Reading 19:- Mrityunjaya- Karna - My all time favourite!!

To all those, who are new to the character Karna- a brief background-

Karna, the first Pandava, born to unwed Queen mother Kunti from Sun God out of boon given to her from Durvasa rishi, never really knew his birth lineage until the day before, when Mahabharata war was bound to take place.

Karna was abandoned by his mother Kunti at the time of his birth and he was brought up by charioteer Adhirath and Radha mata and hence, being labelled as Son of Charioteer.

And, in spite of his qualities of devotion, courage, fortitude, valor, strength, simplicity, open heartedness; he was labelled as being low born as Son of Charioteer and being insulted all his life.

Karna, is somehow my favorite character in Mahabharata.

I sometimes wonder, the reason for this.

What is it about him that makes me so enthusiastic reading about him, thinking about him.

I often ask myself, is it because I have been reading a lot about him contrary to other characters. That also can be true, because I read about Karna often, Rashmirathi is my top favorite, whenever, someone talks about Karna, my ears just open up and this book Mrityunjaya- again is a wonderful read.

Okay, let’s come back to question- why do I like Karna?

Is it because- he has golden flesh ear rings and skin armour?

Umm…may be, I fantasy about this person possessing such beautiful earrings that light up and shine with the first ray of sun and twinkle like stars in the night. Just imagine, the stars which we see twinkling in the sky, it has come down to earth in the form of earrings to this son of Sun God.

But more than fantasy attached to it, it is a symbol of Karna being an extraordinary character.

No wonder, Karna, by his features alone, is an awe-inspiring character.

He- who spent his entire life, searching an answer to a question “Who Am I”, is someone whose life is full of injustice and uncertainities, but he chooses to face all of them with courage and bravery.

Karna exemplifies that no matter what, “Power to Choose” is always there, every moment.

In spite of the indifferent attitude of Guru Drona in the military training, he chooses to continue his training in solitude and silence, with the blessings of Sun God.

Truly said, A teacher need not be a person alone, a student open to learning, meets one in any form of this Creation.

How Karna been insulted and denigrated on the basis of his caste in spite, of being the best archer, is something that reflects the true color of this society. Colors of ignorance & darkness that determines one’s profession, one’s marriage, one’s behavior- the entire existence of a human on the basis of caste. How ridiculous!! Unfortunately, this society who is veiled by the caste factor, just doesn’t know the true identity of Karna- whether he is Kaunteya or Radheya; whether he is son of Sun God or son of charioteer!!

This is true, even today!! There are people who even do friendships on basis of caste. :D

I feel even during the times of Mahabharata, this caste system carried such an important place that merit just wont get its due place at all. No wonder, if it is present today as well, its roots alone are so deep and prevailing since such a long time.

I often wonder, that even during the times of Mahabharata, caste system was deeply embedded in society. Even during those times, wisdom of Indian Philosophy such as Vedanta, Upanishad were not there , and an individual was seen as a product of his birth in a family lineage rather than the qualities he possessed.

Seeing the life of Karna, i often feel that Karna's life is anyways beyond all this caste & creed, if only, Karna knew the irrelevance of caste, he would have never been affected by all this but the truth is if someone constantly insults you on the basis of caste; it pricks deeply and Karna has lived with this thorn almost all his life.

How is that a society can be so blinded by caste that it didn't even see that a person like Karna can not be low born. But, i guess, whenever, society seems someone larger than itself, it tries to degrade him/her because only then, their ego gets protected.

But the lovely part about Karna is- he endured all.

Sometimes, getting acceptance is just so important that to get that acceptance, one would go to one’s extreme and in the process makes decisions that simply turn the course of one’s life. This is what Karna ended up when he befriended Duryodhan without having the slightest hint that Duryodhan is the snake who is of no one. How the flame of being accepted as Kshatriya took over Karna that he ended up giving his word for life long loyalty to this brutal man; and for Karna- “A person who breaks his word is nothing but an animal.”

I have listened/read somewhere, Mahabharata is not an epic just to be read, rather its just to be seen around us , our very lives can be related to the events of it. And one way to understand Mahabharata , is to ensure that every character is seen as a tendency (वृत्ति ) within oneself. For eg- to understand Dhritrashtra, just see पुत्र वृत्ति / पुत्र मोह within oneself and witness how one gets blinded by this tendency that one even is okay taking evil decisions.

