Was Arjuna a better archer than Karna because he got better training facilities?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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Hare Krishna. Question, was Arjuna a better archer than Karna because Arjuna got better facilities for training than Karna did? Answer, no, not necessarily. If we see the Pandavas were living in the forest for the first decade or till their teens practically, they were in the forest with their father and their mothers who were living like vanaprasthas.
So there the Pandavas, they got some training under their father but they did not have any extensive training facility there. They were living with vanaprasthas, more or less of sages and they got only very basic training facilities. And then after that, so the formative years of their life were practically over.
After that when they came to the to Drona, to Kurukshetra, to Hastinapur and there, after they were there for some time, then Drona came and then Drona established his academy and they started training over there. So yes, they did get extensive facility to train at Drona’s academy. But then there was Karna who also was trained by no less a teacher.
Parshuram had been although he is a brahmana, he was the greatest of warriors. Nobody in the none of the kshatriyas had been able to match him except for Bhishma. So it was finally when Bhishma was it was only Bhishma who had matched and almost defeated Parshuram.
The point was that Parshuram was extremely powerful warrior and Karna got to train under him and Karna became his favorite student at one time. Of course, still Parshuram came to know about Karna’s deception because Parshuram did not want to train anyone other than brahmanas. So Karna impersonated himself as a brahmana.
But the point is that was towards the end of his education and training that Karna Karna’s real identity was hinted, pointed towards. But the point was during that period not only did he had an extraordinary teacher but he became a very, became a favorite disciple of that teacher and Parshuram gave him practically all the best education and training that he could have given in that situation and who could have given better than him. So similarly Arjuna became the favorite student of Drona and Drona taught the best of weapons to Arjuna.
So now if we see further after they came back then soon Karna he started living with he befriended Duryodhana Duryodhana befriended him rather and then he had his own kingdom. So then he had whatever royal facilities he needed for further honing his skills. So if we see in terms of austerities both of them, Karna had his own dharmic rituals which he performed especially appeasing the sun god and thereby he maintained his prowess but Arjuna further performed enormous austerities.
During, while Karna was ruling Anga, living in relative prosperity Arjuna was honing his skills further by doing severe austerities in the forest and while doing, although actually if we see, Arjuna did the other Pandavas, all of the Pandavas were doing the austerity of living in the forest but Arjuna did additional austerities specifically going to the Himalayas and trying to appease Mahadev and other Devatas so that he could get weapons from them and eventually his austerities were so severe that even Shivji was pleased with him and all the Dikpalas came to him and gifted him their weapons. So the point is that it is not facilities don’t make a man or facilities don’t make an achiever it is one’s own commitment one’s own talent and one’s own commitment that translates into achievement. So it was not that Karna got any exceptionally poor facilities as compared to Arjuna.
Both of them got training from super excellent teachers and both of them, so while we could put it that way that while Karna had royal facilities for honing his skills, Arjuna could have said, I don’t have any facilities for honing my skills I am just living in this forest. He could have lamented. No, but he used that opportunity for doing austerities and gaining further weapons, further honing his skills.
rather than trying to not give credit where it is due, we need to recognize that Arjuna was a greater archer than Karna because he had greater innate talent and he also exhibited far greater commitment and that combination of talent and commitment translated into his greater achievement of his being a superior archer as compared to Karna. Thank you.