Karna holds a very special place in the Mahabharata, by evoking extraordinary sympathy on account of his birth and childhood. People play what if scenarios and argue incessantly that how despite being a superior warrior he was killed by Arjuna. Despite the dark stains that the Pandavas imposed on themselves by killing superlative heroes like Bhishma, Drona and Karna by off handed tactics and not in straight combat, the subtle reasons behind that guided and forced these outcome is very assuring that the Law of Karma never fails.
The simple idea of death happening due to a single incident can definitely use a revision once we study the reasons behind Karna’s death. Death of the body is an event towards which it keeps hurtling towards since inception. Along the way Kala keeps adding several factors that become evident when it culminates as death. Apart from Kala, we also hasten it by our own contributions.
The second idea one must keep in mind is to keep greatness and goodness as two different discrete attributes. Ravana can serve as a good example of being great in many aspects, yet lacking goodness. Karna is in the same mold, despite having many great qualities and even some good attributes, many of his actions and attitude merely undermined his own cause. To contrast, Rama and Krishna were both the abode of goodness and greatness.
Reasons behind Karna’s death:
The Shanti Parva begins with Yudhishtra immersed in untold misery that oppressed him at the end of his victory in the Mahabharata war. Being rooted in Dharma the deaths of the thousands grew into a heavy burden as the surviving relatives offered a month long rites to the departed. Maharishi Vyasa, Narada, Devala, Devasthana, Kanwa along with Krishna offered some balance to this somber situation. As Narada probed his mental attitude, Yudhishtra responded with the heaviness that burdened his heart. He felt directly responsible for the deaths on both sides. He found it extremely pitiful to have lost the younger generations in Upapandavas and Abhimanyu. But the biggest burden was the death of Kunti’s firstborn and their elder brother, Karna. Yudhishtra reminisced how Kunti’s secret was safe till he was killed and how ignorantly they had the stain of killing their own brother in their hands. He recalled how despite the horrible words uttered by Karna that precipitated Draupadi vastraharana, his mind calmed whenever he saw Karna’s feet as he felt the same calmness seeing his mothers’.
Narada shared the Devarahasya to calm the burning agony in Yudhishtra’s heart. Intent on attaining Svarga by being born as Kshatriya to Kunti, Karna’s birth was guided to happen in the specific way, though he ended up being raised by the charioteer couple. Karna learnt the basics with Drona, a fact most of us overlook. Watching Bhima’s physical strength, Arjuna’s skill in archery, the astuteness of Yudhishtra, the humility of NakulaSahadeva, the early access to Gandiva and Krishna’s friendship merely added to Karna’s hatred, jealousy and misery. Due to his innate svabhava, deva’s sankalpa Karna was drawn to Duryodhana.
To dominate the Pandavas, Karna approached Dronacharya and humbly sought Brahmastra. Understanding the perversion driving Karna and also due to his attachment to Arjuna, Drona refused reminding that Brahmanas and Kshatriyas qualify to wield the astra only after prolonged tapasya to purify oneself. Without getting disheartened, Karna took leave from his guru. He proceeded to Mahendragiri where he met Drona’s guru, Parasurama and introduced himself as a Brahmana in the lineage of Brighu. Parasurama, the most famous scion of Bhrigu, was renowned for his dislike for Kshatriyas. Due to his stay in the ashram, he also had access to Devas, Gandharvas, Rakshasas and Yakshas and benefited from their association. Eventually he pleased Parasurama enough and obtained the coveted Brahmastra.
Narada outlined the following reasons for Karna’s death – Brahmana’s curse, Parasurama’s curse, Kunti’s boon, Indra’s boon, Bhishma mocking him as Ardharathi, Salya’s constant intrusion during the war, Vasudeva’s newly created neethi and Arjuna’s weapon range. We will limit our discussion to only Narada’s inputs and not any other extrapolations.
