All blog posts I write, Originate as notes to myself and there are some 30 odd ones in Draft even today, this Topic has been one of them. The reason they stay in draft mode is primarily that I am not able to pinpoint the answer to myself. The dots don't connect. One fine morning, they do and then I am able to complete the Post . Today, I will write about just one topic. Me and Karna. I am not a big follower of Holy Books, however, I do read Gita often. I don't see Gita only as a "Holy Book" , it is a coaching tool.
For a person who hasn't dived deep into Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita, it will be seen as a Story of a Family and Property Dispute. The Narration of Mahabharata is the best reference to Households, relationships and Power Play. Hinduism doesn't have a "Judgement Day" unlike Christianity and Islam (Called Qayamat In Arabic). Hinduism is unique that way, it is not based on One Book and One God, in fact, there is no one God, God is inside each being, Wind is Vayu Dev, Sun is Surya Dev, each entity making life possible is Devta or Devi (God or Goddess). In fact, the God of Hinduism is no judge. Contrary to general perception, Krishna gives no Commandments in the Gita, he simply explains the architecture of the world, the landscape in which one must perform his or her karma. One part of Mahabharata which I will cover today is the character of Karna. Karna Impresses me a lot amongst many characters in the narration.
Karna was the firstborn of Kunti , the mother of Pandavas. Karna was born to Kunti out of a wedlock. Karna was adopted by Adhiratha (and his wife Radha) who found him by the riverbank after the frightened virgin princess (Kunti) decided to let go of him down the river in a basket. She was afraid that hardly anyone would believe the ‘divine virgin birth’ story. From birth, the child had divine earrings and a vest that would protect him from all dangers, She prayed to the Sun God to protect their son and lowered the basket into the river. His foster parents , Radha and Athiratha, loved him immensely and brought him up very well, the best way they knew.
Interestingly, Karna meets his end from Arjuna’s arrow. Arjun is his own half-brother, born out of the same mother. Karna was best friends with Duryodhana, Though he had all the wisdom to see through Duryodhana’s ways, he refused to do anything against the prince, right unto his death. Even more, interestingly, Kunti requested Karna not to kill any of his young brothers i.e. Pandava princes in the war; Karna obliged his mother’s request by telling her that he’d only kill Arjuna and no one else. He had several opportunities to kill other four Pandava princes but spared their lives.
इस तरह दुनिया मिली शिकवा गिला कोई नहीं , मैं समझता था मेरा, तेरे सिवा कोई नहीं
मैं पयम्बर तो नहीं हूँ , लेकिन मुझे ऐहसास है, इन बुरे लोगों में भी, मुझसे बुरा कोई नहीं
इस तरह दुनिया मिली शिकवा गिला कोई नहीं , मैं समझता था मेरा, तेरे सिवा कोई नहीं
मैं पयम्बर तो नहीं हूँ , लेकिन मुझे ऐहसास है, इन बुरे लोगों में भी, मुझसे बुरा कोई नहीं
Karna had sworn allegiance to Duryodhana, his father Adhiratha advised him to absolve himself of sins by donating his wealth and belongings to the needy. This is how Karna acquired the name Daanveer – a hero with undying charitable nature. At the right moment, before the war began, Indra showed up as a Brahmin and demanded the protective gear as a donation from Karna. Even though Karna was well aware of this treacherous plan, he still decided to rip apart the divine vest & earrings and hand them over to Indra, the spiritual father of Arjuna. When Lord Krishna revealed the truth about his birth to Karna and asked him to join the Pandava camp – it was Karna who had requested him to keep all this secret from his brothers. “They might not fight me, if they hear the truth,” he said.
In India, for people who are conversant with the Mahabharata, there is a strong conviction that Karna is a kind of anti-hero. Arjun is projected as the Hero. Karna was a wonderful soul however he was resentful because he did not know whose child he was. He was a man with a phenomenal sense of integrity and generosity. Had the turn of events, right from his miraculous birth and education to alliance with the Kauravas and death in the battlefield shifted even a bit, this warrior would perhaps have far surpassed Pandavas in popularity.
Existence is not making a judgment about who is good or bad. It is only social situations that try to judge people as good and bad. It is only individual human beings who try to judge you as good and bad. Existence never judges because it is not written anywhere that one thing is good and some other thing is bad. It is just that if you do the right things, the right results happen to you. If you don’t do the right things, the right things do not happen to you. I think that’s perfectly fair. life may seem unfair to Karna , his own mother didn't accept him, his own brother killed him but he didn't negotiate on his value system. Some people may think its destiny which is unfair, I think it’s perfectly fair. Society may not be fair, but the existence is perfectly fair – unless you do the right things, the right things will not happen to you. If existence was not like this, there would be no value for doing the right things or for human intelligence. Nothing that we value in our life would be valuable if you could do wrong things and still, the right things happened to you. Life doesn’t work like that.
A friend told me on chat a little while back that I can take a bullet for a friend and shoot one if needed. I chose not to respond to the statement because the inverse of this, is not even an option for me. It's zero or 100.
There is an option to be like Karna for everyone, it isn't a sexy path, it isn't easy also but I choose Karna as my ideal and Hero.
Today, a rare ghazal, written by Dr Bashir Badr. I searched for months for the complete version and was able to collate finally. All the "Shers" of this Ghazals are now at one place ...here ....
ख़ुश रहे या बहुत उदास रहे, ज़िन्दगी तेरे आस पास रहे.......
रात के रास्ते भी रोशन हो , हाथ में चाँद का गिलास रहे....
चाँद इन बदलियों से निकलेगा, कोई आयेगा दिल को यह आस रहे.....
हम मुहब्बत के फूल हैं शायद, कोई काँटा भी आस पास रहे......
मेरे सीने में इस तरह बस जा, मेरी सांसों में तेरी बास रहे.....
आज हम सब के साथ ख़ूब हँसे, और फिर देर तक उदास रहे......
वह नहीं है तो उसकी आस रहे , एक जाए तो एक पास रहे ....
जब भी कसने लगा , उतार दिया , इस बदन पे कई लिबास रहे ...
घुल गए अपनी बदनसीबी में , वह सितारे जो कभी अपने पास रहे...
आओ दोनों एक दुसरे का मुंह देखे , आइना आईने के पास रहे ......
आदमी के लिए ज़रूरी है , कोई उम्मीद , कोई आस रहे......
Comments
Post a Comment