe it to me’

‘My lord, but for the eye

I see not the bird!’

‘Tell me then, about the eye’

‘My lord in the ‘eye’ I see me’

And now the guru knew

That the archer was prepared

For the bow and arrow were mere tools

And archery a mere path

to something deeper

For the Archer was now rid

Of his greatest adversaries three

His distractions, his preoccupations

and the notion ‘me’

in pure consciousness, he was one

in-being, and with all that be

All pervading in awareness

Yet within a point concentrated

In the objective, the ‘I’ in the eye

Nodding his assent

‘Shoot my prince’, he said

‘Though in my eye

You’ve already passed the test’

  • Abhi