In the previous episode, we had witnessed Guru Dhronachaarya taking over as the next “Senapati” from Bhishmachaarya from the eleventh day onwards. Now as we conclude the Bhishma Parva, we now move into the next Parva called “Dhrona Parva” wherein Guru Dhronachaarya is going to unleash his full potential in the battlefield. As we know, Bhishmachaarya has fallen down and the war has to continue and move forward, it is now the turn of Guru Dhronachaarya and Karna to take charge of the Kaurava army. Now getting into the “Dhrona Parva” straightaway, we get into the first “Upa-Parva” called “Dhrona-Abisheka Parva”. As this Upa-Parva begins, Duryodhana goes to Karna for some consultation. Duryodhana asks Karna thus, “Oh Karna! Now that Bhishmachaarya is not going to be available from today onwards, who should be our next Senapati? You suggest a good name for me!”
We might wonder why Duryodhana asks Karna for this suggestion. It should be noted here that Karna hasn’t even stepped into the battlefield as yet even for a single day so far, and yet, Duryodhana goes for consultation with Karna. The reason is very simple – Duryodhana’s trust upon Karna is unimaginable and is of a different level! It is for this reason that Karna also wanted to repay this trust to Duryodhana by standing alongside him even though he knows that Duryodhana’s ploy is going to be entirely destroyed. Thus, as Karna starts to the battlefield the next morning, all of them coronate Guru Dhronachaarya as the next “Senapati” of the Kaurava army. On his way, Karna meets Bhishmachaarya once more to seek his “Anugraha”. Upon seeing Bhishmachaarya in this pitiable state of affairs, Karna couldn’t hold his tears back! He says thus, “Oh great Bhishmachaarya! You are such a great warrior! More than that, you are someone who gives a lot of importance to performing “Punya Karma”. If such state of affairs can happen to you, doesn’t it mean that no amount of “Punya Karma” can protect us in this birth? Can we infer that the fruits of our “Punya Karma” will never come to us while we live? Won’t we be able to enjoy the fruits of the “Punya Karma” in this Lokha at all?”
Now this is a new aspect that Karna is raising here! Of course, many of us might be having the same question in our minds as well. We might still have an answer for this question thus, “Oh! Only because of all the Punya Karma that Bhishmachaarya has done so far in his life, he is going to get the “Svarga Lokha” to experience all the happiness and pleasures there!” However, Karna’s question is not this – His question is that, only if we get the fruits of our Punya Karma in this Lokha itself, will we be able to motivate ourselves to perform more and more Punya Karma, isn’t it? If we would obtain the fruits of the Punya Karma in some other world, which we would not know about, how would we get that desire to perform the Punya Karma? Moreover, in Bhishmachaarya’s case he knows that he will transcend to the Svarga Lokha at the beginning of the next Uttharayana season. However, in our case, what is the assurance that we will also transcend to the same Svarga Lokha only? What if we go into some other Lokha where we might not be able to enjoy the fruits of all the Punya Karma that we do today?
So let us see the answer for this question here. But before that, we should realize that every coin has two sides. We’re only looking at one side of the story, which is the “Punya Karma”. If we’ve to immediately get the fruits of our “Punya Karma”, shouldn’t this logic apply for the “Paapa Karma” also? For instance, if we commit any blunder which accounts to our “Paapa Karma”, we should also obtain the fruits of it immediately, isn’t it? Are we going to accept the fruits of our “Paapa Karma” immediately in our existing birth itself? Many of us would hesitate, wouldn’t we? If we’re hesitating for this, why are we longing for the other one alone? Thus, Bhagawan knows when to give us the fruits of our “Punya Karma” and when we should obtain the fruits of our “Paapa Karma” as well. There is a time for everything in life and Bhagawan knows this perfectly well. So for today, let us keep pondering over this answer and in the next episode, we shall continue with what Bhishmachaarya has to say to Karna on this! Stay tuned for an important accord! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 