Mahabharata characters 68 Karna 2 Status insecurity leads to shocking immorality

This talk is a part of the “Fascinating Mahabharata Characters” series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Welcome back to the Mahabharata Character Series.
We are discussing about Karna. He is about to make his first entry into Kshatriya society at Drona’s martial exhibition. Arjuna in this show excels all and that causes the envy in Duryodhana’s heart to burn intolerably.
As all the courtiers and citizens are cheering Arjuna, Dhritarashtra is grieving. Why are they not cheering my sons like this? And at that time as Arjuna is about to be acclaimed as the champion, suddenly the voice of some thunderous footsteps are heard and the sound of some great warrior slapping his arms and slapping his thighs is heard. And everybody looks at the entrance of the stadium, the arena.
At the entrance, they see a powerfully built, heroic person standing. And with all eyes riveted upon him, he marches in. And just for the first sight, creates within Kunti a special attraction, special longing to, affection to this person.
And then as she beholds him closely, everybody sees the extraordinary ear rings that he is wearing, the kundala and the even more extraordinary armour that he has in his body. That armour seems to be a part of his body itself, rather than being worn about, it seems to be growing into his body. And everybody is wondering who is this mysterious person and what kind of armour is it? But Kunti alone recognises the significance of it.
She understands that this is her son, but jumps out in joy to see that her son is well and has grown into a great warrior. And Karna bows down to Drona and says, I can excel whatever Partha has done. Do I have the permission to exhibit my skills? Drona nods and then Karna dazzles everyone with his skills.
He equals Arjuna in everything that Arjuna has done. As Duryodhana sees this, his heart blooms with joy. Not joy just to see Karna’s talent, but to see Karna as a foil to Arjuna.
Karna as his winning card in their perennial battle against the Pandavas. And Duryodhana is scheming, how can I get Karna on my side? And at that time, opportunity presents itself on a platter to him. Karna asks after he has equalled Arjuna, he asks, can I have a direct duel with Partha? Arjuna is eager.
He immediately picks up his bow. He wants to curb what he feels is the arrogance of Karna. At that time, the question of lineage is asked.
The duels can only be among equals. So when Kripa asks this, Karna hangs his head down and everybody understands that he is not of a royal birth. But this is just the opportunity that Duryodhana is wanting.
He comes right into the centre and he says, look at this warrior. Look at his body, look at his carriage, look at his skill. How can he not be a Kshatriya? He says, even if he is not born as a Kshatriya, still surely he is a Kshatriya.
He says, can a lion be born of a deer? Not possible. He says, he must be a Kshatriya. If he is not a Kshatriya, then I will make him into a Kshatriya.
And right in front of everyone, he says, I will make him the king of Anga. And he calls attendants and asks them to get sacred water. And right in that exhibition, Aruna itself, he anoints Karna as the king of Anga.
Karna is overwhelmed by this affection. He feels Duryodhana has saved his honour at a moment of dishonour for him. He feels extremely grateful.
The tears in his eyes. He turns to Duryodhana and he says, how will I be able to repay you? Duryodhana embraces him. Oh, Karna, all I want is your friendship.
And Karna is even more touched. Now, here he is, an unknown person of low birth and not only has been given the kingdom, but he has been accepted as a friend by by the heir of the Kuru dynasty. He’s overwhelmed.
He says, you will have my friendship forever, throughout my life. And this promise comes to eventually become the cause of the undoing of Karna. At that moment, when Karna is anointed and then they’re ready for a battle, for a duel, suddenly there is a moment and from the stands, a very old person using a walking stick comes running down and he comes across the arena and he enters and comes right towards Karna.
And Karna immediately gets off his chariot, gets off the throne on which he’s been seated for being anointed and coronated as the king of Anga. He gets up and he bows down and Duryodhana and everyone is looking curiously. And Karna turns to Duryodhana and he says, this is my father, Adhirath.
His father has been watching from the stands, being proud to see the excellence of his son’s skills. But when he sees his son being coronated as a king, he can no longer restrain his joy. And Adhirath comes running down to congratulate his son.
And Karna doesn’t hide his identity. And then seeing this, some of the people start laughing over there. Oh, he’s a Suta’s son, how can he fight? Again, Duryodhana comes to his defence and he says he is a Kshatriya by quality and whether he can fight or not fight as the discussion is going on, the sun sets and the situation is left over there undecided.
