Arjuna is as old as the hills and as fresh as morning dew. Like grass on earth,
like hair on skin, Arjuna arose from Indra's 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 Dhananjaya—the conqueror of
fortune; he is Vijaya—the last word in success. The secret behind Arjuna's
success is coded by the divine that resides within the human form. Arjuna's 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 hero's 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 Arjuna—Vijaya, Dhananjaya, and Sabyasachi—are those powers that
are waiting to be discovered. Thus, Arjuna discovers the law of identity.
The hero's 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.
Arjuna's 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 bird's eye with unerring precision. Arjuna wins Draupadi's
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 hero's focus persistently on the goal is the intellect.
Arjuna's 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.
Another quality that sets Arjuna apart from the rest is the courage of
commitment. Commitment brings with it the urgency to take on a challenge.
Arjuna is quick to commit himself to saving Drona's life when it is threatened by
a crocodile. He commits to avenging his son's death before the sun sets. Arjuna
shows how heroes are unafraid of unwavering commitment.
Commitment is nothing but a call to action. Arjuna unlike Yudhisthira does
not waste time standing on the horns of dilemma. He is a man of action, he's like
quicksilver. His swadharma is that of a Kshatriya. He has to uphold the dharma
of the land and if need be give his life for it. Many times, his need for action
brings Arjuna to the brink of death. He fights fierce life-and-death battles with
none other than Shiva, the Lord of the Universe. Arjuna demonstrates that a
hero's wisdom is forged in the fire of action.
Every hero meets a mentor who guides him through the trials of life. Arjuna
forms an endearing and enduring bond with Krishna. Without the mentorship of
Krishna, Arjuna would have remained an ordinary fighter. Krishna's friendship
gives Arjuna hope in despair and wisdom in the middle of a war. Friends
complement us. Krishna is not an ordinary friend. Krishna not just complements
but completes Arjuna.
Arjuna also learns the law of desire and detachment. He desires Draupadi, falls in love with Subhadra and resists the advances of Urvashi. He learns that
love is a play of two polar opposite emotions, desire and detachment, raga and
vairagya. Desire acts like an accelerator. Detachment works as a break. With
desire and detachment Arjuna drives this streetcar called life.
In a hero's journey, desire deepens into devotion. This secret of devotion is
revealed to Arjuna by Krishna. 'Remember me and fight,' Krishna urges Arjuna.
The ability to offer every thought and every action to the higher principle within
us is the law of devotion. Devotion taps into the deepest potential of the human
heart in whatever the human being wants to achieve. True greatness, as Arjuna
discovers, cannot be achieved without complete devotion.
The law of devotion reveals to Arjuna the secret to all enduring success.
Ultimate success comes when the head and the heart come together. For the
hero, the distance between the head and the heart is greater than the distance
between earth and sky. Yet, once this distance is bridged, Arjuna becomes a
whole person. A whole person is an undivided person. His head does not go
against his heart. For a fighter, the head and the heart are constantly divided. The
fighter divides the world into 'you' and 'I'. For the warrior there is just 'we'.
The warrior uses the enemy's resistance to grow himself. Arjuna is devoted to
his brothers. He is devoted to Subhadra, his wife. He dotes on his son
Abhimanyu. Finally, he is timelessly and deeply devoted to his friend and
mentor Krishna. This is the secret of his invincibility.
Arjuna wakes up from his delusion to discover the deepest secret of the hero's
journey. Where he thought that he was only this human body, he discovered that
he was the divine spirit; where he thought he was just a fighter who fought his
enemies, he discovered that he was a warrior who had only himself to conquer;
where he thought that he had travelled the length and breadth of his world, he
discovered that he was only travelling to the depths of his own consciousness;
where he thought that he was alone in his heroic journey, he discovered that he
was one with all that there was in existence. Thus, Arjuna lived and died as a
hero—in his own time and for all times.