Aswatthama’s pride learns a lesson

Acquiring skills and strength with lot of hard work is one thing, retaining them without pride or arrogance is yet another thing. Often it is seen that people who boast or brag about themselves about their skill and strength are taught valuable lessons of humility by life and the Almighty. These lessons are very valuable as they are the ones which help us keep our feet grounded all the time. Being the son of a great Guru did not make Aswatthama exempt fromt his and he too had to learn his lesson of humility from Shri Krishna.

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Aswatthama, the son of Guru Dronachary was a skilled warrior tutored by his father, However, Aswatthama thought as he was the son of Guru Dronacharya, he should be the one who gets all the attention and skills of his father. But, to the contrary, Arjun, the Pandav was the favourite student to Guru Drona for his dedication, humility and determination. But comparing himself to Arjun, Aswatthama waited for a chance to prove that he was capable in all fields of warship and prove that he was greater than Arjun.

Aswatthama knew that Arjun was the favourite of Shri Krishna. Well knowing that a boon from Shri Krishna would make him the greatest, he waits for a chance to ask Shri Krishna the same. His chance comes when Yudhisthir loses everything in the game of dice to Duryodhan and the Pandavas leave for exile.

Now that Arjun wasn’t around, Aswatthama feels that it was his chance to make good with Shri Krishna and visits Dwaraka. After welcoming Aswatthama, Shri Krishna asks him the reason of his visit. Forgetting the virtue of humility and feeling proud of his strength, that asking Shri Krishna a special power would bring his pride down Aswatthama haughtily puts up a proposal in front of him.

Aswatthama mentions that he was bestowed with the special power of Bhramasira Astra which was the deadliest Astra of all and none knew how to counter it. The one thing which was equal to the power was the Sudarshana Chakr of Shri Krishna. Hence, Aswatthama asks Shri Krishna to trade the Astra with his Sudarshan Chakr in order to be benefitted by the Astra’s powers.

Shri Krishna smiles at his audacity and decides to teach Aswatthama a lesson. He acts wonderstruck at the proposal of Aswatthama and duly agrees to it. He puts the Sudrashan Chakr in front of Aswatthama and asks to take it. Thinking that Shri Krishna has understood his great power, Aswatthama tries to lift the Chakr, but cannot move it. He tries hard to move it, but the mighty discus does not budge. The more he tries to lift it, the more the weight of the discus grows. After futile attempts of exhaustion, Aswatthama accepts his inability to lift the Sudrashan Chakr.

Shri Krishna smiles and mentions to Aswatthama that when he could not even lift the discus with his hand, how could he use it as his weapon. Then Shri Krishna mentions to Aswatthama that a true warrior does not compare himself with others and with his skill, protects and preserves Dharma. Shri Krishna preaches to Aswatthama to be satisfied with what he has and use his talent and skill in the protection of Dharma which would make him a great warrior. Aswatthama learns his lesson of humility and satisfaction for what he has and returns back to Hastinapur.