Karna – wasted potential

 

Karna was born with a lot of potential.  As the son of Sun and Kunti, he had divine and royal blood in his veins from solar and lunar deities.  Born with an impenetrable skin, he was undefeatable in war.  Along with his impenetrable skin, his strength, energy, agility and natural ability to use weapons made him an ideal warrior.  His natural good looks and regal bearing would have made him an ideal king.  His life could, should have been full of happiness. 

Karna’s karmas from past life must have been powerful enough for him to have been born with so many advantages. Yet, some terrible karmas from his past lives ruined his chances of a perfect life. From the moment he was born, Karna was abandoned by his father and mother.  Brought up by a charioteer, his options in life were rather limited.  Propelled by his nature, Karna chose to aspire beyond his foster parents limitations and wanted to study the use of weapons in the best ashram at the time.  However, he knew that the ashram of Parshurama was only open to Brahmins.  Karna chose to willfully lie and pass himself off as a Brahmin to study the Dhanurveda and its secrets from Parashurama.  His natural ability to pick up knowledge of weapons made him a favourite of his guru.  However, a lie can’t be hidden for long.  In time, Karna’s true nature as a ‘warrior’ came to the fore and he earned Parashurama ire and curse.  Humiliated and hurt, Karna left the ashram and was desperate to prove himself as a worthy warrior. Though a master of mantras, Karna was unable to recall the correct mantras when he needed them the most. This made him lose battles at the most critical point throughout his life.

Along with all the positives, Karna also had a number of negative characteristics.  These were generally driven by his inferiority complex of being a 'Suta' (charioteer's son).  He had a huge chip on his shoulder and tried to prove he was better than everyone else by putting everyone down.  Bitter by nature or nurture, Karna was deliberately rude to elders.  Along with his friends Duryodhan and Dushashan, Karna had no time for traditions or hierarchies.  Apart from Duryodhan, he had no respect for anyone else at Kuru court.  In the company of Kaurava princes, such ill-mannered qualities were magnified, further alienating him in the assembly of statesmen.  He had a pathological hatred for Pandavas, Draupadi and their family.  His disregard for all other warriors meant he could not listen to good advice even when it was given to him.  As a result, even when he was offered advice by king Shalya, he ignored him.  He also deliberately decided to insult Shalya by making an anointed king become his charioteer instead of having him fight side by side with him.  His self-confidence was so massively misplaced, that despite losing several times, he never tried to learn new skills or better himself.

Karna's massive potential was wasted mainly because of his own inability to listen to anyone other than himself or his friends. 

                           

                                                                                      

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