Post by jksivan on Sept 12, 2013 21:31:14 GMT 5.5
Dear children
73. ‘’SOME SECRETS AND PROMISES
Do you know that whenever we feel like recalling certain happenings in our life quite we sit and think back. Why because they are impressions which had certain importance and left some indelible impressions in our mind. Irrespective of when they occurred, they quite offen are recalled and the resultant happiness, hatred, sympathy, sorrow whtever be the feeling is re-lived. Also at times the person who ‘’re-lives’’ the past, imagines he could have reacted differently but it is of no significance to what had happened.!!
It was a pleasant morning . Krishna was with his friend cum relative Sathyaki in the latter’s chariot. It was quite early and the rising sun was an orange ball in the east spreding the rays of lukewarm heat which was pleasant to feel with cold gentle breeze and moisture in the air. They were near the beautiful river adjacent to Karna’s palace facing east. The chariot was moving along the river bank as desired by Krishna and they were surprised to find Karna standing in the river upto his waist praying to sun god and performing his morning routine oblutions.
‘Sathyaki, stop the chariot. Let us walk along the river.’’ Said Krishna. The chariot was stopped and both Sathyaki and Krishna walked along the bank in the river sand.
The morning was calm and quiet with no noise of birds or animals except the tree leaves moving in the breeze and everything was silent as none to be found in the riverside, at that time. So the noise created by the chariot and neighing of the horses interrupted the meditation of Karna who turned back to see what it was. He was quite surprised to find Krishna and Sathyaki walking towards him.
‘’What a pleasant surprise Krishna, to find you here ’said Karna.
‘’Oh what a strange coincidence Karna. I too did not expect to find you here at this time. In fact while passing along this town, I thought of you and felt it would have been nice to meet you and exchange a few words’
‘’It will be my pleasure Krishna’’ responded Karna who had finished his morning prayers and came up from the river to river bank to join Krishna. They both walked side by side while Sathyaki returned to the chariot. ’
This happened some time after Krishna’s visit to Hasthinapuram since his peace mission failed everyone was aware that the war was imminent. Both Pandavas and Karuvas were preparing for the ensuing battle..
‘’Karna, I wanted to ask you plainly a question. You are a very good and kind hearted person, well versed in the Laws of Justice, learned in Vedha sastras, a brave warrior and a wise man well respected and honoured by everyone. Why are you aligning yourseif with Dhuryodhan’s group.? This is something which has been agitating my mind.’’
Karna laughed and stopped walkng. He turned face to face with Krishna. ‘’You are acting as if you don’t know anything. I know you well Krishna, You are one who knows everything. Perhaps you intended to get it from my own mouth. So be it and let me tell you.
I am an unfortunate being, insulted by everyone as a low class born, unfit to move equally with kings and Brahmins. I learnt martial arts and excelled in performance and yet I was discarded, ill treated as son of a servant from low caste and was not allowed to participate in events conducted to exhibit the skills in martial arts everywhere. Acharya Dhrona knew my talents and was afraid I will prove superior to his best student Arjun in skils of martial arts. So he cleverly avoided my participation and confrontation with Arjun, in every event taking advantage of my not knowing my parents, birth and bringing up by a low caste family. It was at that time Dhuryodhan came to my rescue, made me the king of Anga kingdom, married to me a royal family and gave me a respectable status in society. So Dhuryodhan cared for me more than my natural parents who discarded me.I don’t care if Dhuryodhan is blamed by everyone as a bad man and has defects. For me he is my god and savior. I shall sacrifice my life for him in gratitude for whatever he has done to me whole heartedly and I owe my salt to him only Krishna..To me, my father and mother who have brought up me from the time I was found, till date, and Dhuryodhan are the highest and greatest souls and living gods. For me whatever uttered by them is the Vedha and whatever did by them is the right act and I shall stand by it.’’
‘’ Karna, I appreciate your gratitude and large hearted reciprocity.. Gratitude is something which cannot be repaid."
But why do you refer to your parents as ‘’those who who brought me up from the time I was found’’ that means you don’t know your biological parents. Is n’t it?’’ Don’t you know your actual parents?