So, in that way, Karna seems to be a tendency present in all of us that wants respect, acceptance of others and in our urge to get that, we often befriend people like Duryodhan, thinking them to be our well-wisher.

But i find one flaw while interpreting this, i can see the tendency with which Karna suffered within oneself, but the great qualities he possessed, i find the existence of those qualities quite far far away within a being. I don't know about others, but I am no where around the qualities that Karna had. And for those qualities, I would consider Karna as the only one in the history of existence.

Karna has been so dear to my heart that I have always asked- Why all of this happened with him? Karna, literally, has all my emotions attached to him.

And the answer that I got is for all the virtues & moralities he has, he didn’t choose Krishna.

Without Krishna, no virtue remains a real virtue.

The lesson indeed is powerful.

Watch this video here-

But still, the question within me sustains. The link above doesn't quench my thirst for getting an answer for Karna.

You can also read an article pertaining to this question here-

Among all the great virtues, that Karna has- his devotion to Lord Surya is like no other, its unparalleled.

How intense his love for Lord Surya is!!

He doesn’t know who he is but his father has always been there with him like a shadow.

Karna’s morning began with ablutions to Sun God and his evening sets with the setting of Sun.

And the way, this book has presented this love affair between father and son, makes reader, fall in love with this love affair.

Karna spending long hours, offering early morning arghya and beginning his day with Sun's darshan, always make me look up from the pages of the book towards the sky and search for Sun God.

This relationship between two of them, is so special.

There are times, when character Karna simply would melt your heart when he says :-

"Had I possessed the impenetrable skin-armour I would have been deprived of the good fortune of being able to apply the auspicious tilak on Vrishali’s forehead."

( Karna had donated his flesh ear rings and skin armour to Lord Indra.)

Vrishali is her wife and her love for her is so immense.

Karna is fire- “He was bereft of skin-armour and flesh ear rings, there was a curse on his head, but he could burn like fire.

Karna is the real hero, no matter what- even he doesn't possess flesh earrings and skin armour- he still has all the qualities of all the five Pandavas.

Karna, who had endured so much agony all his life and whose honor had been so bitterly insulted, were to meet Arjuna on the field, he would pulverise Arjuna with the ease of a whirlwind reducing a thatched hut to shreds in seconds.”

Sometimes, I am unable to comprehend Guru Drona’s obsession with Kshatriya. His frequent insults to Karna on account of not being a Kshatriya is no less than a spear piercing directly into one’s inner self.

For me, Guru Drona is just a school teacher who likes to taunt one student and likes another student.

Guru Drona is so inclined towards Arjuna that he shamelessly asked Eklavya for his thumb who didn’t even learn archery from him rather, considered an idol of Guru Drona as his Guru and learnt all the art.

And similarly, Guru Drona has left no stone unturned to insult Karna on basis of his caste that was falsely imposed upon him, only to ensure that no one can be as skilled as Arjuna.

Even Gurus have their likes and dislikes, to me, he is far far away from the true meaning of Guru and on that account, true meaning of Dharma!!

But above all the insults, all the anger, Karna never lost.

“From today, I scream to the world-“I am a charioteer’s son. I am a charioteer’s son. Birth is an accident of destiny. But effort is in my hands- in my hands.” Should I ever need Brahma-missile, I will obtain it as the son of a charioteer”

Karna tapas, his bhakti towards Lord Parshuram in order to obtain the teachings of Brahma missile is in itself is special, but then, the lie of his identity turned in a curse for him.

Karna can be the only one who having lost his flesh earrings, skin armor, with two curses on his head, suffering with the insults that society throws at him, his promise to Mother Kunti that he won't kill his sons except Arjuna, his prevention to enter the war field by Grandshire Bhisma, bound by his false sense of loyalty and friendship to Duryodhan which ultimately would end his life- is the only one still to challenge Arjuna only with his devotion, courage and strength alone.

However, where there is Krishna, there only prevails Dharma, there only prevails Success; doesn't matter, for that , even Arjuna has to shoot arrow on unarmed Karna- that is against the law of War.

But then, Karna is Karna- he accepts Krishna wish with his folded hands and even on the death bed, has the audacity to get his teeth being broken by stone so as to donate it to a poor Brahman so that he can perform his son's death rituals.

No one should die without knowing Karna in this life.