18/02/2026
Just had to share this photo and the beautiful story behind it ☺️ I’ve been going to Archery for 3 weeks now with my son Max and we have been loving it! Every time I shoot, I pull the bow, hold it steady, inhale and really focus on the bullseye 🎯 This is at the heart of yoga - just like the story of Arjuna and the target. Turns out I’m pretty good too 🥰 if you don’t know the story, here it is:
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Arjuna the mighty bowman of the epic Mahabharata, provides us with an example of what is meant by
Dharana - the sixth limb of yoga.
Drona, teacher of the royals and our hero Arjuna, organised an archery contest. Students were called upon one by one to describe the target, which was pointed out to them. It
was a nesting bird. The first Pandava brother described the grove of trees, the next the particular tree and the last brother the bough on which the nest stood. When Arjuna’s turn came, he described to his teacher first the bird. Then fine tuning his focus, its head,
and lastly he could see nothing but the shining eye of the bird, which was the centre of the target chosen by Drona.
This story highlights how our focus is absolutely essential to the practice. The Maharabharata continues
later on: Taking the bow of the great weapn of the Upanishad, one should put upon it an arrow sharpened
by meditation. Stretching it with a thought directed to the essence of That, pe*****te the Imperishable
as the mark, my friend. The mystic symbol AUM is the bow. The arrow is the Self (Atma). Brahman is the
target. By the undistracted man is It pe*****ted. One should come to be in It, as the arrow in the mark.
Everything is inside of us and outisde of us - we are everything. When we chant, we focus the mind, we
offer ourselves the opportunity to return, to re-unite with that oneness - to BE that oneness
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