810. Knowledge is Power.........!

A clean shaven middle aged man with dark summer glasses trolls his suitcase into the lobby of an airport. Walks straight to the Airline check-in desk and collects the boarding pass and settles down at the lounge. After a few minutes he fishes out his mobile phone and starts dialling the numbers. In a fraction of a second there is huge explosion as if the airport building shake followed by dust and smoke and lots of screaming. The burning smell shattered glass and smeared blood on the floor.   

It was indeed a BOMB BLAST!!!

A fortnight later the investigating team tabled the report. The clean shaven middle aged man was the suspect who blew himself up in the name of religion. Details of his whereabouts revealed that he hailed from a remote village. He was an orphan brought up by a pious man. He graduated from a prestigious engineering college studied electronic and was proficient in signals and controls. He was picked up by some fundamentalist and brainwashed to use his academic knowledge of electronic signals and controls for destruction of mankind in the name of religion.

To get education on electronic signals and controls was by itself not dangerous but the way the knowledge of it is implemented could be. Formal process of Education provides one the informal experience called knowledge.  Knowledge is power, but when in wrong hands it is trouble. In ancient times a person who imparts education would look for the Adhikari (Eligible). Guru picked the shishya not by looking just his eagerness to learn but also his character. Svabhava (Character) of an individual is moulded by the Samskara (Impression) which is triggered by the Trigunas.

The Svabhava of a dog is to bark and it does when it sees a stranger or even if its master is wearing a mask. In Adi Parva of Mahabharata, Ekalavya uses his arrows to seal the mouth of the barking dog. When Dronacharya heard that the barking of the dog was silenced by Ekalavya who claimed to be his disciple, Drona asked him his right thumb as Guru Dakshina.

Why did Drona heartlessly ask for the right thumb???

Many who do not know the epic feel it was caste discrimination, which was not true. Agreed Drona was keen to make Ajuna one and only superior archer. In the eagerness to show off his skills Ekalavya pierced arrows to the dog’s mouth to silence it. Arjuna too knew Shabdavedi Vidya (the art of shooting by listening) he could have also used his arrows to silence the dog. But his Samskaras did not allow him to injure the animal.  

Drona, a learned person thought that someone who is not compassionate is not eligible to possess those deadly skills. Ekalavya had somehow acquired Shabdavedi Vidya and could use the knowledge to cause danger to others. He foresees that Ekalavya if left unchecked may pose a threat to everyone, hence he asked for his thumb as Guru Dakshina for the welfare of the community.

Note: There are many stories (written by Brahmin-bashers) which suggest that dog was stuck with arrows without hurting the dog. These are not in Vyasa Bharatha, the original text. How can the arrows pierce the mouth of the dog as written by Bhagvan Vyasa, without hurting the dog …..I wonder.