Among all the pupils of the preceptor Drona Acharya, Arjuna was the one who excelled in archery due to his never ending zeal for learning and his devotion to his guru.

Ever since early childhood, Arjuna was a quiet child keeping to himself and interested only in learning the martial arts at his Gurus ashram.

He would practice archery day in and day out, catching the attention of Dronacharya, who could foresee that the child was destined for greatness.

His desire to perfect his art with practice was so keen that once when he saw his elder brother Bhima eating food at night without the need of any light source, he reasoned to himself that if a morsel of food could go into the mouth of the eater even in darkness through mere practice, why couldn't he himself become a skilled archer by simply practicing at night. He thus refined his archery skills by practicing in darkness, amazing even his guru Dronacharya.

Once guru Dronacharya decided to test the archery skills of all his disciples. He kept a wooden bird on a branch of a  tree at a distance, and asked each of them to hit the birds neck with an arrow.

He first called Yudhishthira near him and asked to him take an aim at the bird. He thus asked Yudhishthira what he could see, who replied that he could see the tree, the bird, the leaves and the branch. Dronacharya asked him to leave the bow and return to his place.

Then he called Duryodhana to take the aim, and asked him the same question before taking the shot. To which Duryodhana replied that he could see the the neck of the bird, the bird itself, the tree and went on to say that he could even see the lotus feet of his Guru Dev, hoping to impress Dronacharya. However Dronacharya asked him also to step aside.

In this way, Dronacharya repeated the same exercise with all the Pandavas and Kauravas and received the same answer. 

In the end he called his favorite pupil Arjuna and asked him to take an aim at the birds neck. He then asked my dear son Arjuna, please tell me what can you see with your eyes. To this Arjuna replied that he could only see the neck the bird that he had to shoot. Guru Dronacharya further prodded him, asking if he could tell him the color of the birds feathers? To which Arjuna had the same reply that he could see nothing but the neck of the bird. Guru Dronacharya became pleased with his answer and thus ordered him to shoot the bird. And behold the bird was shattered in a single shot to the wonder of everyone who witnessed this act of focus and skill.

Once Dronacaharya gave an empty pot to each of his pupils and asked them to fill it with water from a nearby pond and return to him quickly, promising the winner the knowledge of a special weapon. However, he gave a pot with a bigger mouth to his son Ashwatthama who also practiced along with others, due to his paternal affection, hoping him to come first in this test. However Arjuna with his keen eye noticed this and used his archery to fill the pot with water first and gave it to his gurudev, thus receiving the special knowledge again.

Not just this, once Dronacharya created an illusory alligator with his mantras and pretended to be in its grasp and cried for help to all his disciples. While the Kauravas were clueless of what they could do and Yudhisthira wasted time in thinking of the right means to help, Arjuna wasted no time in killing the illusory alligator with his arrows freeing his beloved guru.

Dronacharya again praised the presence of mind of Arjuna while rebuking others that when Guru is in danger, its the duty of the disciple to jump into action and not waste time deliberating what one could do.

Once, Dronacharya wanted to take revenge from his long standing foe King Drupada, for an insult, he asked if any of the students would help his Guru in his fight, to which Arjun replied that he would lay down his life for his beloved Gurudev. Dronacharya was so pleased that he emotionally embraced Arjuna and promised to make him the best archer in the world.

Arjun’s implicit faith and love for Lord Krishna can also be understood from an incident during the Mahabharata war where the Pandavas saw Lord Krishna washing Arjuna’s horses while Arjuna took a nap to rid his fatigue. Yudhishthira was very surprised to see the Lord of the Universe doing such a menial job for his friend, and asked Krishna for the reason. In reply Lord Krishna placed Yudhishthira’s left ear to the heart of the sleeping Arjuna. And Lo and behold, instead of a normal hear beat,  all that Yudhishthira could hear was Krishna - Krishna - Krishna. Indeed Lord Krishna proclaims in the Gita that He loves and serves His devotees even more than the devotees can serve Him.

During the Mahabharat war, the mighty Bhishma proclaimed that only Arjuna and Krishna are capable of defeating him and nobody else. Although all the Pandavas and Shikhandi darted arrows at him, he felt pain only from Arjuna's arrows. Others had no effect on him.

When he was finally lying on the bed of arrows piercing and covering his entire body, he needed a pillow to support his head. He requested all the kings assembled to greet him to bring a suitable pillow. While Duryodhna hurriedly went and brought excellent pillows covered with fine cloth, Bhishma refused to accept any of them and then laughingly said: "These are not befitting a warrior's bed".

He then glanced at Arjuna standing in the midst of all assembled kings with tears in his eyes, who understood his grandsire's wish and quickly pierced the ground with three arrows that served to support the son of Shantanu's head as a pillow.

Being very pleased with this arrangement, Bhishma said: "My dear Arjunam you have supplied me with just the sort of pillow I desired. In fact if you had acted otherwise, I would surely have cursed you in great anger".

Bhishma was waiting for the auspicious time till the sun crossed into the northern hemisphere before leaving his body. However, his body was burning with pain because of his wounds so that he was almost bereft of consciousness. Being exceedingly parched by thirst, Bhishma requested the kings before him to bring some water.

 All the great warriors thus went and brought cool, clear water in varieties of costly containers made of gold and adorned with jewels. The grandsire rejected them saying "I have renounced the use of all kinds of articles intended for human enjoyment."

Once again Bhishma called for Arjuna who came forward with folded hands, awaiting his order. Bhisma said: "My dear son of Kunti, my entire body feels as if it is burning and my mouth is parched just like a desert.Please bring me some water."

In response Arjuna quickly mounted his chariot and strung his Gandiva bow, striking fear into the hearts of the Kaurava warriors. He circumambulated the grandsire while riding on his chariot and then picked up an arrow that he empowered with the mantras of the parjanya weapon. After drawing his bow back to his ear, Arjuna pierced the earth with that arrow a little to the south of where Bhishma lay. From out of the cervice this created a stream of cool water rose slightly into the air and then entered the Grandsire's mouth satisfying his thirst with its nectar like taste.

Upon witnessing this astonishing feat, all the assembled kings were wonder struck. They blew their conch shells and beat their drums to honor the heroic son of Pandu. Then, in the presence of those great monarchs, Bhishma glorified Arjuna by describing him as the foremost of human beings and the best of bowmen.