And here the important thing is that Karna feels that Duryodhana has done me a great favour, which is true at one level. But Duryodhana was basically using the opportunity to emotionally manipulate Karna and make him permanently devoted to him. So Duryodhana had his ulterior motives.
At this point, Karna may not have had any idea of Duryodhana’s ulterior motives. And so he may have accepted out of gratitude and that is good. But we see how as the Mahabharata progresses, Karna’s character regresses, unfortunately.
By the bad association of Duryodhana, Karna starts also not only doing, not only first acceding to bad things, but later on doing bad things, doing evil things and then eventually even suggesting evil things for Duryodhana to do. So then Karna time and again, although he is extremely powerful, he is unable to show his prowess at the right time and he comes off a cropper at various times. For example, when he goes immediately after this to get a Dakshina of Drupada’s kingdom, he and the Kauravas are defeated and eventually Arjuna and Pandavas defeat Drupada.
So he is shown to be lower, but still Duryodhana’s confidence in him does not waver. Although once, twice, thrice it happens, but still Duryodhana maintains his confidence, keeps his confidence in Karna. Now after this Karna becomes a close confidant of Duryodhana and he starts assisting him in all his schemes.
So initially when Shakuni suggests that send the Pandavas to Varanavarath and let them be burnt. So Karna opposes this. Why try such things? Challenge them for open fight and defeat them.
Shakuni says that no, we will not succeed. They are too powerful. Karna does not agree with the assessment.
But Duryodhana, seeing Duryodhana inclined towards Shakuni’s plan more, Karna stays silent. And then again Karna is more than matched by Arjuna, Indraupadi, Swayamvar. And then after that Bhima, after that when the Rajasuya gets to be performed, at that time Bhima goes around to conquer the eastern direction.
And that time he comes to the, he defeats a king named Karna. Now some people say that this was a different Karna, but actually Anga is on the, Anga Raj is on the, Anga is in the eastern direction. And the Mahabharata also mentions that this Karna was a conqueror of kings and he was defeated after a stiff fight by Bhima.
So because the Mahabharata does not qualify that this Karna is different from some other Karna, so there are other characters also in the Mahabharata by the name Karna. But because there is one Karna who is prominent, so by default it is understood that whenever the Mahabharata refers to Karna, it is referring to this Karna. And if it is going to refer to some other Karna, it will qualify that.
So because it doesn’t qualify, so it is as if Bhima has defeated Karna. So then of course, because Karna is a friend of Duryodhana, so Karna is also there with Duryodhana in the Rajasuya Indra sacrifice. And he is also given a significant role there.
And then after that, when the, when this is Duryodhana’s envy at that, he decides to fully, he fully, not only supports but also delights devilishly in Duryodhana and Shakuni’s dreadfully evil plan to dispossess the Pandavas. Unfortunately, it is here Karna. Karna is often seen as a paragon of virtue, of always honouring one’s word, of unfailing friendship.
But here we see, yes, Karna had all those virtues, but unfortunately, the bad association of, Duryodhana spoiled him so much that here, especially in the assembly, Karna comes out, comes out very tainted, severely besmirched by his own misbehaviour. So it was Karna who actually suggests that Draupadi be brought in the assembly and disrobe. It is Karna who suggests that Draupadi be told to stay in the seven chambers.
And it is Karna who says that Draupadi, having married five husbands, is already like a harlot, a prostitute. These are horrible, unmentionable and unforgivable offences to a chaste woman. And by speaking thus, actually Karna seals his path with death.
And Arjuna takes a vow to that effect also. Karna sneers at the vow. He always feels confident that I will be able to defeat Arjuna whenever our encounter takes place.
Now, if Karna was virtuous, what motivated him to do this? Firstly, to the bad association with Duryodhana and that bad association with Duryodhana, Karna’s whole, because he was from a lower birth, so he had always a great status anxiety. He always felt insecure. Do people recognise me or not? And often that desire to be recognised by others warped his sense of morality.
And his position depended on Duryodhana’s favourable disposition. And that’s why he needed to do whatever it took to please Duryodhana. And he went out of his way, way, way out of his way.
