Value Education and Spirituality 11 – Mahabharata 5 – Karna 2 – Life of honor is more important than

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Welcome back to the Value Education and Spirituality series. We are discussing about from the Mahabharata about Karna. So we will discuss about how a life of honor is more important than a world of honor.
Life of honor refers to living a life of honorable principles, living a life of virtue. And a world of honor means that one has made a promise and one keeps that promise. So now Karna is often glorified for having promised to help Duryodhana and sticking to his promise till the end.
The Karna’s life is very complex and the morality in that is often difficult to understand. But we will try to look at some principles over a series of sessions. So now here, what do we see that Duryodhana and Karna, their friendship was forged when in the martial exhibition that Drona had organized for exhibiting the military skills of his students.
At that time, Drona had his Gurukul where he trained the various Pandavas, Kauravas and other Kshatriya’s sons also. And they all became great heroes. And then their skills were exhibited.
So it was like a victory lap which sometimes champions run after say India wins the World Cup. And after winning the World Cup then the Indian cricketers go on a victory lap. So it’s a moment of celebration basically.
So it is meant to be a moment of celebration for the students of Duryodhana. And all of them came, Dronacharya, all of them came and exhibited their skills. And among them Arjuna excelled all, especially in archery as well as in others also he was outstanding.
So now at that time Karna gate crashed over there. And he came in with a powerful stride and he said can I exhibit my skills also. I can exceed whatever Partha has done.
So then he actually said he would exceed but he equaled whatever Arjuna had done. He couldn’t exceed when he did but still even equaling was a stupendous feat. And then when he realized that he had not been able to excel he decided to try to show his excellence, his superiority over Arjuna in another way.
And he asked can I have a duel with Partha. Arjuna immediately stiffened and picked up his bow. As soon as he seen Karna he felt a strong urge to curb his pride.
So before the battle could take place at that time the question came of the antecedents. When we have say a tennis match, there are qualifiers. If there is a medal final going on, how do people get to the finals? First there are seeded players that give direct rank, direct entry.
And others who are not seeded, they are qualifiers. So there are qualifying rounds and after qualifying rounds if they win it then they can come to the main tournament. So imagine if somebody has a medal final going on and suddenly somebody comes and says I challenge the champion.
Now the antecedents have to be ascertained. What right do you have to challenge the champion like this? So naturally, accordingly Kripa asked Kripa and Dronavair, we could say facilitating, supervising, referring the match exhibition. And they said yes, tell us the antecedents.
Now one of the antecedents at that time was one’s lineage. Which family does one come from? So when Karna was found that he was not from a Kshatriya lineage, that was something which stood against him. So was that the only thing that disqualified him? That was the important thing.
Think about the situation that can someone just get crashed into a championship and just demand that allow me to participate. So not just allow me to participate, I want to challenge the champion. Well, first prove your credentials.
So then when that point was made that he was not from a Kshatriya parentage, so then we’ll discuss about the parentage of Karna and seeming caste discrimination against him later. But right now, let’s focus on the central issue over here. So at that time, Duryodhana came to his defense.
As soon as Duryodhana had seen the skill of Karna, he had been delighted. He said, this person, if he’s in my camp, then he will be the ideal foil for Arjuna. I can manage Bhima’s expertise as mace.
I’m better than him in mace fighting. But I need someone to counter Partha. And Karna will be there.
So he was just looking for an opportunity to get Karna on his side. And then he defended Karna. And he said, can’t you see his skill? Surely he must be born Kshatriya only.
So now what happened at that time is he said, OK, if you say that he’s not a king, then I will make him a king. And he gave him the Anga kingdom. So actually speaking, if you see, Duryodhana himself was not the king.
Dhritharashtra was the king and Dhritharashtra was also officiating king. The Pandavas were supposed to have become the kings. So that means that the Pandu was the king.
And after that, Dhritharashtra was only the caretaker. So Duryodhana was actually the son of the caretaker. And if any decision of giving the kingdom was to be done, that decision had to be done in consultation.
No one person had authority to do that. But Duryodhana, acting as if he were the king, gave a part of the kingdom called Anga to Karna. And now Karna felt so grateful and understandably so.
