Just know why killing Karna is healthy
Karna is the sixth Pandava as he too is born of Kunti. But, since his birth took place before she was married to Pandu, she chose to abandon her child. Karna’s father was none other than the sun. In fact, one sage Durvasa had given her a mantra that she could call any deity by chanting it. Kunti, out of curiosity to check the veracity of the rishi’s claim, recited the mantra thinking of the sun as her husband. Lo and behold! The sun was there from whom she conceived Karna. But, for fear of social humiliation, she abandoned Karna in a river. Later, Dhritrashtra’s charioteer Adhirath recovered him from the river and raised Karna as his son with the help of his wife Radha. His upbringing got him a humilating nickname Sootputra—-the son of Adhirath and Radha. He was a born archer and gifted warrior. He went to Dronacharya to learn advance martial arts. But, Drona refused him saying he was not a kshatriya—the warrior class. However, Drona was highly impressed by his bowmanship. Later, Karna went to Drona’s guru Parashuram disguising himself as a brahmin to learn the supreme warfare from him. The reason for his disguise was that Parashuram would only accept brahmins. But, Parashuram came to know that Karna was not a brahmin, he cursed him that he would forget the skills when he would need them the most. Karna was also cursed by a brahmin when he mistakenly killed his cow, saying he would be as helpless as the cow at the time of his death. Karna became friend and adviser of Duryodhan who made him the king of Anga. Karna wasn’t happy when Arjuna won Draupadi in a target contest. Krishna and Bheeshma were very much impressed by Karna’s archery and rated him even better than Arjuna, Later, both the curses came true and Karna was killed by Arjuna in the battlefield when his chariot got stuck in the mud.
Real import: This is history. Karna in Sanskrit means an ear—the intrument of sound reception and cognition. The same way Karna was conceived by Kunti—-by the sound vibration of the mantra given by Durvasa. Durvasa represents anger and curse as a blessing.
What it all means? A temporary powerful sensory vibration overpowers your system and your mind turns 100% receptive to it like ears to a pleasing sound. The mind recieves the vibration, validates its penetration, retains its orgasmic experience keeps it as its baby—makes it a habit. But, the reality dawns and we, like Kunti, disown the baby for fear of humiliation. Karna ( which also means a diagonal line of an equilateral triangle) is born as a warrior against you and yours to justify his existence. He (a formed habit, mistakenly conceived as a righteous impulse) sides with Duryhodhan. Duryodhan (lust) makes it the king of Anga ( angam in sanskrit means body and part of the body ). Karna is habit, which sides with lust and anger. The latter makes it the king of the entire body. That is terrible. A habit is as difficult to defeat as is lust. That is why even Krishna refers to habit as a greater warrior than the all powerful-chittashakti—Arjuna. How to kill a habit? Krishna shows the way —-use your will power along with His support. What happens then? The wheel of Karna—the constancy of habit—gets stuck. Habit tries to unstuck the wheel. But, Arjuna’s arrow barrage bleeds him to death. During the dying moments of Karna, Krishna gets his golden tooth extracted— renders him toothless (ineffective) and cremates him on His palm. That means He takes the remaining pure energy and assimilates it into Himself.
Example: Smoking is a Karna. You always keep it as a righteous impulse. But, in fact, it will always side with lust and anger and gradually rule your body mind system. Empower your will power with the help of Krishna and bleed the habit to death. It takes time, but if you are sincere, you will do it and regain your kigdom. Yes, kill the habit as you yourself have empowered it through repeated action. Take your energy back from it. Weaken it and its wheel will get stuck. This is the moment when you emerge victorious.
Takeaway: Don’t underestimate the power of your bad habit. It has the sun’s armour—natural protective power of the source of energy: It is made of the same stuff as you are. Don’t sympathise with it as that is where it weakens you, because it has all the assets to impress you and draw you back into its tracks.
Next: Who is Bheeshma?
Vivek Sharma
Vivek Sharma