Reason 1: Brahmana’s curse: Karna roamed the forests near the ashrama with his bow and sword in hand. (Read Sita’s explanation of how weapons influence our mind) One day he accidentally killed a cow which was meant for a homa that belonged to a devout Brahmana who excelled in agnihotra. He confessed and sought to pay retribution. The angered Brahmana was very attached to the cow and his indignation grew as it was careless violence against an innocent venerable cow. He cursed that Karna when he meets his cherished foe with whom he has enmity forever will have his chariot wheel buried in sand. Just as the cow was careless in Karna’s presence, Karna will get decapitated when he is helpless. Despite his best efforts to pacify through bribes of costly gems, Karna could not succeed in getting a solution or to reverse the curse.
What we can learn: Sanatsujata, the mind born son of Brahma, advised Dhritarashtra in response to his question on death as - Negligence is death and absence of negligence leads to immortality (प्रमादम् वै म्र्त्युम् अहम् ब्रवीमि सदाप्रमादम् अम्र्तत्वम् ब्रवीमि pramAdaM vai mRtyum ahaM bravImi; sadApramAdam amRtatvaM bravImi). Though Sanatsujata’s insight is very esoteric and deep, we can imply that Karna’s carelessness resulted in the cow slaughter and his own.
Secondly, it appears the Brahmana had realized that Karna was harboring deep hatred already and was destined for battle as a Kshatriya. Lastly Karna’s attempt to bribe his way out of Karmaphala is something many of us follow to the same outcome. When we act carefully that every Karma has a Karmaphala and if desire certain results, we must act accordingly. Desiring Karmaphala against performed Karma is bound to cause heartache.
Reason 2 –Parasurama’s curse: One afternoon Karna was privileged to have his Guru rest his head on his lap, as he was weak from fasting. He had already won Parasurama’s heart and Brahmastra. A fierce bloodsucking worm found its way to Karna’s lap and started burrowing. Fearing that his Guru might wake, Karna tolerated extreme pain. Blood from his wound woke Parasurama, whose mere sight killed the Alarka type worm. A rakshasa, Dansa, arose thanking for his shapavimochana. He confessed that he was reduced this plight for ravishing Bhrigu’s wife. Parasurama now asked Karna to confess as he challenged that no Brahmana would have borne the brunt of such pain without the slightest quiver.
Fearing a horrible curse, Karna confessed that his overzealous desire to possess Brahmastra made him tell the lie and that he was really the son of a charioteer. Parasurama though filled with wrath, smiled and cursed him that he will not remember Brahmastra at the time of his death. He informed that liars do not have a place in the ashram and that there will be no equal to him as Kshatriya (as he will remember Brahmastra) except during his end.
What we can learn: Untruth is the direct outcome of Adharmic desire. Karna’s desire to obtain Brahmastra, fueled by his hate led him directly to Untruth. There is no bigger fault than Mithya. The curse only reiterates the fact that Karna’s mastery of Brahmastra was rendered useless when he needed the most. At other times, when he never used, it just provided him deterrence. Untruth always leads to self destruction.
Reason 3 – Kunti’s boon: Prompted by her desire to protect all her children Kunti thought revealing Karna’s birth secret will avoid the bloodshed. Despite Surya confirming Kunti’s words, Karna stood firm on his limited dharma understanding. He was already exposed to this truth by Krishna, who got the taste of his limited vision. He believed that he ought to repay Duryodhana’s friendship in war alone. To console Kunti he promised not to kill any Pandava except Arjuna and thus there will always be five official children for Kunti. He also forbade her from informing the Pandavas as it will stop the war, robbing his opportunity to fatally duel with Arjuna.
What we can learn: Karna was driven by a primary motto of repaying Duryodhana for his decades of support and an equally dominant desire to challenge Arjuna in a fatal battle. This blinded all the higher ideals of serving the innocent millions, listening to his real parents and even accepting the reasoning of Krishna. Spite for Arjuna was raging despite realizing him as a younger brother. The only good thing Karna had to his credit was forcing Kunti to maintain the secret till the war is over and one of them is dead. This way he protected the Pandavas from the burden. Take care of the dependant by growing bigger shoulders. Always choose the higher Dharma when there is a seeming conflict of two Dharmas.