‘’No Krishna. Sometimes I dream about them in a vague manner listlessly. I am disturbed with frequent dreams that somewhere in a deep river I am floating alive in a chest, but found and saved by my present parents. At times I would dream that I hailed from a royal family and a woman, may be my mother, crying sorrowfully and covering me in her dress and dropping me in the chest to float in the river...’ I used to sweat, fret and fume after such dreams and shout even now. Till date all my efforts to find out the truth and trace my natural parents had not borne fruit I get more and more frustrated.’’ Slowly I pondered over this and steadied myself. When the mother herself decided to discard her innocent new born child heartlessly why should I reciprocate the love burning in me for her. But it is quite uncontrollable.’’
‘’Karna, don’t think any mother would be heartless towards the baby born to her. In fact your mother would not be such a heartless cruel woman. She must be and is a great responsible mother.’’
Karna laughed. “”Krishna is it not funny you support my heartless mother, whom I have not seen myself. You speak as it you know her’’
‘’Karna, I know her. You were born with Kavacha and Kundala (shield protecting chest and ear rings) gifted to you by your father the sun god. You were her first child. You don’t know how much she feels for you, till this moment since she parted with you when you were born. She is a queen and well known and has other five sons now who are great, famed and well known warriors living united. You know them but don’t like them.’’
Karna was shocked. Krishna you talk as if Pandavas are my brothers and Queen mother Kunthi is also my mother. You are fabricating a good story.’’
‘’No, you are the eldest of Pandavas’’
Karna was gasping for breath with sudden shock. He was completely sweating and felt nervous. Is the sun god my father?’’
"Yes. You developed worshipping sun god without realizing he is your father who gives you unlimited wealth for distribution to all as charity.’
‘’Do you mean to say that my mother loved me but was under unavoidable compulsion to discard me?’’
‘’Yes. She was forced by circumstances to do so. Krishna narrated Kunthi’s situation. Karna realized the position, and was proud of his brother Yudhishtra for his honest, dharmic and straightforward character and lovable administration of the Indraprastham kingdom, was proud of Bheema the strong man, Arjuna his younger brother equaling him almost in archery skills, Nakula and Sahadeva for their mastery of vedhas and sastras, astrology and other sciences. It was only for a momen he was happy to know all these and to praise his brothers and to know the identify of his natural molther. The moment his thoughts shifted to Dhuryodha, he shed tears of gratitude for his friendship and brotherly love for him. He cursed his fate. Did Parasurama know he was Kshathriya and cursed that what he learned from him will not be of use when needed ‘’
‘’Krishna, why did not you tell me earlier of these secrets.’’ Asked Karna.
‘’Karna, your death is certain and is determined. I revealed this to you now to create an opportunity for you to live as the eldest of the Pandavas and live with brothers and your mother as this option is still open for you.’’
‘’No, Krishna, No. I am indebted to my foster parents, who lived longer with me till now, and my gratitude for my friend and well wisher Dhuryodhan force me rightly to reject this option and forget it. You removed a biggest thorn which was hurting my heart all along but I have no recourse and am duty bound towards by foster parents and my friend and god Dhuryodhan. I prefer death by serving them than life with ingratitude for them. I am proud of dying for Dhuryodhan than living with Pandavas. Krishna your plan is clear to me If you are under the impress that because now I know Arjun is my brother, I will be soft towards him, you have again failed in your mission. My only mission is to kill him for Dhuriyodhan’s sake which is of primary importance to me. I am not angry with you. You have succeded in my knowing my worst enemy is my own younger brother and I will see him with appreciation but will kill him as my duty.
‘’Karna I am not surprised to hear what you said. I know of your true character, sense of gratitude, and devotion to those you feel indebted’’
“Krishna, will you give me assurance and promise that you will not reveal any of what we now discussed as I wish this truth does not leave both of us till I die. I say this because if my brothers Pandavas come to know that I am their elder brother, they will not fight with me and I cannot fulfil my promise to Dhuryodhan. It is important for me that I should not die without repaying what I owe to Dhuryodhan as my gratitude. I would be very happy if they kill me and all others and become kings and live happily.’’
‘’Karna, how do you hope that they will win by killing you and others while you wish to kill them for Dhuryodhan’s sake?’’
"Krishna you know it and yet try to get it from my mouth. If I fail to kill Arjuna and all of us don’t win in the war, there can be only one reason will be you, Krishna, being with them.’’
‘’Let me tell you this Karna, when you leave this world, you are going to be with me’’ Krishna embraced Karna. With tears rolling down his eyes, Karna turned back while Krishna walked towards the chariot where Sathyagi was waiting for him.
