Once, a son of charioteer – Karna, wanted to learn archery. His interest led him to Dronacharya who was the Guru for Pandavas and Kauravas. He sought Dronacharya’s permission to become his sishya – student. Dronacharya said he couldn’t be his guru as he was already teaching Pandavas and Kauravas who were Kshatriyas whereas Karna was a sootah putra – a sudra a class considered much below kshatriyas. Karna was very much disappointed. But, his quest led him to the best master – Parasurama. But, Parasurama had a rule that he never broke – he would never teach a kshatriya. When karma approached him, Parasurama enquired “Are you a kshatriya? Because, I don’t teach kshatriyas. I teach only Brahmins.” Karna, not wanting to miss an opportunity of learning from the great guru Parasurama resorted to a lie and said “Ofcourse not. I am a Brahmin. Please accept me as your sishya.”
Parasurama taught him with lots of love and poured all his knowledge onto his favourite sishya – Karna. One day, when Karna had learned all that he had to from his Guru, Parasurama complained of tiredness. Immediately Karna offered his lap as a pillow to his Guru and let him go to sleep. Parasurama was deeply touched by his student’s guru bhakthi. When he was sleeping, a scorpion came from nowhere and started biting Karna’s lap. Inspite of intense pain, he did not move an inch lest his movement disturbed his Guru’s sleep. Blood started oozing and the cold blood broke his Guru’s sweet sleep. On seeing the amount of blood that was oozing from Karna’s lap, Parasurama was totally confused. He killed the scorpion and then turned towards Karna angrily and said “Any person who can bear this much of intense pain can’t be a Brahmin. You surely are a Kshatriya. Why did you lie to me?” with no chance of escape available, Karna told the entire truth.
Parasurama was indeed very hurt and angry too. He cursed karma saying “You lied to me with the greed of acquiring this knowledge which is so dear and divine to me. Knowledge should always be received and given with purity. Any amount of impurity taints the receiver. Since, it is for this knowledge that you cheated on me, I curse you that it becomes null and void when you need it the most in your life.”
Karna was aghast. His pleadings did not move his Guru who was totally heart broken. During the war of Kurukshetra, Karna’s wheel gets stuck in the mud and as he get’s down the chariot to lift the wheel he is killed by Arjuna. His Guru’s curse had come true. The purpose of learning archery was to proclaim to the world that he was the best archer in the world and he could beat Arjuna any day in his life. But, it was unfulfilled.
Tomorrow is 7th July 2009 and it is Guru pournami. Let’s recheck our values with regards to our Masters and Guru’s honestly for once. Let’s also recheck our values and ethics with regards to honestly with one and all.
People always feel great having cheated on people who trust them. They feel they have made a fool of others. They have got away with it too. But, what they don’t understand and see is their own future. When, in the moment of sheer desperation, they are left with knowledge that doesn’t seem to work (infact, it doesn’t work then…) and with people who don’t help – on the contrary with the people who are going to create more problems in the already problematic situation. Then, they curse their fate and go around stating that someone’s black magic or buree nazar (curse) has brought about this ill-fate in their life. What they don’t tend to see is that it is their own doing that has brought this ill-fate in their life. They think they are very smart when they are using words as surrender to get away with their bad and wrong intentions.
What are the give-aways of cheating?
Why do we cheat? Whom all do they cheat?
What are the repercussions of cheating?
What are the benefits I get when I am not cheating?
Think, think on these issues till I get back to you all……..
Parasurama taught him with lots of love and poured all his knowledge onto his favourite sishya – Karna. One day, when Karna had learned all that he had to from his Guru, Parasurama complained of tiredness. Immediately Karna offered his lap as a pillow to his Guru and let him go to sleep. Parasurama was deeply touched by his student’s guru bhakthi. When he was sleeping, a scorpion came from nowhere and started biting Karna’s lap. Inspite of intense pain, he did not move an inch lest his movement disturbed his Guru’s sleep. Blood started oozing and the cold blood broke his Guru’s sweet sleep. On seeing the amount of blood that was oozing from Karna’s lap, Parasurama was totally confused. He killed the scorpion and then turned towards Karna angrily and said “Any person who can bear this much of intense pain can’t be a Brahmin. You surely are a Kshatriya. Why did you lie to me?” with no chance of escape available, Karna told the entire truth.
Parasurama was indeed very hurt and angry too. He cursed karma saying “You lied to me with the greed of acquiring this knowledge which is so dear and divine to me. Knowledge should always be received and given with purity. Any amount of impurity taints the receiver. Since, it is for this knowledge that you cheated on me, I curse you that it becomes null and void when you need it the most in your life.”
Karna was aghast. His pleadings did not move his Guru who was totally heart broken. During the war of Kurukshetra, Karna’s wheel gets stuck in the mud and as he get’s down the chariot to lift the wheel he is killed by Arjuna. His Guru’s curse had come true. The purpose of learning archery was to proclaim to the world that he was the best archer in the world and he could beat Arjuna any day in his life. But, it was unfulfilled.
Tomorrow is 7th July 2009 and it is Guru pournami. Let’s recheck our values with regards to our Masters and Guru’s honestly for once. Let’s also recheck our values and ethics with regards to honestly with one and all.
People always feel great having cheated on people who trust them. They feel they have made a fool of others. They have got away with it too. But, what they don’t understand and see is their own future. When, in the moment of sheer desperation, they are left with knowledge that doesn’t seem to work (infact, it doesn’t work then…) and with people who don’t help – on the contrary with the people who are going to create more problems in the already problematic situation. Then, they curse their fate and go around stating that someone’s black magic or buree nazar (curse) has brought about this ill-fate in their life. What they don’t tend to see is that it is their own doing that has brought this ill-fate in their life. They think they are very smart when they are using words as surrender to get away with their bad and wrong intentions.
What are the give-aways of cheating?
Why do we cheat? Whom all do they cheat?
What are the repercussions of cheating?
What are the benefits I get when I am not cheating?
Think, think on these issues till I get back to you all……..
2 comments:
Guru is the entity who dispels the darkness of ignorance and illumines our lives with pure knowledge and hence this day signifies the worship of the Guru and offering of obeisance his feet. The full moon symbolizes the mind filled with delight and signifies the elimination of darkness and evil from the mind. Gurupoornima is an occasion for cleansing the mind to make it absolutely pure.
Man has to undertake various types of Sadhana to purge his Heart of impurities. Exercises such as meditation, chanting, etc., can only provide mental satisfaction. It is only when the Heart is melted in the heat of Divine Love that one can succeed in getting rid of bad qualities and make the Heart shine in its pristine effulgence. Just as the Sun’s rays can burn a heap of cotton if the rays are concentrated through a lens, the rays of the intellect would destroy one’s bad qualities only when they are passed through the lens of Divine Love.
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