Sri Krishna’s Teaching – Let the mind be disturbed by hopeless things and we will stray from the goal

In the Mahabharata war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, Sri Krishna became Arjuna’s charioteer and the Pandavas’ maternal uncle Shalya became Karna’s charioteer. Among the five Pandavas, Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna were the sons of Kunti and Nakula-Sahdev were the sons of Madri. King Shalya was Madri’s brother. Nakula was Sahadeva’s maternal uncle, but Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna also called him maternal uncle.

Shalya favored the Pandavas, but sided with Duryodhana in the war. When Shalya became Karna’s general, Sri Krishna told the Pandavas that even though Shalya was in Duryodhana’s army we should definitely seek at least one help from him.

Shri Krishna told the Pandavas to tell King Shalya that when you become Karna’s charioteer, you will have to say things in front of Karna that will break his courage and discourage him.

Following the words of Sri Krishna, the Pandavas sought this help from Shalya. Even Shalya could not avoid this statement of the Pandavas.

When Karna and Arjuna faced each other in battle, Shalya continued to criticize Karna. Hearing Shalya’s critical words Karna became anxious and irritated Karna was getting angry. When the mind becomes disturbed, it begins to wander from its goal. Karna could not aim properly while shooting an arrow at Arjuna.

On the other hand, Shri Krishna was praising Arjuna and boosting his morale. Due to this a disappointed Karna lost to Arjuna.

Karna in the Mahabharata was also a great warrior like Arjuna, but he was related to Duryodhana. Sri Krishna planned this to kill Karna, because without Karna the Pandavas could not have won the Mahabharata war. It was only after Karna that the Pandavas i.e. religion won. Shalya constantly criticized Karna during the war, which left him frustrated and unable to fight Arjuna properly.

When someone constantly criticizes us, our morale breaks down. When someone criticizes us, we should not pay attention to those things, we should only pay attention to our goal, only then we can achieve success. If our focus wanders, the goal will elude us and we will fail.