At a moment where his honour had been sullied or allowed to be sullied, his honour had been saved. And he said, oh, I’m so grateful to you. What can I do for you? He said, I do not want anything from you except your friendship.
He said, that you will have till my dying breath. And Karna’s gratitude was understandable. But at that time, Karna was not aware of the tension, the violent tension that existed between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, although he could sense some things.
But then he did not realize that he had just signed on to become a puppet, a pawn in Duryodhana’s manipulative schemes against the Pandavas. So, Duryodhana would use Karna as a foil. It was only because of the presence of Karna that Duryodhana became so reckless and so shameless in defying the Pandavas, denying them their legacy, and insulting them and then insulting them and goading them.
He did all that because he felt that if there is a fight, Karna will take care of Arjuna. So, in that sense, Karna became a puppet in the hands of Duryodhana. And then eventually what happened? Actually, because of the situation, Duryodhana started to become more and more spoiled.
Not only was he first assented to evil schemes, but eventually he started actively participating in those evil schemes. And then just before the final match, before the final battle took place, or rather the battle started, the final war started, before that, Krishna came himself to avoid war as a messenger of peace. And he tried to make the Kuru assembly cease.
The Kuru assembly said that actually Duryodhana was to decide. He tried to make Duryodhana cease and Duryodhana did not listen. And Krishna at least thought that we can minimize the violence if the number of people fighting on the side of Duryodhana is less.
So, before he left, he approached Karna. He told Karna that you are actually a virtuous person. You are not meant to be on the side of the evil Kauravas.
If they are evil and they have done misdeeds, then they are going to die because of their misdeeds. And if you stay on their side, you will also die. And not only so, both from this point of view, you will lose because you will die.
And from the point of view of the next world, you will be siding with vice. And that will stigmatize you for all time to come. So, why do you want to side with vice? He said, come over to the Pandavas’ side.
And he said, you are not actually a Sutaputra, you are the son of Kunti. He said, you are the eldest Pandava and you can become the king. Yudhishthira and Arjuna and all the Pandavas will serve you as their eldest brother.
Now, was Krishna tempting Karna here? Actually, that will appear like that. We will talk about the relative military prowess of Karna and Arjuna later. But Arjuna was throughout better than Karna.
And in that sense, it was not that Krishna was afraid whether Arjuna will be able to defeat Karna or not. What Krishna was concerned was minimizing the hostilities. Initially, his attempt was to defuse the hostilities entirely.
If you are going to defuse it, stop it entirely, at least minimize it. That’s why he was making Karna a more than reasonable offer. Now, what did Karna say? He said that, actually, nothing doing.
He said that Duryodhana has chosen to fight this war trusting me and my word. How can I give him up now? I have got more life with my wife and my brothers and my family. How can I give them all up to go back to the Pandavas? He said, I know that I am going to die.
I know that the Kauravas are vicious and they are going to die. But I cannot dishonor my word. Now, at one level, it may seem a very glorious thing to say that.
Better to choose death because one wants to honor one’s word. That is good. But at the same time, the problem that comes up with this is honoring one’s word is good, but what is the cause for which one is honoring the word? You know, there are sometimes, say, in Pakistan, Afghanistan, there are poor boys who are practically starving because they are born in poverty.
Sometimes they are deserted also. And then some jihadi terrorists come along and then they feed the children. And then they offer the children food, clothing, shelter and a relative, a level of security which they never had.
Now, at that time, if suppose a terrorist offers a shelter to withdraw children, for the child, it’s natural to be grateful to whoever has offered shelter. But when this child grows up and then understands this person, what is he doing? This person is killing innocent people. Hundreds and thousands and thousands of people sometimes are being killed.
And I’m expected to join that. So when one becomes aware that, OK, something terribly wrong is happening. So the child may have said, oh, you saved my life.
I will give my life to you. I will do whatever you tell me. At that stage in one’s childhood, one may have said that.
But does that mean that one has to stick to that word irrespective of consequences? Now, the point is not that one shouldn’t have adverse consequences against oneself. Even if it is difficult, we should stick to one’s word. If one’s word is helping one to go on the path of virtue.