Reason 4 – Indra: During the twelve year stay in the forests Arjuna was busy obtaining more weapons through his tapasya. In an effort to save his son, Arjuna, Indra comes in the form of a Brahmana and seeks the boon of his kavacha and kundala. The armour and ear rings were fused with his body at time of birth. They arose from amrita, which made him safe from killing in this earthly plane. Surya, Karna’s father, came in a dream, first as a Brahmana and later as himself to reveal Indra’s intentions. Despite the strong advice, Karna was committed to his vow to give any Brahmana whatever he seeks. Surya failing to make Karna see his viewpoint, advised Karna to seek Shakti weapon from Indra in exchange.
Indra came as predicted. Karna exposed his disguise. He argued that Indra will get lasting infamy if he merely got something through deception. Indra agreed to give his Shakti weapon for a single use under dire circumstances and warned abuse will kill the user. Karna saved his sure shot weapon for Arjuna in Mahabharata war. Krishna knowing this strategically brought Ghatotkacha to wreck havoc on the 14th day of the war. The war continued after the killing of Jayadratha, who was the primary reason behind Abhimanyu’s death (Arjuna and Subadra’s son)
Unable to counter the night time war that baffled Drona and Karna, it appeared that the Kauvarva army may not even see daybreak, due to the prowess of Bhima’s son. As everyone sought refuge under Karna, he was forced to use his single use Shakti to destroy Ghatotkacha, thus nullifying the intense desire of Karna.
What we can learn: Karna scaled the highest peaks of dana that is possible with rajoguna. Knowing that giving away the kavachakundala was death, he bravely gave to keep his vow to give anything sought by a Brahmana. Both Surya and Indra showed how far paternal love can go to protect their children. The biggest lesson is even if one has a 100% assured outcome, there is an element of daivam that can produce an unexpected result. Krishna introduced a strategy to blunt all calculations of Karna and Kauravas.
Reason 5 – Bhishma calling Karna Ardharathi: Towards the end of Udyoga Parva both the armies were assembled and discussions steer towards assessing the strengths. To cheer up Duryodhana and upon his request, Bhishma starts classifying the leaders on his side and on Pandavas as Rathas, Atirathas and Maharathas. The long list even featured Karna’s son Vrishasena whom Bhishma called as Maharatha. But when it came to Karna, he demoted his level as less than that of a ratha and called him half a charioteer, ardharathi. He reasoned it as a person who gifted away his real strengths of armor and ear-rings and bearing the curses of the Brahmana and Parasurama. Karna vowed not to fight under Bhishma’s banner. Karna had insulted Bhishma on numerous occasions, but this assessment hit him real hard.
Bhishma had an ulterior motive of protecting Karna. He knew he was a Kaunteya, which he shares with Karna, after he fell to Arjuna’s arrows on day 10. He hoped that his fall will reveal Karna’s secret resulting in peace.
What we can learn: Though Karna spoke bravado, his rating in the eyes of Bhishma affected his morale and psyche. Bhishma’s reminder of his weakness may not have impacted others, but the burden of this own weakness cast long shadows on his capacity. Karna already knew he had an uphill impossible task to counter only Arjuna, but the one protected by Krishna was impregnable. A lot of Karna’s strengths were weakened due to his arrogance, bragging and wrong association. Thus Bhishma merely acted as his conscience to show his faults. Despite Bhishma’s noble intentions, Karna got disheartened due to the wrong timing, one from which he never recovered. Having other dharmic people support our efforts amplifies our strengths and the absence can make a huge dent to our morale.
Reason 6 – Salya: Salya, the King of Madra, was the uncle of Nakula-Sahadeva. Duryodhana through deception forced him to switch sides by extending hospitality under fake auspices. Yudhishtra requested Salya to play a mole, if he ever had the opportunity to play charioteer for Karna. After Drona’s fall on Day 15, Karna led the next two days as Commander in Chief. Finding himself unable to match Krishna’s charioteering that gave Arjuna a huge edge, he sought the support of Salya to be his charioteer, who accepted upon the condition that he will retain his freedom of speech.