73. ‘’SOME SECRETS AND PROMISES
Do you know that whenever we feel like recalling certain happenings in our life quite we sit and think back. Why because they are impressions which had certain importance and left some indelible impressions in our mind. Irrespective of when they occurred, they quite offen are recalled and the resultant happiness, hatred, sympathy, sorrow whtever be the feeling is re-lived. Also at times the person who ‘’re-lives’’ the past, imagines he could have reacted differently but it is of no significance to what had happened.!!
It was a pleasant morning . Krishna was with his friend cum relative Sathyaki in the latter’s chariot. It was quite early and the rising sun was an orange ball in the east spreding the rays of lukewarm heat which was pleasant to feel with cold gentle breeze and moisture in the air. They were near the beautiful river adjacent to Karna’s palace facing east. The chariot was moving along the river bank as desired by Krishna and they were surprised to find Karna standing in the river upto his waist praying to sun god and performing his morning routine oblutions.
‘Sathyaki, stop the chariot. Let us walk along the river.’’ Said Krishna. The chariot was stopped and both Sathyaki and Krishna walked along the bank in the river sand.
The morning was calm and quiet with no noise of birds or animals except the tree leaves moving in the breeze and everything was silent as none to be found in the riverside, at that time. So the noise created by the chariot and neighing of the horses interrupted the meditation of Karna who turned back to see what it was. He was quite surprised to find Krishna and Sathyaki walking towards him.
‘’What a pleasant surprise Krishna, to find you here ’said Karna.
‘’Oh what a strange coincidence Karna. I too did not expect to find you here at this time. In fact while passing along this town, I thought of you and felt it would have been nice to meet you and exchange a few words’
‘’It will be my pleasure Krishna’’ responded Karna who had finished his morning prayers and came up from the river to river bank to join Krishna. They both walked side by side while Sathyaki returned to the chariot. ’
This happened some time after Krishna’s visit to Hasthinapuram since his peace mission failed everyone was aware that the war was imminent. Both Pandavas and Karuvas were preparing for the ensuing battle..
‘’Karna, I wanted to ask you plainly a question. You are a very good and kind hearted person, well versed in the Laws of Justice, learned in Vedha sastras, a brave warrior and a wise man well respected and honoured by everyone. Why are you aligning yourseif with Dhuryodhan’s group.? This is something which has been agitating my mind.’’
Karna laughed and stopped walkng. He turned face to face with Krishna. ‘’You are acting as if you don’t know anything. I know you well Krishna, You are one who knows everything. Perhaps you intended to get it from my own mouth. So be it and let me tell you.
I am an unfortunate being, insulted by everyone as a low class born, unfit to move equally with kings and Brahmins. I learnt martial arts and excelled in performance and yet I was discarded, ill treated as son of a servant from low caste and was not allowed to participate in events conducted to exhibit the skills in martial arts everywhere. Acharya Dhrona knew my talents and was afraid I will prove superior to his best student Arjun in skils of martial arts. So he cleverly avoided my participation and confrontation with Arjun, in every event taking advantage of my not knowing my parents, birth and bringing up by a low caste family. It was at that time Dhuryodhan came to my rescue, made me the king of Anga kingdom, married to me a royal family and gave me a respectable status in society. So Dhuryodhan cared for me more than my natural parents who discarded me.I don’t care if Dhuryodhan is blamed by everyone as a bad man and has defects. For me he is my god and savior. I shall sacrifice my life for him in gratitude for whatever he has done to me whole heartedly and I owe my salt to him only Krishna..To me, my father and mother who have brought up me from the time I was found, till date, and Dhuryodhan are the highest and greatest souls and living gods. For me whatever uttered by them is the Vedha and whatever did by them is the right act and I shall stand by it.’’
‘’ Karna, I appreciate your gratitude and large hearted reciprocity.. Gratitude is something which cannot be repaid."
But why do you refer to your parents as ‘’those who who brought me up from the time I was found’’ that means you don’t know your biological parents. Is n’t it?’’ Don’t you know your actual parents?
