ARYAVARTA

chapter 20

Parusharam Ashram
Beginning of the training

" The greatest weapon of a warrior is his mind. No matter how great you are if you loose your concentration in battlefield you are dead . You can't let your emotions conquer your wisdom. Inorder to achieve this you have to strengthen your mind. Meditation is as important as his weapon for a warrior. You have to be cool minded in drastic situations " said Parusharam after completing his daily meditation.

" You are good at archery, but being a great archer doesn't make you a great warrior , to be a great warrior you have to master other weapons and hand to hand combat "

Parusharam took karna towards a tree . " Hit it"

" What gurudev?"

" Hit the tree"

Karna hit the bark of the tree with his right hand and felt severe pain

" Now do it again with your other hand."

Karna did what his gurudev said and the result was same

" Now hit it with both your hands till you feel you can't "

Karna did as his gurudev instructed he kept on punching the bark of the tree . But aftersome time the pain was insufferable and blood began to flow from his knuckles. And karna stopped punching. Parusharam took karna hands and wiped away the blood and
applied ointment to the bruises.

" This pain will be the only thing that will remain constant in the life of a warrior so get used to it. You will do this everyday till you learn how to punch without even acknowledging the pain "

And for years karna punched that tree and gradually he didn't felt anymore pain

Parusharam trained karna rigerously in each weapon he mastered though he was good at archery karna understood the importance for him to master other weapons. Parusharam begin his training in hand to hand combat. He never showed mercy to his student . Each day karna was beaten into pulp and the pain was insufferable but gradually he didn't felt pain and was able to counter Parusharam . The first thing karna learn from Parusharam was to accept his shortcomings . Karna was not bulk like Parusharam, bhishm and Bheem.
He was lean ,so to overpower Parusharam in strength was never an option for him and Parusharam understood this disadvantage of karna . Hence Parusharam trained karna how to took a beating. Each day karna was beaten hardly by Parusharam but as days passed karnas ability to withstand the punch improved, days were gone when he used to get knocked down by 3 or 4 punches

Karna daily training in punching the hard surfaces using his fists had also improved his power . The 2nd thing Parusharam did was to improve his speed not only in hand to hand combat but in other fields too.
His body features has actually helped him in boosting his speed.

With his improved speed and widthstand to take a beating karna became a dangerous opponent in hand to hand combat. Karna with his great reflexes and speed evade the punches from Parusharam and attacked his oponents when they became tired.

Then came archery, after first training section Parusharam understood karna skill in archery. Karna shoot down all his targets both stationary and moving , but what Karna lacked in archery was speed . Karna took a huge amount of time in shooting his targets .

But with time and hard training karna starts to shoot his targets with just a glimpse. Then Parusharam taught karna how to shoot countless arrows successively. Whenever an archer fires an arrow he needs to take an another from his quiver. For an accomplished opponent this lapse in time is enough to kill him. So Parusharam taught karna how to fire arrows successively. Parusharam took 4 arrows from his quiver at same time and fired them successively . When the first one hit the target the 2nd one pierce the first arrow similarly 3rd and 4 th. Karna had seen this trick performed by Bhishm but what surprised him was the speed no opponent could have counter attack those 3/4 arrows. But then seeing the next trick of his gurudev karna was dumbstruck. Parusharam took all the arrows from the quiver . The training ground was surrounded by different targets at different positions. Then with a spin Parusharam hit all the targets . Karna had never seen such a trick even bhishm had never done it in the practice yard.