Ekalavya’s Journey to Excellence: A Story of Grit, Precision, and Perseverance

 

Ekalavya’s Journey to Excellence: A Story of Grit, Precision, and Perseverance

One day, the great teacher Dronacharya was walking through a forest with his disciples, including the legendary archer Arjuna. Their goal was to hone their hunting and archery skills in the wild. Suddenly, a wild dog began barking incessantly, disrupting the peace and focus of the group.

Even Arjuna, known for his unmatched concentration and ambidextrous prowess, was visibly disturbed. Frustrated, he prepared to silence the dog with an arrow. But before he could act, something astonishing happened—an array of arrows flew in from nowhere and sealed the dog’s mouth shut. The animal stood unharmed but utterly silenced, unable to bark or bite.

Everyone was stunned. Who could possess such extraordinary skill, speed, and precision?

A young man emerged from the forest and bowed respectfully before Dronacharya. His name was Ekalavya.

Dronacharya asked, “Who are you? And who is your teacher?”

With quiet humility, Ekalavya replied, “You are my teacher, Gurudev.”

He then explained his journey:

“When you refused to teach me, I returned to the forest with unwavering determination. I sculpted a statue of you and placed it before me. I practiced day and night, relentlessly. I worked on my technique with patience and perseverance. As my skills improved, I shifted my focus to precision—doing just enough, never more, never less. In time, I achieved perfection.”

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Lessons from Ekalavya’s Path to Excellence

Ekalavya’s story is more than just inspiring—it’s a blueprint for achieving excellence in any field. Here are the timeless truths it teaches us:

• Practice with improvement is the foundation of perfection.
• Perseverance is essential—especially when the path is difficult.
• The road to excellence is demanding and full of challenges.
• Precision is the fine detail— the micro-level mastery.
• Practice is the broad effort—the macro-level dedication.
• The journey to excellence flows through: Practice → Perseverance → Precision → Perfection.
• Excellence is not a gift—it’s the result of inspired perspiration.

Let Ekalavya’s story remind you: even when the doors seem closed, your dedication can carve a path no one thought possible.

Peer Pressure on Indian Kids Part 1

Generally, I do not watch movies, but I happened to watch the movie, “Taare Zameen Par” telecast on a local cable channel. My wife compelled me to do so as she felt that it is a must for every parent to watch this movie!

I am not about to write a review of the movie but some school of thoughts which I liked to share with those who read this blog. The story is simple. A kid with specific learning disorder is being repeatedly cursed by his parents and later dumped into a residential school. The kid is ill-treated there again and he loses his self-confidence. Then, an understanding teacher arrives on the scene, who nurtures the skills of the kid and transforms him to a normal one.

There are lessons in this movie. Even if we conducted a classroom session to all the parents on this subject, this would not have made an impact. Nowadays, what we call as “peer pressure” is too enormous on the kids. With severe competition from every corner of life, kids are pressurized to the extreme level and there is no second thought about it.

It is quite natural for every parent to expect their kin to excel in whatever they do and I am no exception to this! If we happened to find a talent, we hang onto that and make all efforts to extract that from our kin. This ends exerting the peer pressure on the kids. The fear of losing makes kids less self-confident. More than the fear of losing, at times, it is the fear of facing the parents’ wrath on failures makes them lose their confidence.

Such pressures on kids do not make any good but harm them badly. At times, it costs them their life also. The increase in number of suicides during exam and results time proves this point.

Kids, nowadays, are being pressurized by the parents with the sole aim of getting numbers (not less than 90%) in all subjects. The deserted look of the playgrounds and gardens (in India, most of the cities do not have play ground or garden for common public is another irony) stands proof of this. Evenings meant for play is now meant for tuitions.

Hiring a special tutor for kid has become a status-symbol. The mushrooming coaching class centers is a proof. In my school days, tuition meant focused teaching to the student who is below-average. Nowadays, invariably, all students enroll in these coaching centers. Such centers now have become another class room with 50 to 60 students cramped in a room and the same subjects are literally vomited or spoon-fed to the kids. The teacher to student ratio in the schools are whopping 1:80 that is another pity situation

Being a parent, I am no exception to all above mentioned facts. I also wish that my kid always stood first in the school. We (more than me, my wife) grind our heads during the tests and exams just for the sake that our son scores good marks.

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Practice - Perseverance - Excellence

Dronacharya, the renowned Guru with all his disciples was strolling in a forest. He took them away as to test their skill in archery and to teach them hunting.All of a sudden, a wild dog started chasing them barking.

The barking of the dog was irritating and disturbing the concentration of all his disciples including Arjuna the great. Arjuna is the example of Excellence; his concentration is well known to all of us. He is so skilled that terming him "Ambidextrous" is not an exaggeration. Arjuna, irritated by the dog's barking, decided to kill that one.

While he was about to take his bow and arrow, an array of arrows rained and bound the mouth of the dog. Now the dog neither could bark nor bite some one. Everybody around was stunned, shocked at this act. Who could be such a master of excellence?

Then came Ekalvya and bowed before Drona. Drona asked him who he was and who was his teacher. Ekalvya after his introduction replied that Drona was his teacher. Ekalvya then explained, "After you refused to teach me archery, i came back with increased determination and a picture of you in my mind. I made a statue of your face, kept in front of me and practiced. I practiced, practiced and practiced. Day and night i practiced. Then i practiced with perseverance. As i learnt i am about to reach a high degree of skill, i worked for precision. Just not more Just not less. Thus i achieved perfection."

Ekalvya's words are wisdom indeed. Practice is the way to perfection, which is excellence. Great perseverance is essential. The road to Excellence is hard, tough and is a great challenge. Precision is the micro aspect of Excellence. Practice is the macro aspect of Excellence. So, path to Excellence is practice-perseverance-precision-perfection. Inspired perspiration is the cause for perfection.