Inquiries into the Absolute: Digest 49

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Digest 49, Dec 27, 2002

 

Answers by His Holiness Romapada Swami Maharaja

 

Q.1) Brhat-bhagavtamrta is BBT's latest publication. On p 414 there is

indication that Karna and Duryodhana were 'partial incarnations of demons'.

Could you supply the background to this statement? Was it due to the past life

of Karna, or some other reason as to why he was destined to suffer so much, and

do so many bad things? What wrong deeds had he done in his previous life or in

his present life as Karna?

 

 

Answer.1)

There are three different angles to consider this from. The first is simply

from a scriptural or textual point of view.

 

1)

In the Vana-parva of Mahabharata it is decribed that Duryodhana and Karna found

out that the Pandavas were living in a forest nearby and decided to humiliate

them. So, under some pretext, they took their army, dressed very opulently and

headed that way. On the way, Duryodhana wanted to bathe in a river which is

occupied by the Gandharvas. Owing to this, finally a battle ensued in which

Karna was severely hurt and fled from the battle, while Duryodhana was held

captive by the king of Gandharvas. One of his soldiers went to the Pandavas for

help and under instructions by Yudhisthira, Arjuna battled the Gandharvas and

rescued Duryodhana.

 

This humiliated Duryodhana to such a great extent that he resolved to give up

his life by entering into type of self-igniting samadhi, much like we find at

the end of Dhrtarashtra's life. While he was doing so, the Danavas found out

and performed a sacrifice to create a celestial goddess. She was instructed by

the Danavas to go and get the subtle body of Duryodhana, which she did, and

then brought Duryodhana before the Danavas.

 

The Danavas then explained to Duryodhana that he had been created as a result

of a great sacrifice they performed to please Lord Shiva. His body was like

thunderbolt and his strength immense. They also mentioned that the powerful

demon Narkasura has incarnated as Karna and "remembering his old enmity with

Vishnu, will fight with great determination." They also assured that at the

time of the battle, great warriors like Drona and Bhishma would come under the

influence of the Danvas and give up their natural compassion and discrimination

to fight with great vigor against the Pandavas. Thus they assured that

Duryodhana's victory was certain and that he should thus give up his resolve to

commit suicide.

 

Elsewhere in the Mahabharata, indication is given that Duryodhana was the

incarnation of Kali.

 

2)

Character evaluation of Karna

 

Our ISKCON translator of Mahabharata, Hridyananda Maharaja, makes the following

comments in relation to Karna's character. Karna was basically an evil person.

Even though he was abandoned at birth, he was brought up in a very loving and

nurturing family, so the generally accepted fact of a "dysfunctional childhood"

really does not hold true.

 

He deliberately lied to get training from Parsurama, and was simply envious of

Arjuna (like trying to humiliate Arjuna in his graduation ceremony). In

addition there was his conduct with Draupadi, his refusal to accept the

instructions of Krishna and his steadfast friendship with Duryodhana, who was

obviously evil. On more than one occasion Karna ran away from the battle field

leaving his friends and army exposed. In Mahabharata war, he refused to fight

along side Bhisma because he did not want to share the glory. His charity etc.

was the result of vows he had taken to enhance his own material position.

 

Though he had excellent parentage, namely Kunti and Surya, because he was

conceived out of lust, fear and anger, his character was thus shaped.

Apparently after summoning the Sun god, Kunti became fearful of the

consequences, but also very much attracted to the Sun god (who was angry at

being summoned trivially). During the time of pregnancy he was concealed, thus

there were no purificatory rites performed, and there was also the constant

refrain of fear and connivance. All this combined to possibly shape Karna into

what he finally became.

 

3)

The third response to this question has to do with the pronciple of

association. Through the association of Duryodhana, Karna's character became

debased. Even the direct son of Lord Krishna, Bhauma, born of Mother Bhumi

through her contact with Lord Varaha, became changed from a good son to an

asura due to his association with a bad person, namely Banasura.

 

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