In the previous episode, we were at a crucial juncture, wherein Arjuna’s life is at threat once again – This time from Karna’s powerful “Naaga-Asthram”. Both Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna did not anticipate this coming, however, Karna errs in his judgement and employment of the “Asthram”. King Shalya gives a cryptic advice to Karna to aim for Arjuna’s chest, however, Karna thinks otherwise – He wants to aim the “Asthram” at Arjuna’s head! Even though King Shalya repeatedly keeps telling Karna to change his decision, Karna’s ego overpowers his intellect and goes ahead to employ the “Asthram” towards Arjuna’s head. Thus, as the “Asthram” makes its way with a lot of poison emulating from it, Arjuna is stunned! He doesn’t have a counter to it and does not know how to get away from its track. Now, it is up to Bhagawan Krishna to spin yet another “Leela” to protect Arjuna. What does He do? Let us continue to witness!
Moving on thus, as the “Naaga-Asthram” makes its way from Karna’s bow towards Arjuna, Bhagawan Krishna quickly comes to a conclusion – The only way to stop this “Asthram” from hitting Arjuna’s head is by lowering the surface level by a few inches! We know that the Kurukshetra battlefield is amidst the Gangetic plains and is almost on par with the sea-level only. Now Bhagawan Krishna has to take this particular segment of the battlefield below the sea-level, so as to bring Arjuna’s level down and the “Asthram” can pass over his head. So how does He execute this? Bhagawan Krishna suddenly stops the chariot and jumps out of it to stand with His divine lotus feet on the ground. The moment Bhagawan Krishna does this, Goddess Bhoomadevi immediately understands Bhagawan’s intent and thus, immediately pulls the ground downwards by a few inches! By doing so, the area surrounding Arjuna’s chariot goes a level down. However, the Asthram’s track cannot be changed anymore, once it has been released. Thus, the “Naaga-Asthram” passes over Arjuna’s head, plucking away his “Kireetam” (Cap worn by warriors) and saving him! Thus, by letting the “Naaga-Asthram” pass by without doing any harm to Arjuna, Bhagawan Krishna protects him with all His compassion! Arjuna escapes unscathed yet again! We’ve seen earlier that Bhagawan Krishna had protected Arjuna from several “Asthrams” and death traps like this during the past seventeen days. Thus, the point is very clear here – If we are surrendering unconditionally to Bhagawan’s divine lotus feet, it becomes His responsibility to protect us at all times. We do not need to worry about our protection. At times of danger, Bhagawan swings into action with His divine “Leelas” to ensure that nothing harms us. For this to happen, we as ardent “Bhaktas” of Bhagawan Krishna, should have faith upon Him. This is more important.
Moving on thus, as this happens, Karna is stunned! He never anticipated that Arjuna would be able to escape the “Naaga-Asthram” unscathed! This was the last lethal weapon that Karna had in his possession and now this also has been neutralized! Now Karna realizes – King Shalya was perhaps right to say that he has to aim the “Asthram” towards Arjuna’s chest and not towards his head! Had he followed King Shalya’s advice, Arjuna would have been history by now, and perhaps, even Bhagawan Krishna wouldn’t have been able to do much to protect him! Thus, through this lapse of concentration, the curse that Karna had got from his Guru Parasurama earlier in his life had been partially fulfilled! We had seen this in our previous episodes – When Karna was being cursed by Parasurama, he had clearly mentioned that Karna would forget important lessons pertaining to warfare in the middle of the battlefield, and here at a crucial juncture at Kurukshetra, Parasurama’s curse comes true!
Unfazed by this however, Karna makes a move forward and attacks Arjuna with several arrows non-stop. Even though Arjuna is trying to counter everything, he struggles to contain Karna’s aggression beyond a point. Both of them are extremely good warriors and they are showing their prowess upon each other in the marquee battle. Now, as Karna tries to make progress, he asks King Shalya to drive the chariot forward, closer to Arjuna. As King Shalya does so, the next curse from the Brahmana Rishi is now going to come true! So let us understand up to this point for today, and in the next episode, we shall witness how Karna had to falter once again in front of Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna! Stay tuned!
The Indian Dharma 