The Fateful Evening Arjun Draupadi OS .. Thread 2 - Page 88

Arjun understood this long back. Indraprasth used to have a perfect management system endorsed by him and his queen. Occasionally Dharmaraj used to offer his suggestions. It was easier back then because the queens are less in number then as Ulupi Chitra and others attended only at the time of Rajasuya.

Now there are more than hundred queens of Kauravas who should be taken care of.Subhadra is busy with Parikshit and Uttara. Chitra and Ulupi never interfered or extended help. So Draupadi has to bear the burden all along.

Nakul entered with Bheem and said." Everything is in order. Sorted out. Why can't we control the expenditure by regularising the number of army persons?

The Sabha waited to see the reaction of the chief army commander. Arjun. Yudhishtir said." By God's grace we don't have any rivals as of now. Aryavarth is safe in every way.But still how could we do that to our army? That is arguable."

Bheem said." In a way Nakul is right. But I want to hear Arjun's opinion.'

Arjun said with a serious face." Agree that we don't have to fight major wars as of now. But for any kingdom army strength is must in any situation. They served us loyally and they should be taken care of. An army person definitely make his son join army only. So generations together they will continue in our service. Tomorrow Parikshit will sit on the throne. He will have the army power that he may need who knows? He may have to fight battles again.

If we suspend our army people now then they won't allow their sons to join our army and serve Parikshit. They feel there is no guaranty for their services. Parikshit will be in trouble.

I know right now they are having their leisure period with no wars in near future. Hence I thought of a plan to keep them busy since they also must be getting bored.

I will devide them into groups and send them to all the interior parts of Aryavarth. They have to establish an army camp there and train aspiring young boys in different ways of warfare. Archery,sword fight,boxing...

One set of army will stay at Hastinapur to look after border security and take care of King's safety.

Those who go to camps will stay back next time and allow others to go.

Other than that our army people will look after the construction of bridges on rivers ,lakes and improving transport system by developing roads . They will have the manpower at their disposal. This way we can improve our transport system also that includes water transport also."

The prominent citizens ,officials and ministers clapped their hands and shouted ." Well said,Rajkumar Arjun!"

Kripacharya who is sitting besides Yudhishtir had tears in his eyes." The cute five year old student of Guru Dron and the most loved grandson of Bhishm exceeded himself in every way. None can stand on par with him.

Bheem hugged Arjun making him breathless." I am proud of you my brother. Your thoughts are brilliant."

Nakul stood and said with a smile." As usual you never cease to amaze me brother. I take back my suggestion. Eldest! Please forgive my imprudence."

Yudhishtir approved Arjun's suggestion. " I entrust you the responsibility. You will make it happen. I am sure. Proceed with your plan.

Arjun's wives heard the matters of Raj Sabha through Nakul and could not stop gushing about their husband's awesome plan for the army.

Chitra is quick to express her delight." I know he is a real warrior at heart. That is why he felt so concerned for the army."

The Royal women are sitting in the dining hall chit hating and waiting for the Pandava's to attend the dinner . Ulupi quipped." Sheer intelligence and razor sharp thinking process. Awesome."

Subhadra who is serving Parikshit proudly stated." He is unique. I hope Pari inherits his all round excellence. I am sure he will"

Uttara fondly ruffled her son's hair and asked." Will you learn from your grand father? You just try to be like him. You any way look like him."

Pari assured." Ofcourse Maa. I will prove myself worthy of him."

Karenu remarked." My husband as usual became instrumental in making his Bhrata Arjun speak. Otherwise he will just be calm and silent."

Vijaya chided her." Karenu, Bhrata Arjun is not like my husband Sahadev. He speaks when there is need. But Arya Sahadev went into maun vrat ever since Kunti maata went off.

Panchali smiled at Arjun who came to her late at night." Got the applause from every one? Your wives are beaming with joy ever since they heard the army matter." So saying she threw his curls back.

Arjun pulled her on to his lap and retorted." But what did my first wife feel? Even the finance minister also is so miserly with her words.Wont say thanks for submitting your accounts?"

Panchali bit her lower lip." Ofcourse. Thank you so much for relieving my burden. And your army plan is too good. Your finance minister already approved of it." She said observing his chiselled features.

Arjun took her face in his hands and said." My good fortune. My finance minister hardly disapproves my proposal. Be it anything related to administration or related to my passionate appeal to favour me with her grace."

Panchali understood his inner meaning and stood up ,walked towards the window. The serene night enveloped in darkness greeted her by making the cool breeze caress her curls.

Arjun stood behind her and a beautiful smile appeared on his lips. His Krishnaa still is inhibited and hesitant to respond to his passionate desire. He clasped her waist and turned her to him.

Panchali raised her eyes and found the smile mesmerising. She forgot to blink her eyes but was forced to close her eye lotuses as they are kissed by her Arjun who hugged her closer.

Form Focus and Flow .. Arjuna's invincibility.

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By IIM Kozhicode ,Former Director.

Arjuna was declared a shrestha, a hero, when he hit the eye of a wooden bird hung on a tree in Drona's school. Arjuna's most powerful weapon was not his Gandiva. His power came from ekagratathe foundation of a meditative mind. Heroes diligently cultivate a meditative mind. A meditative mind is more than just a concentrated mind. In a concentrated mind our attention is limited by our goals or targets for a certain duration of time. Even an ordinary mind can concentrate on a pleasant object or experience.

It is so easy to freeze our glance on a beautiful face or on a sensational image for a considerable period of time. The real challenge is to be able to pull out attention from what is pleasurable or preya to the preferable, that is shreya. Arjuna can pull his mind easily out of the beautiful forest and a flowing river to the preferable work at hand, which is seeing only the eye of the bird. The first stage of creating a meditative mind is to form the mind. A goal helps by giving it direction.

Goals create boundaries for our attention. This is called dharana or holding the mind to a form. Before the mind achieves a state of dharana, the hero has to gradually withdraw the mind from other competing forms. This process called pratyahara involves withdrawing the senses from external distraction. Arjuna achieves this with consummate ease. How did he do that? Arjuna selected from vast streams of information only those bits and pieces that make up the eye of the bird. Thus he is able to hold and fix his attention on the target.

In the second stage Arjuna has to maintain an unbroken focus on the bird's eye for some period of time. The process of bringing the target to one's unbroken focus is called dhyana. Whereas dharana was about fixing attention on an object, dhyana is about sustaining this attention. The difference between the two is the difference between pouring oil drop by drop from a bottle to a pan and pouring oil in a stream of unbroken arc from a bottle to pan. Like the stream of oil, attention moves from the mind to the target.

At this stage Arjuna uses his intellect to overcome the mind's distractions and keep his physical and mental actions going in the set direction. Arjuna has learnt the technique of moving from concentration to consistency. He sustains his attention on just the eye of the bird, away from everything else. This consistency of attention like the smooth flow of oil takes Arjuna to the state of dhyana. In the final stage Arjuna's mind is completely occupied by his action, like a painter who is lost in his painting.

The mental vibrations of the archer Arjuna achieve unity with the physical vibration of the target. This state of unity exists at the edge of the human mind. At this stage the boundary between mind and target is removed. The mind, target and flow of mind toward the target become one seamless awareness. This is the third stage of attention called samadhi. In samadhi, Arjuna enters the zone of invincibility. (The author, DG, IMI, Delhi, is former director, IIM Kozhikode). .

It is my pleasure to share anything about Arjun. I will do it as per my convenience.