If everything in the Mahabharata is arranged by Krishna’s plan why do we blame Duryodhana or Karna?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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Question? If Krishna has arranged everything in the Mahabharata, if everything is happening by Krishna’s plan, then why do we blame the Kauravas and Karna? They had no free will. They just were acting according to Krishna’s plan.
There is a fundamental misunderstanding in this question that when we talk about everything is arranged by Krishna, Krishna does not control us. Krishna never takes away our free will. It is when things have happened, we can see them as Krishna’s plan and make the best out of them.
Krishna is so expert that even when bad things happen, he can bring good out of them. But that does not mean that there is no bad and no good. Actually, there are certain actions which are right, certain actions which are wrong.
And we see everyone, every one of us has free will. So, we could take it in a simple way. First is that scriptures themselves contain guidelines.
Do this and don’t do this. And now, if we had no free will, then what would be the point in scriptures telling us do this and don’t do this? In the Vedanta Sutra commentaries, the Acharyas are speaking, Baldev, Vidyabhushan and before him Ramanavicharya, they all point this out that actually the very presence of instructions in scripture about what we should do and what we should not do, it presumes and it establishes the existence of free will without which there will be no meaning to the instructions. So, we all have free will.
And we see in the Mahabharata, it is not that characters are acting passively thinking everything is already. All the characters are thinking seriously. At least the Pandavas are thinking, should we be doing this? Should we be doing that? Should we be fighting this war? Should we not be fighting this war? Even Arjuna, he is thinking seriously and that’s why the Bhagavad Gita is spoken.
Because he is thinking deliberately and then Krishna tells Arjuna that deliberate further and decide what you want to do at the end of the Gita. So, Krishna also acknowledges Arjuna’s free will. Yathechchidtha Kuru in 18.63 says, you deliberate and do as you desire.
So, the free will is definitely a fact of life. Now, there are statements in the Mahabharata where it is said that ultimately everything was the arrangement of destiny. But when are these statements made, we have to see.
That when Dhritarashtra has lost all his hundred sons and then he is in grievous lamentation. At that time, Vyasa comes to him and tells him, okay, not lament. That the war was arranged by destiny.
But we see before the war, that same Vyasa Dev has come and he has tried vigorously to persuade Duryodhana and Dhritarashtra to not be so obstinate, to give the Pandavas their rightful share, to avoid the war. So, why is that? That means we have to, at that time, the whole purpose was to help them to make a right choice. The right choice, the responsible choice was to give up their greed, give up their envy and live amicably with the Pandava cousins.
So, Vyasa Dev, Parashuram, many many great sages came, the Maitreya Muni and of course Krishna himself came. So, they all tried to instruct, inspire, encourage, persuade Kauravas and of course Karuna to make the right choice. But they did not do the right choice.
Like before that, when Vidura is trying to persuade Dhritarashtra to make the right choice, to stop Duryodhana from his suicidal course. At that time, Dhritarashtra tries to say that if it is the will of destiny that our kingdom be destroyed, our dynasty be destroyed, what can a tiny mortal do in front of almighty destiny? Vidura cuts through his rationalization and he says, okay, destiny determines the consequences of our actions, not our actions themselves. So, you have the choice and the responsibility to act virtuously.
So, the philosophy is spoken in a way that initially, before the war, there is time and time repeated instruction given so that they can make the right choice. But later, after the wrong choice has been made, then instead of letting Dhritarashtra stay sunk in lamentation, oh, why did this happen? Why did this happen? To get Dhritarashtra to forget the past and to move forward. Now that the war has happened, now that his sons have been killed, now he can just keep beating himself up with blame and feel self-pity and self-mortification and just keep suffering.
But now, life has to move on. Okay, what has happened has happened. It was the will of destiny.
Now, you move on. Now, you focus on spirituality. Now, you make your own choice.
Now, you grow. So, the philosophy is presented in a way by which at different times, the characters can make right choices. So, when we say something is happening by destiny, that does not mean that we have no power.
That means we also have to be responsible to make the right choices. So, it is not, so, Karna, Kaurava, Dhritarashtra, they all had their free will. And despite getting good advice from many, many sources, they rejected their good advice and that is why they are considered culpable.
Thank you.