Guru Drona, a highly-regarded teacher at the time of the great Indian epic the Mahabarata, once wanted to find out how attentive his pupils were. He kept a toy bird on the branch of a tree and asked all his pupils to take aim to shoot it in its left eye. The guru asked each one what they saw. They answered that they saw the tree or the branch or the leaves. Arjuna answered that he saw only the bird. When questioned further he said that he saw only the bird's head and then only its left eye. He was ordered to shoot and he shot the bird exactly in the centre of its left eye. His one- minded attention helped him to become the best archer of his time.

Reprinted with permission from the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, from the Teachers' Guide for Value-based Spiritual Education. Curriculum for Classes I to X, 2000, Sahaj Marg Research and Training Institute of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, Chennai, India. For information contact Santosh Khanjee, Secretary of International Affairs at info@srcm.org.

Q: What is meant by one-minded attention? Does it help you to stay focussed on a goal?

Q: What happens if you set yourself a goal but become distracted by other things around?

Q: What do you do to fix your attention on a task or goal? Can you think of examples in your life at the moment?

Q: What human qualities are required to have one-minded attention? Can they be applied to any goal, whether for material success or spiritual growth, and for either helpful or selfish ends?

Q: How can you develop these qualities in yourself, so that you develop the capacity for one-minded attention? To what activities would you apply one-minded attention in your life at the moment?

Maxim Three: "Fix your Goal, which should be complete oneness with God. Rest not till the ideal is achieved."

Q: Is it important to develop one-minded attention in order to apply this maxim for spiritual growth?

O, Master!
Thou art the real goal of human life.
We are yet but slaves of wishes
Putting bar to our advancement,
Thou art the only God and power
To bring us up to that stage.