Salya kept glorifying the Pandavas and belittling Karna’s efforts. Every powerful measure of Karna was put down with caustic words and every Arjuna effort was super amplified with praise. This constant barrage of negative banter clouded Karna’s mind. Even when Salya turned around to be a cheerleader seeing the heart of Karna in battle and gave advice to aim the nagastra at Arjuna’s chest, pride of Karna and Salya’s recent actions intervened and forced him to aim for his head, which Krishna negated by sinking his chariot.
What we can learn: Constant negative talk, be it coming from others or within is destructive in nature. Salya zapped the enthusiasm of Karna. In our life, many times, we play our own Salya with self doubts or make ourselves to be the focus of negative environment like bad friends. With this heavy weight hanging we make our own task that much impossible. Seek protection from negative talk – from others or within.
Reason 7 – Krishna’s neethi: Krishna found Arjuna very hesitant to take down Karna, who was trying to lift his sunken chariot wheel, on account of Brahmana’s curse. Salya refused to lift the wheel as it was definitely not his role. Karna was still hurtling powerful missiles from ground and even rendering Arjuna stunned to buy time. Seeing Arjuna in dharmasankata, Krishna offered some newer practical suggestions. A Maharathi and commander in chief is having many supplementary reserve vehicles following him. If a wheel is stuck he obviously has numerous options to choose than trying to lift a wheel. Battlefield is not a place for repair or pause. Most importantly he reminded Arjuna of Karna’s cowardly role since their childhood culminating in his role in the killing of Abhimanyu. Arjuna released a powerful mantra sanctified Anjalika which severed Karna’s head.
What we can learn: We already saw Pramada (carelessness) is very dangerous and is synonymous to death and nowhere is this true than a battlefield. Karna was fighting from foot, trying to lift the wheel and made an assumption that all the papas he did along with Duryodhana will not be reminded by Krishna and he will be given special consideration by Arjuna. Our papas have a dangerous tendency of striking us back with its phala when we least expect it or when we feel we are on the top of the world. It will be faulty for Arjuna to be blamed as he we merely an instrument of Karna’s karmaphala to manifest, be it his own bad actions to the Brahmana’s curse.
Reason 8 – Arjuna’s weapon range: Karna was facing a well prepared Arjuna. In his arsenal he had so many weapons for which Karna had no counter. Arjuna was fighting without invoking the superior weapons or was using only to counter the opponents’. In his possession was Rudra’s Pasupatastra, the weapon range of Indra, Yama, Varuna, Kubera (the four dikpalakas, masters of the four cardinal points), besides all the astras of his two gurus – Kripacharya and Dronacharya. The Nagastra of Karna had deceptive action due to Aswasena’s augmented power. In other words, Karna’s weaponry was definitely outclassed.
What we can learn: Karna had always been jealous of Arjuna and due to this blinding emotion, he never saw his flaws, worse yet respected Arjuna’s prowess. Though Karna was a wonderful match, Arjuna had superlative weapons which he never used in the war. Never underestimate the situation or opponent to draw false sense of superiority or let your guard down.
Thus Narada’s extensive insight calmed Yudhishtra temporarily regarding Karna. It will take many weeks of Bhishma’s discourse to heal his heavy heart.
We see Karna’s death is a reminder that for a single Karmaphala to happen there is no one to one connection with the Karma. At times, many of our Karmas can fructify at the same time, thus augmenting its effect. There is also no solace in feeling that we dodged the Karmaphala for long as the delay is only for a more opportune time to fructify. Karna’s death seems to be long predicated over a series of events peppered throughout his life. So does our life, which seems to be barreling towards a direction we keep altering with our Karmas. Not only does this impact this life, but also our next. But the interesting factor is we have the power to choose, set it right or worsen it at every moment of our life, with our thoughts, words and actions.
May we recall the kindness of Krishna who tried to throw in a rope to save even Karna and Duryodhana. Krishna is throwing a new rope in the form of a new day where we can choose a new direction of strengthen our old vasanas. HE leaves the choice of either choosing HIS lotus feet or own dreaded vasanas. May we wisen up and choose HIS lotus feet.
ॐ तत् सत
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