But if one’s word is causing one to go against the path of virtue, is going to cause so much harm to others, and is going to make oneself into an immoral, criminal sort of person. Then at that time, one can have gratitude for one good thing that one has done at one particular time. But that doesn’t mean that one gives up all one’s principles and becomes a slave to that person for the rest of one’s life.
No, that’s completely wrong. So the point here is that actually the Karna’s calculations were fundamentally wrong. His calculations were that, oh, that Duryodhana has saved my honor, therefore I have to give my life to him.
But Duryodhana, was he himself an honorable person? Was he a person who was doing good for others? A man who, you know, the activity of disrobing a woman in public, this is activity that is done by street gundas, you know, uncivilized barbaric people. Now imagine if a king does something like this, and kings may do these sort of depraved things, but they do it in their private chambers with women of the trade, with that kind of woman, but with a royal woman in a public assembly, in the presence of one’s elders, if one does something like this, such a person becomes the king. What kind of example is such a person setting for everyone? What are the people going to do? Not only are the people going to get a terribly bad example, but if the king can do this with one woman, the king can do it with any other woman.
And what all other atrocities can such a king not do? So, to compare Duryodhana with a brutal jihadi is not an extreme example. Yes, it is extreme because it brings out the point very provocatively. The point is, not that Duryodhana was a jihadi, the point is that Duryodhana was unprincipled, unscrupulous, immoral, insensitive, brutal.
And to side with him unquestioningly for all of one’s life, just because he has helped him at one particular time. That is entirely wrong. And to side with him at a time when, now it’s understandable that we cannot just give up our material security and material concerns just for the sake of principles.
Yes, very principled people can give it up. But it’s understandable if we also have concerns for our material security when we decide to do or not do a particular thing. But Karna’s concerns for material security were also addressed by Krishna.
Krishna told him that you are just now like a sub-king, a vassal under the Kuru dynasty. You will become the sovereign of the whole Kuru dynasty if you come as head of the Pandavas. So, not only he was getting material security, but he was getting material improvement also.
So, what Krishna was offering Karna was not defection but redemption. Defection means one goes from one side to another side before a war. One switches loyalties.
But redemption means that one knows that one has done something wrong and one comes back to the right path. So, if Karna had not got mixed up with Duryodhana, if Karna had not got spoiled by the ladder stream of Duryodhana, then Karna would quite likely have lived a life of virtue. Because he had a significant amount of virtue in him.
So, what Krishna was offering Karna was a return to the life of virtue which he would probably have chosen if he had not got entangled with Duryodhana. So, instead of grabbing that opportunity to redeem himself, Karna self-righteously rejected it thinking that he was doing the right thing. And in that process he ended up doing a terribly wrong thing.
So, that’s how when we have to make our choices and our decisions, we cannot do them just based on sentimentality or consideration that I have given my word. Yes, I have given my word, but what is the consequence of giving my word? And more importantly, who is the person who is asking me to think anything again? So, Krishna, the speaker of the Bhagavad Gita, he is considered to be God, he is supremely wise and he is giving advice and giving reasonable arguments. Karna did not consider them at all.
So, he betrayed his own virtue, he rejected the compassion of God and he actually brought ruin upon himself. All because he got into an ethical dilemma. See, moral dilemma means there is one thing which is right and another thing which is wrong.
So, one just needs strength of character to choose the right thing. But ethical dilemma means there are two things, both of which seem to be right and one has to choose which is the higher right and which is the lower right. So, sticking to one’s word is always a good thing.
We would think like that. But is it always a good thing? Suppose somebody has taken a word, I will always speak the truth. And there are some riots going on.
And at that time the rioters are pursuing some person, that person is our friend and that person comes to our house and says, please hide me. And we hide him in the house and then the rioters come. Is he here? What do we do at a particular time? Do we speak the truth? There are times when sticking to our word of honor, I may have given a word of honor that I will always speak the truth.
But there are times when sticking to our word of honor can cause us great harm. And that’s why morality is not categorical, it is contextual. It is not that this is always right and this is always wrong.
Contextual means according to time, place, circumstance. One has to choose and decide what is the right thing and then do that. So, Karna by making his, honoring his word an absolute categorical choice, blundered in the context and blundered disastrously.
And that is a blunder which we should avoid. Thank you.