Remembrance & forgetfulness!

 

Sri Krsna said to Arjun: Rest assure that you will be able to kill Karna, just as Bhima will certainly kill Duryodhana. Now, just see how Drona is slaughtering the soldiers of our army. You must give up your grief & quickly go and attack the Preceptor Drona

 

Listening to this Dhritrāshtra enquired from Sanjay: Karna possessed Indra’s invincible dart. Why did he never use it to kill Arjun? This surely would have caused the defeat of the Pandavas. I think this must also have somehow been the arrangement of the supremely intelligent Sri Krsna. Kindly enlighten me on this matter if you are able to do so

 

Sanjay replied: Dear King! What you think is quite correct. Sri Krsna had ordered Ghatotkaca to fight with Karna, just so that he would be forced to waste Indra’s infallible dart

 

Dhritrāshtra asked: O Sanjay, from the very start, didn’t Duryodhana advisors urge Karna to challenge Arjun & then us the infallible dart to kill him?

 

Sanjay replied: Every night, when the Kaurava leaders assembled to discuss the strategy, one of the major decisions that was always made was that Karna should challenge Arjun the next day & kill him with Indra’s infallible dart. Some even suggested that the dart should be used against Sri Krsna, considering Him to be the actual root of the Pāndava tree. Actually, this is a fact. Sri Krsna is like the root of a great tree & Arjuna is the main trunk. The other four Pandavas are the branches & the Pāncāla warriors are the leaves

 

Every morning the Kaurava leaders woke up, having made the firm resolution that either Sri Krsna or Arjun should be killed with Karna’s dart. But, at the time of battle, they would always forget this determination due to the influence of Sri Krsna’s illusory potency

 

My dear Dhritrāshtra, Satyaki asked this same question to Sri Krsna: Since Karna had repeatedly made up his mind to kill Arjun with infallible dart he had obtained from Indra, why did he never use it?

 

Sri Krsna had replied: My dear Satyaki, again and again Duryodhana, Dushasana and Sakuni discussed this, and each time they urged Karna to quickly use the dart against Arjun. Indeed, Karna always agreed to do so, because the hope of killing Arjun is forever prominent in his heart. However, by the strength of My Yogamaya potency. I repeatedly made Karna forget to use that invincible weapon

 

Sri Krsna says:

sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham

I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me comes remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas

 

Although a great drama was being played upon the stage of Kurukshetra, and although there were many leading players on that stage, the director was Sri Krsna & so it was He who staged these wonderful pastimes. It is His Yogmāya potency that arranges these dramatic performances

 

We also tend to think of ourselves as independent actors on the stage of life, and the mind is our greatest tool for achieving the fulfilment of our desires. We see how sometimes we cannot remember something we know so well, even though we strain our brain to do so. Why is this so? The answer lies in the verse above

 

Thoughts? #gameoflife

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