In fact, he went against his own principles also in many ways. When in order to please Duryodhana, he suggested that let Draupadi be brought in dishonoured. Now, Duryodhana had also been a suitor at Draupadi’s fayamvar and he had failed to win her hand.
And then when Karna had also, according to some versions, been not allowed or in some versions failed, but either way he had also not won the hand. So he wanted to take revenge again of that also. But the extent to which, of the depravity to which he sank, it was not just the dishonouring of Draupadi, but further the insistence that nothing wrong was happening.
That when Vikarana said that Draupadi had not been won, he silenced Vikarana and he countered, he opposed him. And he ensured that the grievous misdeeds went on and were not stopped. And even when Vidura tried to stop, he countered Vidura also, chastised him although he was younger to him.
And there Karna comes out in his worst colours actually. Now after this, Duryodhana, Karna are living in Hastinapur. And then there is the ill-fated attempt, which again Karna and Shakuni suggest and they justify, let us go and flaunt our wealth before the Pandavas.
And before them, let us also show, and in order to get the permission from Dhritarashtra, we can say that we are going there to look at our cowherd and to reward those who are looking after the cows, the cowherd men. So they go there and there again Karna is defeated, severely wounded by the Gandharvas and he has to flee. And again Karna is shown to be inferior by inference to Arjuna.
Gandharvas defeat Karna and Arjuna defeats the Gandharvas. So then when Duryodhana, Karna, Vishwas and Shakuni, they all come back to Hastinapur, at that time Bhishma, Vidura, Drona, Kripa, they all try to make Duryodhana see good sense and they say, see you have relied on Karna so many times and see Karna is no match to Arjuna. You were advised not to go to Kamya and you went and see what happened.
Give up your faith in Karna, he is no match to Partha either in virtue or in skill or in heroism. So Duryodhana does not even pay any heed to Bhishma and walks out. Bhishma is not surprised but he is disappointed.
And then Duryodhana speaks these words to Karna. He is feeling uncomfortable. Duryodhana does not want to admit that Karna is inferior to Arjuna but the facts are coming again and again and confronting him and he cannot avoid that.
So he speaks it and Karna immediately picks up his bow and he says, oh Duryodhana’s grandsire repeatedly reviles me. I can tolerate it no longer. He says give me an army and I will conquer the world for you.
I will conquer the world for you and in this way you can perform a sacrifice like the Rajasthi that was performed by Yudhishthira. So Duryodhana is delighted. He said, oh you indeed are a friend.
This is the kind of heroism that Kshatriyas are famed for and he immediately goes about assembling an army and at that time when Bhishma and Vidura hear this plan, they oppose it. They disapprove it. But Dhritarashtra accedes to it and then they are not pleased with it but they let it go ahead.
Maybe Karna will be defeated and his pride will be checked. But then Karna takes an army and he marches off. He goes towards Panchala and now Drupada, his daughter has been married to Draupadi and he knows the Pandavas are virtuous.
So he would pay tribute to Yudhishthira but not to Duryodhana. So he refuses and there is a stiff fight and Karna now fired by his determination and aided by the massive army that Duryodhana has provided him slowly but surely overpowers Drupada and when Drupada is defeated at that time finally he agrees to come for Duryodhana’s sacrifice and to offer tribute. And then Karna goes to the north, then he goes to the east, the Trigartas, Kekayas and various kings he meets and he fights with all of them, grinds them slowly and surely and defeats them.
After one full year of campaign, he has conquered all the four directions and comes back and brings a huge quantity of tributes and he comes and Duryodhana is out waiting to welcome him and embrace him. Duryodhana tells him that oh what Bhishma, Drona, Kripa, none of them could do for me. You have done for me Karna.
You are my closest friend. I am proud of you and Karna comes in and he informs of how now Dhritarashtra is the conqueror of the world and he offers a respect to Dhritarashtra. Dhritarashtra picks him up and embraces him and from that day Dhritarashtra feels like Karna is like his own son and then Duryodhana decides to perform a Rajasuya.
But then the Brahmins come and tell that no actually the Rajasuya cannot be performed by anyone else as long as Yudhishtira is alive. At one time on the earth only one person, one king who has performed the Rajasuya can be living. So then Duryodhana is disappointed.
