​Why did Krishna say that Karna is equal, or even superior to Arjuna in archery?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna! Question, why did Krishna tell Arjuna that Karna was his equal or even his superior in archery? Answer, yes, that was primarily to excite or goad Arjuna to not be inattentive in his fighting, to not become lax in any way, but to fight with his full fury. Now, this statement by Krishna comes in the Mahabharata on the 17th day of the war.
So, the 16th day, Karna had become the commander and on the 16th day, he had wreaked havoc in the Pandava army, and of course, Abhimanyu had also wreaked havoc on the Kauravas. On the 17th day, the whole battle was building up towards this climactic confrontation between Arjuna and Karna. So, at that time, Krishna was the charioteer of Arjuna, and Krishna was also the friend and counselor of Arjuna, and in one sense, Krishna was here acting like a coach, and as a coach, Krishna wanted Arjuna to be at his best in the battle against Karna.
And for that purpose, just like a coach will remind the player, say if one-to-one match, say a tennis match or a boxing match between two players, and the coach of one player will remind this player about the strengths of the opponent so that the coach, so that the player is alert and vigorous in playing. At the same time, if we look at the full statement, full set of statements that Arjuna, Krishna makes to Arjuna, Krishna concludes by saying, therefore, oh Partha, now it is time for you to end this war by killing Karna. So, if the statement of Krishna at this point is to be taken literally that Karna was equal or superior to Arjuna, then how can Krishna conclude by saying that therefore you should kill Karna? In between, what all does Krishna do? Krishna tells about how the atrocities the Kauravas have committed, how Karna has himself been a part of many of the atrocities, and how much the Pandavas have suffered, and how much Draupadi has been dishonored.
And Krishna reminds Arjuna of all this to make him fixed in his purpose. So, at this point, Krishna doesn’t even mention anything at all that Arjuna should use any unethical means for overpowering Karna. So, that means that if the statement is literal that Karna is equal or superior to Arjuna, and then Krishna is telling that statement, and then Krishna is telling, therefore, you should, the time has come and you should kill Karna.
So, if Karna is equal or superior, how will Arjuna be able to kill Karna? The point is, in a war, when the command, when the guide is going to speak and a strategy is being outlined, at particular points, particular statements are made. So, for example, we see that on the 13th night, after Arjuna came to know that Abhimanyu had been slaughtered by the Kauravas because of Jayadrath’s blocking the Pandava army, then Arjuna took a vow that the next, by the next evening, he would kill Jayadrath or he would enter into fire. Now, this vow was scary and after that, what happened? Krishna actually almost chastised Arjuna.
Krishna told Arjuna, why did you take this vow without consulting me? He said that tomorrow the Kauravas will arrange their entire army for blocking you and for you to even see Jayadrath will be difficult. What to speak of kill him by sunset. Now, you have set up a, taken a vow that may well cause your death.
So, now at that time, what does Arjuna say? Arjuna says, Krishna, I don’t understand your anxiety. He says, you know my power and I know your power. When we two are together, who can stop us? So, the point here is, Krishna seems to disapprove of Arjuna’s vow and Krishna seems to say that Arjuna will not be able to penetrate the military formation and reach Jayadrath.
But still Krishna is by the side of Arjuna and of course, by Arjuna’s vigor and Krishna’s grace, Krishna, Arjuna does honor his vow. So, the point is, in a war strategy meeting, certain points may be made at certain points to, at certain stages, so that a particular message is highlighted. So, if we look objectively, you know, we may say in, somebody may make a statement.
Okay, so this is the point from the context, that in the context, Krishna is speaking such a statement just to bring about Arjuna’s full vigor. So, Arjuna and Karna are lifelong rivals and by Krishna himself speaking to Arjuna that Karna is equal or superior to you, Arjuna will not surely by his Kshatriya vigor, his Kshatriya honor, want to prove that he is the better and thus he will fight wholeheartedly. And it is to bring, to almost go inside Arjuna to bring out his best, Krishna makes a statement.
So, this is, we have to look at the context to understand the purpose of the statement and not isolate the statement and make it into an absolute truth. And moreover, it may well be that in isolation, someone may make a statement that, okay, this player is better than that player. But then we have to look at the performance.
In performance, if a particular batsman has scored more centuries, scored more runs, scored more double, triple centuries, then other person might be more talented, but this is a better performer. So, if we look at the performance perspective, there is not even one incident when Karna defeated Arjuna. And there are at least, there are three incidents at least, where Arjuna proved himself to be superior to Karna.
Most famously, it was in the Virata Yudha, where Arjuna single-handedly overcame the entire Kaurava army, including Karna, who tried to attack him twice. And both times, Arjuna repulsed him completely. And two other occasions were, when the Pandavas and Kauravas were asked to give the Gurudakshina of having Drupada arrested and brought before Drona, the Kauravas along with Karna went to arrest Drupada and Drupada s army defeated Duryodhana, the Kauravas along with Karna.
And then the Pandavas defeated Drupada and his army. So, Arjuna defeated the one who had defeated Karna. And the same, similar thing happened when Duryodhana, Shakuni, Dushyasana, Karna, they all fought the Gandharvas headed by Chitratha.
And the Gandharvas defeated Karna. And then Arjuna defeated the Gandharvas. So, on these three occasions, if we look at the objective performance, Krishna, Arjuna actually proved himself to be superior to Karna.
So, therefore, Krishna s statement, if we look at the narrative of the Mahabharata, and we look at the specific context within the statement, we understand that the statement is made so that Arjuna can bring out, Arjuna is goaded to bring out his best and decisively triumph in his long lasting, in his long, in his prolonged rivalry with Karna. Thank you. Hare Krishna.