In the previous episode, we witnessed the commencement of the most important conversation between Yudishtra and Bhishmachaarya. The first question here is about Karna’s demise and what were the circumstances that led to the debacle. Yudishtra asked this question first-up because he is still unable to come over the fact that he was behind killing his own brother after all! The guilt is poking Yudishtra big time. However, Sage Naarada tries to dose it down. He narrates the several circumstances that led to Karna’s death, of which we’ve witnessed two of them in the previous episode. We’ve seen how Karna got entangled into two curses – One from his Guru Parasurama, and the other from a Brahmana Rishi. Parasurama cursed Karna because he had lied about his background. Karna had faked himself to be a Brahmana, given the fact that he is a “Kshatrya”. Secondly, Karna accidentally hit a cow of a Brahmana Rishi, which led to the latter cursing him. Apart from these two, there are several other circumstances which led to Karna’s demise, as Sage Naarada continues further.
Moving on further, Sage Naarada says thus, “Oh Yudishtra! These were two direct circumstances which led to Karna’s demise. However, there are other reasons as well. One primary reason was Bhishmachaarya’s constant demotivation. Right from Day One, when Karna wanted to exhibit his talent, Bhishmachaarya, for some reason, described him as “Ardha-Rathi”, and never accepted Karna as a “Maha-Rathi” till the end. This served as a huge demotivation for Karna. Especially that “Ranga-Bhoomi” event instigated Karna a lot, which led to Duryodhana cashing in on an opportunity to reward Karna’s talent, at a time when everyone rejected him. Duryodhana went on to make Karna the king of “Anga Desha”, and from there, all of us know what happened! This resulted in Karna getting more and more resilient for all the wrong reasons. Secondly, at the beginning of the war, your mother Kunthi Devi met Karna secretly and pleaded with him to switch over to the Pandava side. However, Karna refused bluntly, but gave Kunthi Devi a boon – At the end of the war, five of your sons would be alive – The fifth one would be either Karna himself or Arjuna! Thus, as Arjuna won the battle against Karna, he survived, and Karna had to make the sacrifice!”
Saying thus, Sage Naarada continues further – “Oh Yudishtra! During the war, even though Karna had several excellent “Asthrams” with him, Bhagawan Krishna ensured that he uses them against warriors other than Arjuna and the Pandava brothers. For example, Karna’s powerful “Paasupatha Asthram” was employed against Ghatodgaja. This was originally kept by Karna to have a go at Arjuna, but Bhagawan Krishna ensured that the circumstances led him to employ it on Ghatodgaja. This is one reason why Bhagawan Krishna purposefully never let Arjuna go near Karna for a long time in the war, even as nobody understood the reason for the same. It was only when Karna exhausted his powerful “Asthrams”, Bhagawan Krishna brought Arjuna in front of him. Moreover, as the Karna-Arjuna battle was going on, and as Karna fell down from his chariot, Bhagawan Krishna created and crafted a new rule of battle – If a “Maharathi” is not possessing a chariot at that moment of the war, he can always take over from another chariot from someone who is near him. He cannot give an excuse to stop fighting just because he doesn’t have a chariot. Hence, Bhagawan Krishna wanted Arjuna to have a go at Karna, even at a time when Karna was chariot-less and weapon-less. The same logic applies for the weapons as well – If a warrior doesn’t have a weapon with him in a battlefield, it cannot be an excuse to stop the battle. The warrior should quickly borrow weapons from someone and continue the battle. Karna did his best, but at the end of it, Arjuna had the last laugh!”
Sage Naarada continues further thus, “Oh Yudishtra! More than anything else, during a critical battle, you need your charioteer to be able and efficient, isn’t it? But Karna did not have that opportunity towards the end – Especially during the crucial Arjuna encounter. King Shalya ditched Karna at the last moment! Every time when Karna was raging to have a go at Arjuna, King Shalya constantly unmotivated him with his sharp and piercing words. This created a lapse in Karna’s concentration and also hurt his ego very badly. King Shalya was playing mind-games with Karna constantly. Rather than battling against Arjuna, King Shalya ensured that the battle was against him, and not much against Arjuna! Especially when Karna’s chariot stuck to the ground, King Shalya fled the battlefield at that crucial time, rather than helping Karna to get the chariot back on track! So all these reasons and circumstances constantly pulled Karna down. Hence, Oh Yudishtra! It is not your fault that Karna had to meet such an end. It was his destiny that led to his demise!”
Saying thus, Sage Naarada tries to convince Yudishtra and makes him feel better! So for today, let us understand up to this point and we shall continue this discussion further in the next episode as well! Stay tuned!
The Indian Dharma 