But the Brahmins are also intelligent and seeing Duryodhana’s desire and wanting to engage him in dharma, they suggest that but you can do the Vaishnav sacrifice. This sacrifice is always equivalent to Rajasuya and it actually has not been performed by anyone except Lord Vishnu himself till now. Duryodhana is pleased and then he makes lavish arrangements for sacrifices and kings from all over the world come and a magnificent sacrifice is performed and all the Kuru citizens attend the sacrifice and Duryodhana is extremely proud of it and many citizens glorify Duryodhana but there are some bold citizens who say yeah but this sacrifice is no match to Yudhishtira’s Rajasuya which is far grander.
Duryodhana hears this but remains silent. He does not want to accept that fact but he can’t deny it and his face twists in dismay and Karna has also heard these words being spoken and when he sees Duryodhana feeling dismayed, he picks up his bow and he says oh friend listen to me. He says I take this vow.
He says till the day I kill Arjuna, he says I will not eat luxurious food nor will I refuse anyone in charity and I will avoid comforts. I take this as a vow. So basically Yajidana Tapa.
He says he will do some form of Yajidana Tapa as a austerity, as a method of, as a vrata till he takes a vow to kill Arjuna and thereby glorify Duryodhana. Duryodhana is very pleased by this and overall the relationship between Duryodhana and Karna becomes sealed very strongly by this incident and then after this towards the end of the 13th year the Pandavas are in Aghyatmas and we know how Karna and Duryodhana and the whole Kuru army goes to Virat and there Arjuna single-handedly defeats all the Kauravas including Karna. Karna whenever he hears that incident rankles his heart, rankles his heart.
Why? Because he thinks if only I had taken my Shakti Astra at that time I would have killed Arjuna and I would prove into the world my superiority over Arjuna. That didn’t happen. Now actually before this incident and towards the 12th year of the exile this incident of Karna getting the Shakti Astra happens.
So now knowing that the war is inevitable and so Arjuna’s father Indra thinks of ways of doing good for his son and he knows that as long as Karna has a Kavacha he may get wounded but he cannot be killed. So desiring to do good he plans to approach Karna. Now Karna has taken a vow that he will never refuse charity to anyone who comes to him and asking for charity.
So knowing this vow he decides that he will ask him for the charity of his Kavacha. So now the Devatas they all have the mystic powers and Surya who is the father of Karna senses this and he immediately comes to Karna. Now Karna would daily worship Surya Dev, this was as Aaradhya Dev.
He did not know but from his childhood he felt a great attraction to the Sun God and he would worship him. So one day when he was worshipping him and then it was like a dream like vision when he heard a voice and saw an effulgent personality said, in the future a Brahmana will come to you and that Brahmana will ask you for your Kavacha and Kundali. He says, do not give them because giving them will be your death.
As long as you have them you will not die and he said, I speak these words only for your benefit. So Karna is amazed and he with folded hands he asks, it’s almost like a dream but it’s real also. He knows that this is happening but it’s so extraordinary what is happening.
He asked, who are you oh effulgent one who are so concerned for my well-being. He says, I am the God of light, Sun God. Karna is delighted.
The Lord whom he has been worshipping for so long, he has graced him with his presence and his guidance and yet he feels stone in his heart and he says, I am most grateful to you that you have graced me with your presence and guidance and yet he says, for me, I cannot follow your words. For me my honour is my everything. I would rather die than lose my honour.
I have taken a vow that I will never refuse anyone who comes to me for charity. How can I refuse this Brahmana if he comes and asks me for charity of this. He says, I am grateful to you for your advice but I cannot follow it.
Please be gracious to me and let me do as I desire. So now Surya, he knew the mind of Karna and he expected this response and Karna had prepared and Surya had prepared a plan B also. So he told Karna, it is best if you keep your Kabbaja.
But seeing that Karna was adamant, he said, if at all you have to give your Kabbaja, then you should ask for something else in return and then he revealed something else. Then actually Suryadeva had earlier also revealed that Indra will be coming and Karna thinks for him honour is everything. He says that he sees this as an opportunity to great honour.
He sees that, he thinks that normally I can give blessing, I can give charity to human beings on the earth. But how can, what an opportunity that I can give charity to a God. Normally the Gods, humans go to the Gods and seek blessings from them.
