Tell me what you can see, Arjuna, repeated Drona
Do you see the tree?
No, said Arjuna.
Do you then see the bird? There was a sense of rising excitement in Dronas voice.
No! I can simply see the eye of the bird, nothing else, responded Arjuna without taking his eyes off the target.
Now, shoot! Drona commanded in a shrill voice.
Everyone who stood there saw Arjunas arrow whizz past and heard a sharp click. The arrow was stuck in the middle of the birds eye.
That day, a legend was born. Arjuna was declared a shreshtha , a supreme human talent. Arjunas most powerful weapon was not his Gandiva. His power came from ekagrata his one-pointed concentration. Arjuna re-defined the limits of human achievement. He conquered his enemies with the sword of clarity and the shield of discrimination.
In this creative re-imagining of the story of Arjuna, Debashis Chatterjee mines the Mahabharata and discovers nine precious lessons that will enable any one of us to become heroes in our own lives. Whether it is gaining mastery over life, harnessing our will power, or prioritising action choicesthese life-lessons from that most charismatic of Pandavas can truly put each one of us on the hero-path.
A magical blend of mythology and management, this book is worth reading, and re-reading, many times over.
westland ltd
INVINCIBLE
ARJUNA
D EBASHIS
C HATTERJEE
INVINCIBLE
ARJUNA
NINE MILESTONES ON THE HERO PATH
westland ltd
61, II Floor, Silverline Building, Alapakkam Main Road, Maduravoyal, Chennai 600095
93, I Floor, Sham Lal Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi 110002
First published in India by westland ltd 2016
First e-pub edition: 2016
Copyright Debashis Chatterjee 2016
All rights reserved
978-93-85152-31-3
Typeset by PrePSol Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, circulated, and no reproduction in any form, in whole or in part (except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews) may be made without written permission of the publishers
CONTENTS
ARJUNA PATH
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
Arjuna was Indias first icon. His skills as a warrior and an archer were beyond compare. However what made him such a great archer was his powers of concentration and his unwavering focus. Even the great Arjuna had self-doubts. That is a lesson in itself that the greatest also have self-doubts but are big enough to go to elders to find answers to them. There is nobody born who at some stage or the other hasnt been beset with some doubts. Its how you overcome them that is the key to success and gets you to fulfill your potential. I would like to wish Prof. Debashis Chatterjee the very best in his efforts to understand the challenges that humans face and provide solutions to them. Nobody can ever be Arjuna, but we all can learn from him.
Sunil Manohar Gavaskar
More praise for Timeless Leadership
Prof. Debashis Chatterjee has brought out a refreshing and inspired approach to the Bhagavad Gita in Timeless Leadership . He has skillfully outlined the ideals of our modern society and their applications in managerial life.
Swami Tejomayananda,
Chairman and Spiritual Head, Chinmaya Mission
Timeless Leadership is both timeless and borderless. It is timeless because the principles of leadership espoused thousands of years ago are contemporary. It is borderless because it transcends all situations of leadership dilemmas, internal conflicts, and ultimate resolutions.
Jagdish Sheth,
Marketing Guru and World-Renowned Author
Arjuna is as old as the hills and as fresh as morning dew. Like grass on earth, like hair on skin, Arjuna arose from Indras own self. Arjuna is timeless and yet he belongs to all times. Even our times! Arjuna is the star student and the master archer; he is the lover and the warrior; he is Dhananjayathe conqueror of fortune; he is Vijayathe last word in success. The secret behind Arjunas success is coded by the divine that resides within the human form. Arjunas story is our own unwritten story. Invincible Arjuna is the untold story of the making of a hero against all odds.
Our world is desperately in need of heroes. Heroes define the limits of human achievement and human possibility. To be born human is in itself the end result of a heroic journey of evolution. The human being is a supreme achievement of Nature. It takes Nature a million years to perfect the wings of a butterfly or the claws of a tiger. It has taken Mother Nature billions of years to evolve a human being. In Indian mythology, Arjuna is a Shreshtha , a supreme human talent. Yet, he must go on many adventures to test his mettle.
A human being belongs to the only species on earth that can re-invent itself over and over again. It is almost as if a human is capable of being born many times in one lifetime. A human is first born when he emerges from the womb of his mother. Then, he is born again and again as he discovers new sources of inspiration within himself. But a heros journey begins when he discovers something that challenges him. In order to rise to the challenge, the fire within must be greater than the force of the challenge. The challenge draws out those unborn energies and undiscovered talents within the hero. When the hero recognizes those powers as his own, he is able to craft a new identity for himself. Whichever powers the hero identifies with, becomes his identity. The many names of ArjunaVijaya, Dhananjaya, and Sabyasachiare those powers that are waiting to be discovered. Thus, Arjuna discovers the law of identity.
The heros path has never been smooth. Arjuna faces challenges from rivals like Karna and Duryodhana. In a world where jealousy wears the mask of competition and camaraderie, the hero needs the power of clarity. He needs crystal-clear vision to go deep into the mystery of human nature. Both the divine and the devil can sit together within a human being. Arjuna is very unlike his headstrong brother Bhima, who is wild as the wind. Arjuna achieves with his mind that which Bhima tries to achieve with his muscles. Arjuna masters the law of clarity as he learns from his mistakes and missteps.
Arjunas most powerful weapon is not Gandiva, his indestructible bow, but his power of concentration. With this weapon, he learns to shoot arrows in the dark and pierces a birds eye with unerring precision. Arjuna wins Draupadis hand and heart through a concentrated effort. To win in the battles of life, a hero needs to constantly focus on the goal rather than on the obstacles in his path. The human faculty that keeps the heros focus persistently on the goal is the intellect. Arjunas sharp intellect keeps his muscles and his mind together in pursuit of the ultimate. His intellect enables Arjuna to ask questions of Krishna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra. His intellect helps him cut through the world of surface appearances to get to the deeper secrets of life that Krishna teaches him. The ability to concentrate is also the secret to self-discovery. The hero reaches inside himself to discover that his internal resources are much greater than the challenges he faces.