‘’No Krishna. Sometimes I dream about them in a vague manner listlessly. I am disturbed with frequent dreams that somewhere in a deep river I am floating alive in a chest, but found and saved by my present parents. At times I would dream that I hailed from a royal family and a woman, may be my mother, crying sorrowfully and covering me in her dress and dropping me in the chest to float in the river...’ I used to sweat, fret and fume after such dreams and shout even now. Till date all my efforts to find out the truth and trace my natural parents had not borne fruit I get more and more frustrated.’’ Slowly I pondered over this and steadied myself. When the mother herself decided to discard her innocent new born child heartlessly why should I reciprocate the love burning in me for her. But it is quite uncontrollable.’’
‘’Karna, don’t think any mother would be heartless towards the baby born to her. In fact your mother would not be such a heartless cruel woman. She must be and is a great responsible mother.’’
Karna laughed. “”Krishna is it not funny you support my heartless mother, whom I have not seen myself. You speak as it you know her’’
‘’Karna, I know her. You were born with Kavacha and Kundala (shield protecting chest and ear rings) gifted to you by your father the sun god. You were her first child. You don’t know how much she feels for you, till this moment since she parted with you when you were born. She is a queen and well known and has other five sons now who are great, famed and well known warriors living united. You know them but don’t like them.’’
Karna was shocked. Krishna you talk as if Pandavas are my brothers and Queen mother Kunthi is also my mother. You are fabricating a good story.’’
‘’No, you are the eldest of Pandavas’’
Karna was gasping for breath with sudden shock. He was completely sweating and felt nervous. Is the sun god my father?’’
"Yes. You developed worshipping sun god without realizing he is your father who gives you unlimited wealth for distribution to all as charity.’
‘’Do you mean to say that my mother loved me but was under unavoidable compulsion to discard me?’’
‘’Yes. She was forced by circumstances to do so. Krishna narrated Kunthi’s situation. Karna realized the position, and was proud of his brother Yudhishtra for his honest, dharmic and straightforward character and lovable administration of the Indraprastham kingdom, was proud of Bheema the strong man, Arjuna his younger brother equaling him almost in archery skills, Nakula and Sahadeva for their mastery of vedhas and sastras, astrology and other sciences. It was only for a momen he was happy to know all these and to praise his brothers and to know the identify of his natural molther. The moment his thoughts shifted to Dhuryodha, he shed tears of gratitude for his friendship and brotherly love for him. He cursed his fate. Did Parasurama know he was Kshathriya and cursed that what he learned from him will not be of use when needed ‘’
‘’Krishna, why did not you tell me earlier of these secrets.’’ Asked Karna.
‘’Karna, your death is certain and is determined. I revealed this to you now to create an opportunity for you to live as the eldest of the Pandavas and live with brothers and your mother as this option is still open for you.’’
‘’No, Krishna, No. I am indebted to my foster parents, who lived longer with me till now, and my gratitude for my friend and well wisher Dhuryodhan force me rightly to reject this option and forget it. You removed a biggest thorn which was hurting my heart all along but I have no recourse and am duty bound towards by foster parents and my friend and god Dhuryodhan. I prefer death by serving them than life with ingratitude for them. I am proud of dying for Dhuryodhan than living with Pandavas. Krishna your plan is clear to me If you are under the impress that because now I know Arjun is my brother, I will be soft towards him, you have again failed in your mission. My only mission is to kill him for Dhuriyodhan’s sake which is of primary importance to me. I am not angry with you. You have succeded in my knowing my worst enemy is my own younger brother and I will see him with appreciation but will kill him as my duty.
‘’Karna I am not surprised to hear what you said. I know of your true character, sense of gratitude, and devotion to those you feel indebted’’
“Krishna, will you give me assurance and promise that you will not reveal any of what we now discussed as I wish this truth does not leave both of us till I die. I say this because if my brothers Pandavas come to know that I am their elder brother, they will not fight with me and I cannot fulfil my promise to Dhuryodhan. It is important for me that I should not die without repaying what I owe to Dhuryodhan as my gratitude. I would be very happy if they kill me and all others and become kings and live happily.’’
‘’Karna, how do you hope that they will win by killing you and others while you wish to kill them for Dhuryodhan’s sake?’’
"Krishna you know it and yet try to get it from my mouth. If I fail to kill Arjuna and all of us don’t win in the war, there can be only one reason will be you, Krishna, being with them.’’
‘’Let me tell you this Karna, when you leave this world, you are going to be with me’’ Krishna embraced Karna. With tears rolling down his eyes, Karna turned back while Krishna walked towards the chariot where Sathyagi was waiting for him.