So if a God comes to a human being and asks for blessings and a human being gives the blessings, then what greater fame can a human being get. He feels that I cannot let such an opportunity for fame go by and therefore he decides that, he determined, I will give charity. So at that time Surya tells him, okay, then you should, if you have to give your Kabbaja, then ask him for his Shaktiastra.
That will ensure that you will be able to kill your opponent. Surya disappears saying this. Karna folds his hands, thanks Surya and then awaits the moment when this momentous meeting will take place.
Eventually, that day happens. After completing his worship in the river where he offers prayers to Sun God while standing in the river with hands upraised, he turns around and that time whoever Brahmanas are there, Karna gives charity to them. So at that time he sees an effulgent looking Brahmana.
He senses something divine, something special about this Brahmana and then asks, what can I give for you? He says, first you should give me a word that you will give me whatever I ask of you. Immediately Karna starts intuiting, this must be Indra. And then he says, yes, but I have already given my word that I will always give charity to whoever asks.
He says, yes, but I want your specific word because what I am going to ask of you is very difficult. So then he says, yes, I will give. He says, give me your Kavachan Kundala.
And he says, oh Brahmana, what will you do with this Kavachan Kundala? They are useless. He says, I can give you wealth, I can give you cows, I can give you more charity than what you will need throughout your life. Now Karna has immediately understood this is Indra, but he is just playing along over here.
And he says, no, I do not want any of these things. I want only your Kavachan. So then Karna becomes grave and he says, oh Brahmana, you know that I will not refuse your charity, but this Kavachan is a part of my body and cutting this Kavachan and giving it to you will spell my death.
Because what you are asking for me, from me is my life. And that is why I am offering you alternatives. The Brahmana remains grim.
He says, you have promised me, promised to give me whatever I asked for. And Karna now decides to remove the mask. He says, oh, I know who you are.
You are the god of the gods. You are the king of the gods. You are Indra.
And he says, I know why you have come to ask me. You have come to do good for your son Arjuna. Normally it is the gods who should give me, give humans blessings.
But you are asking me something that will cost me my life. If at all you must take it, then you must give me something in return. And then he says, give me your Shakti weapon.
So now Indra becomes thoughtful. And he says that yes, when this I discharge the Shakti weapon, it can kill thousands of my enemies. I will give it to you.
But it’s one condition. It will be able to kill one of your enemies. And after that, it will come back to me.
Karna is unfazed. He says, there is only one person whom I want to kill. Indra says, I know whom you want to kill.
But that person is protected by a high-souled one and he cannot be killed. Karna says, be that as will be. Please give me your weapon.
Then Indra says, yes, I will give it to you as soon as you give me your Kavacha. And then Karna asks, as I cut my Kavacha, I beseech you that let me not become disfigured by it. Because I will have to cut from my own body.
Indra says, yes, because you are doing such exceptional charity, therefore you will not be disfigured. And then Karna takes a knife and starts cutting off the Kavacha and the Kundala and the Kavacha. And as he cuts off, blood starts coming from his body.
And seeing that he is giving such a difficult charity, cutting his practically his own flesh, all there are devtas shower flowers and cheer, cheering sounds are heard. And as he gives the Kavacha and Kundala, blood dripping from it, blood dripping from his body, Indra smiles and he gives him the Shakti Asra. As he gives the Shakti Asra, as there is a contact with Indra and Karna, Karna’s body is restored to its former beauty.
And then Karna sees in front of his eyes that Indra has disappeared. So in this way, Karna gives his extraordinary charity in which he gives his own Kavacha. Now of course, now some people may say that Indra cheated him this way.
But actually it was not exactly cheating. Because and it was actually a very great charity. Yes, it was definitely a great charity.
But then for him, he converted the charity into a swap. So that Kavacha would not have guaranteed him victory. It would have only guaranteed him protection from death.
But he got a weapon which could have guaranteed him victory. So certainly it was not a completely disastrous loss. It was a loss in one sense, but it was also a gain in one sense.
And this gain could have proved fatal for Arjuna. But how Krishna intervened and protected Arjuna from Karna’s Shakti, we will discuss in our future sessions. Thank you.