Reading 24:- Mrityunjaya- If Only, I could meet Sri Krishna once and ask him.....?

So all of us know, who is the real hero of Mahabharata!!

Not Arjuna, Not Karna, Not Bhisma but one and only one- Sri Krishna!!

Krishna, Krishna and only Krishna!!

I don’t understand how to begin this but I have been introduced to Krishna as cowherd boy, Yashoda’s dearest, Radha’s love, brilliant fighter, protector of humanity and so on and on. 

But never, did I understand, who actually Krishna is!!

For me, even today, Krishna appears as a character who played its role in Mahabharata- the one which was displayed on Door darshan. 

I have heard all the stories of him, his childhood in Mathura, Vrindavan, his playfulness, his fight with Kansa Mama and to be true, every story is full of wonder and surprise. His role in Mahabharata, the Bhagawad Geeta teaching to his favorite disciple- Arjuna on the war field is immense.

However, I came to revere Krishna, truly understand Krishna only when I joined Vedanta teacher- Acharya Prashant’s Gita Samagam classes. Acharya Prashant’s Gita Samagam classes. And his classes are beautiful and full of wisdom to take one truly to the essence of one’s origin towards Sri Krishna.

Krishna is no longer a character, He is Truth, Atman, Guru, Buddha, Shiva- all is One, just different names. Doesn’t matter, what name one prefers, what matters is one actually chooses constantly to be with Him.

Coming back to Krishna of the book- Mrityunjaya- he is introduced by Karna when he get the news of Krishna killing his Kansa Mama and freeing humanity from his evil acts.

That’s where Krishna comes in picture and the way Sri Krishna is described by Grandshire Bhisma is phenomenal.

“I must warn all the heroes here that if their intention is to measure Sri Krishna with the brilliance of their brains, they will certainly fail. To measure him you must look up at the immensity of the sky. And in the course of time, you will realize that even the sky, compared to him, is infinitesimal.”

 But keeping aside, all the mysteries and divinity associated with Krishna, for once- i would definetely like to ask him- "Why everything happened in the life of Karna, the way it did?'

Why did he introduce Karna to his real identity at the last moment, when all his life- Karna has literally been dying to know his real identity?

How the story been turned out, had Karna been told of his real identity as Son of Sun God and Mother Kunti in the arena itself, rather than a day before the Mahabharata?

In fact, Krishna himself loved Karna to his heart, because Karna's bhakti was so pure.

Krishna himself had been in tears when Karna was lying down in the war field, with arrow in his neck.

Krishna himself performed the last rites of Karna in the barren land so that no sorrow of Karna's life can take any form of grass or life, from the land.

I understand that end of Duryodhan had to be there, the future of a kingdom can't be handed to an unjust ,shrewd and exceptionally blind ruler like Duryodhan.

But still, apart from all this, i deeply wanted Karna to live!!
If only, once, i could get a chance to meet Krishna and ask him- i would ask him- why so late in revealing Karna's identity to him?

Why Karna had to die?

May be, all this sounds pretty, illogical, but then reading the last chapter of Mrityunjaya, wherein death of Karna has been portrayed, i couldn't stop myself.

Krishna, who was brought up among cowherds, knew his real identity but Karna, who was brought up by Adhiratha, the charioteer, never really did. The society consistently insulted him on account of low born ignoring his real qualities of strength, valour, courage, devotion, simplicity & above all, a large heart.

So, was it Karna's fault that he didn't know about himself in spite of persistent questions and efforts he kept on asking about his real self?

Source- Smartprix