Was Karna destined to be defeated?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
time Karna got a dream that a Brahmana is going to come and he should not give to that Brahmana so was that his destiny no not necessarily actually Mahabala described that it was the Brahmana who came was actually Indra and the voice that he heard in the dream was Surya so basically there was higher gods also involved in all these activities because they were their progeny over there Karna is a example of what happens when a lower value is made into the highest value see for Karna he was a Kshatriya and he had the mentality of being charitable mentality of being bound to his words honour bound all this is very good but the problem with him was that there are ethics and there are levels of ethics a moral crisis is when one choice is moral the other choice is immoral and that requires strength of character to make the moral choice but an ethical crisis is when there are two choices both are right but which is more right and which is less right that requires not just strength of character it also requires intelligence to perceive properly so for example he had given his word that anybody who asks me for any charity I will give that charity to them this to be bound to be honored to honor one’s word this is very good value but at the same time there are other principles involved he had told Durudhana I will fight on your side and he felt he was bound by that word but when he gave that word to Durudhana right in the beginning the first meeting in Drona’s martial exhibition at that time he did not know about the extent of maliciousness that Durudhana had towards the Pandavas so when he started understanding he eventually understood if you look at the Mahabharata initially whenever the Kauravas are making some evil schemes Karna opposes when Shakuni says let us send the Pandavas to the Varnavar and set their house on fire so Karna says what do you want to do like this challenge them to a war and we will defeat them Shakuni says no we will not be able to defeat them But within that destiny, he could have made choices and he got abandoned counsel from various people to make right choices, but unfortunately, he chose wrong. When Krishna came and invited him to come on Pandava’s side, at that time he rejected and that was a choice which sealed his fate. So it’s not our choices are never destined.
The circumstances that accompany the choices, they may be destined, but our choices are always up to us, but by our choices that we make, we may seal our destiny. So once Karna told that I am going to fight on the Kaurava’s side, then Krishna told him, then we meet in the battle field and that is where you will be meeting your end. And he also knew that it’s going to happen.
So it is not that our choices are controlled by destiny. It is our circumstances are controlled by destiny and our choices are what we do. And by that, we seal our destiny, otherwise, our destiny is quite open for positive reshaping.
Okay, one last question. Yes, sir. Okay.