Child Is The Father Of Man

Have you ever noticed a small child playing/exploring? He has myriad interests and is very curious. But at any given instant, a child/baby concentrates on the thing at hand. Of course the concentration span may be short. Nevertheless, it is extremely deep and strong. Ever wondered why we remember our ABC's throughout our lives but not Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle? Aside from the fact that, we use alphabets constantly, it is because we learn them at a very young age when the concentration power is high. If you try to recall some incident of your childhood, and observe your thoughts, you will find that your memory consists merely of the "feeling" associated with the incident than the incident itself. Which is why we have Happy Memories, Shameful Memories and so on and so forth.

As one grows older, these experiences accumulate, and one is constantly trying to recapture these feelings. When you look at a sunset, you try to recall the last time you saw one, then what happened then and lo and behold! you have a chain of thoughts. The next time, when you recall this sunset, all you can remember is this chain of thoughts. It is a never ending vicious cycle and ultimately, you have NOT seen the sunset. I wish to emphasise that Knowledge Base (example, a child remembering that fire burns) is different from Thought-Chains.

Concentration/Focus/Flow is the absence of thoughts, in a nutshell. When there is no gap between the thought and the activity. When the action begins at the same instant as the idea, past and future disappear and all that remains is the everlasting present. Past and future are products of thoughts. Thinking about doing maths is not the same as doing maths. When you are concentrating, you will find that there is no hurry. You will feel light, almost like flying. This can be compared to playing a tough piece of music on the violin or some other musical instrument. I am using this analogy because I am familiar with it myself.

The Young One of The Bird's Eye (adapted from The Mahabarata) is actually Arjuna, the greatest archer of all times. The Master is Dronacharya, a great archer himself. The students are the Princes of the Kuru Clan.

The Target of the story is The Present/The Moment At Hand. The distractions (everything other than the target) signify our Thoughts - The Past and The Future. How many of us fret about the future or regret the past and forget the moment at hand, the everlasting present?

"The Idea" is the Task at Hand at any given instant of time (example every shot in a tennis match). "Life" is the Moment at Hand. "The Brain, Muscles, Nerves and Every Part of the Body" should be given to The Idea without any conflict. After all, the future (long-term goal ie the match itslef ) is but a sum total of Infinite "Present" Moments (evey shot)... This is my interpretation of the story and the quote.