Promise Krsna makes!

 

As Arjun proceeded to vanquish Samsaptakas, Magadha king Dandadhara intercepted him. Arjun quickly retaliated by breaking his bow & severing his head. He also killed his brother Danda, who attacked to gain revenge. Arjun then quickly slaughtered the Samsaptakas, so that he can get down to the real business of killing Karna as advised by Sri Krsna

 

As they proceeded towards Karna & approached him, a loud roar of anguish could be heard coming from the Kaurava ranks. When Sri Krsna & Arjun saw how the Pāndava warrior Pāndya, was creating an unprecedented massacre of Kaurava soldiers, they were amazed to witness his prowess

 

Dhritrāshtra said: Mt dear Sanjay, there are certainly many great warriors on both sides, but the name Pāndya has never been mentioned as being amongst the foremost. Sanjay said: Although Bhima, Drona, Krpā, Karna, Asvattāma, Arjun & Krsna are regarded by everyone as being the foremost of chariot warriors, Pāndya considered himself to be superior to them all

 

As Pāndya continued to slaughter Kaurava soldiers, Asvattāma came & challenged him. During the battle that followed, Pāndya fought heroically & at last managed to kill Asvattāma’s horses. After having fresh horses yoked to his chariot, Asvattāma continued releasing many arrows during the next 3 hours. Yet, inspite of this terrible onslaught, Pāndya managed to foil all Asvattāma’s arrows by utilizing celestial weapons

 

Finally, Asvattāma began to overpower his adversary. Within a short time, he killed Pāndya’s horses & broke his chariot to pieces. As Pāndya hurled a lance that knocked off Asvattāma’s crown, highly enraged son of Drona retaliated by releasing very powerful arrows, which cut off Pāndya’s arms & took off his head

 

Meanwhile, Karna engaged in routing the Pāndava army & so Sri Krsna urged Arjun to go & rally his soldiers. When Arjun appeared on the scene, many of the great Pāndava warriors came to support him and in response the Kauravas rushed to Karna’s aid. A very intense battle took place, and at that time there was long, gruelling duel between Sahadeva & Dushasana

 

Finally, Sahadeva managed to pierce Dushasana with a powerful arrow, making him faint onto the floor of his chariot. Karna confronted Nakula & after a harsh challenge; he broke Nakula’s bow. Nakula angrily picked up another bow & continued releasing a steady stream of arrows, breaking Karna’s bow and piercing him with 300 arrows. When Karna picked up another bow, Nakula immediately broke it to pieces as well. As the two warriors fought, rest retreated & watched the fighting as spectators

 

Even though this duel was fiercely fought, Karna smiled & at last broke Nakula’s bow. He smashed all his weapons and Madri’s son began fearfully running away from fight. Karna chased him, placed his bow over Nakula’s neck & said: My dear boy! Do not ever again attempt to fight with your superiors. Now go back to the shelter of Arjun & Krsna. Or if you are too ashamed, return home to your mother

 

Remembering his promise to Kuntidevi, Karna did not kill Nakula. Promises are made to be kept & if we can’t keep them due to some reason, we are fearful of such situations

 

But our focus should be on the promises that God makes and keeps, and he empowers us to keep. When we try to practice bhakti to connect with Krsna, we may think-How can I be sure that I will practice this lifelong? Instead of worrying about our ability to keep our promises, we can focus on God’s ability to keep his promises that he will elevate us if we surrender to him. And he won’t ask us to surrender if he thinks we can’t surrender

 

By focusing on his power to help us keep our promises, we can get the confidence to make the promises that can take us to him

 

Krsna promises:

sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

 

Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear!

 

Thoughts? #gameoflife