Facts of the Eklavya's life are simple.
* Tribal chief’s son dreamed of being a great archer.
* Tribal chief’s son approached the best weapons’ master of the period.
*
Tribal chief’s son was turned away from the elite
* Tribal chief’s son surreptitiously learned the secrets of Dron’s teachings.
* Tribal chief’s son paid a heavy price for “learning without permission” – he had to part with his right thumb.
* Tribal chief’s son remained loyal to his Guru Drona and rued the fact that he could not avenge his guru’s death in the Mahabharta battle.
* Many people blame Arjun for Eklavya’s loss of thumb. They ignore the fact that it was Drona who asked for the thumb as a payment from Eklavya, not Arjun.
Are the matters really that simple?
When Guru Drona was teaching for free, no one came to him to learn. Infact the situation was so dire, he could not afford milk for his son. Only when he was teaching princes and was being paid handsomely for doing this, did people like Eklavya thought it prudent to learn from him. Having tasted the bitterness of world's rejection, why should Drona give away his intellectual property for free?
Eklavya belonged to the Nishad kingdom which was at varience with Kurus. Why would Drona want to teach an enemy prince his priceless military scerets ? This would only raise a potential problem for the future and he could even prove fatal for his son and students. By taking away Eklavya's thumb, Drona neutered a potential enemy. Even today, we do not exchange information that we think will be detrimental to our nation. The situation at that time was similar to our export compliance on technology in our modern world. It’s simple! Export controls restrict or prohibit exports to certain countries, individuals, and entities. These may be fueled by concerns about our own national security, terrorism, or foreign policy.
Drona turned Eklavya away from his ashram and refused to teach him because he
was paid to teach only Kuru princes.
It was an elite, expensive school reserved for princes of a very specific
royal family. With 105 students, Drona's hands must have been very full indeed.
He certainly wasn't looking for new students.
As the head teacher of his elite gurukul, Drona was within his rights to ask for
whatever payment he saw fit for anyone who benefited from his curriculum. Eklavya had learned his art of war
without permission – indeed – against express wishes of Drona. Hence whatever Eklavya learned was as
good as theft.
If we look at it from a modern point of view, Eklavya breached the copy right of the
intellectual property of Drona. What
Drona did was the ancient equivalent of “sue his pants off” for a breach of his
"copy rights".
Just like we have different types of schools now (government run free schools to
expensive boarding schools), at that time, there were a number of different
kinds of gurukuls.
Some gurus taught for free - like Sandipani.
Some charged a modest fee - like the ashram of sage
Agnivesh.
Some were free but exclusive to a specific caste or
denominations - like those of Parshuramji (reservation is not a new idea).
Some were elite and expensive
with restricted access reserved only for those who could afford it - like those
of Drona.
Karma is Karma !