The Curse of Karna that we all have

ft. Michael Scott

The Mahabharata by BR Chopra has had a massive impact on my life - like that of hundreds of millions of people in India. My parents have told me that as a 5-year-old, I used to binge-watch the show over and over again on the VHS tape recording we had of it.

One of the most important characters of the Mahabharata is Karna - the tragic hero of the story. I was in awe of the character of Karna and cried profusely each time I watched the episode where he died. Many years later, my therapist linked my affinity to this character as one of the strongest influences as to why I would take on extra work from whoever asked me in the office and feel unfulfilled afterward. 

But today we are not going to deep dive into why an innocent mind understood ‘daanveer Karna’ at a surface level and subconsciously created a pattern that used to make him take pride in saying ‘Yes, I will solve it’ to whatever problem anyone brought to him. Instead, I want to reference one particular story of his life I have found deeper meaning in recently - The curse that he got from his weapons teacher, Parshurama. I won’t get into why he got it, but essentially - the curse went something like this -  

“When you most need the knowledge that you have learned from me, you will forget it all.”

Karna, getting cursed by his teacher Parshuram

Spoiler alert - When the time did come, the curse got activated, he forgot how to summon the weapon he needed to kill his enemy and he died. 

Okay Pious, thanks for that story. But what does it have to do with me? 

Here’s it: 

We spend our time learning a lot of things - 

• That career advice your boss gave you that now quote to the juniors around the lunch table 

• Any wisdom that people in Youtube shorts that talk into that credible-looking podcast mics say

• Quotes we see on walls, lessons we learn from movies, books we’ve read, amazing blogs we follow, tweets, motivational posts we see on social media, conversations, etc.

But there’s a catch that comes up in practically using anything you learn. 

Let’s look at it with a simple example. 

Keeping the theme of vast, larger-than-life epics that a majority of people will understand a reference from - let’s take some advice from the modern-day American epic - The Office.

 You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

Okay, That’s great advice. Broad applicability. 

Let’s see a few examples of where we can use that. We may think - 

• If I don’t ask for a raise at the new job, I won’t get more money

• If I don’t speak up in the meeting, my ideas won’t get implemented

• If I don’t attend the Diwali parties in my building, I won’t make friends 

• If I don’t ask for a second helping of the warm bread basket at the restaurant, I will be sad. 

Accurate picture of me at a restaurant when I smell fresh bread rolls & butter

So, let’s now deep dive into one of these points. Let’s choose the most universally applicable example above and witness a live case study of what happened to me recently - 

• I reached the restaurant, feeling terribly bothered by the heat and the complaints of the cab driver

• I sit down. I’m alone by myself. 

• I order a bread basket

• I quickly eat half of the warm bread rolls with butter. 

• *Pure Bliss*

• I start browsing Twitter, phone in one hand, bread roll in the other

• Quickly scroll past calorie-counting app ads

• Oh, I wanted to start intermittent fasting again. - I think

• Oh, that aunty told me last week that “It’s good to walk daily, no?”

• Am I eating too much? Was that Aunty telling me I’m fat? 

• The remaining bread rolls are cold now. 

• I want another bread basket

• I see a tweet from Naval and am reminded of a friend recently saying he never eats a meal alone

• Am I weird for sitting here eating by myself? 

• I make loose eye contact with the waiter once, then lower it immediately. 

• Okay, maybe not…

• I see that more diners come in. 

• I see they are all in groups. Sharing one bread basket. 

• I am wanting a second breadbasket just for myself. That table has four people and one basket! 

• Am I such a fatso that I want to eat two whole bread baskets by myself? 

• Am I a loser who has no friends to eat with?

• I feel bad inside. 

• “Can I get you more bread?” the waiter asks

• “No - I’ll just take the salad and a diet coke please” 

• I eat quickly and leave - feeling overweight, lonely, and ashamed of myself. 

I did not take the shot. I do not get the second helping of the warm dinner rolls. Michael Scott’s teachings do not come to me. 

We can learn whatever we want, but if we are feeling emotionally disturbed, we will remember nothing at the moment when we need to. 

Karna trying to summon the Brahmastra through ancient streaming services

The reality is - I am the healthiest I have been in a decade. I don't count the calories that I’m eating. I enjoy eating alone whenever I get the opportunity as I get to practice mindful eating. And warm bread and butter is one of the true joys of life. 

But instead of enjoying a second basket, the irritation that I was originally feeling, when exposed to some triggers spiraled me into a mess. 

The emotional context that I was in at that time made me forget any learnings I had.  

And that’s the curse - if we are not able to maintain emotional stability, the things we have learned to help us live a good life will not occur to us. The time that we need wisdom the most, it won’t even remotely occur to us, and we will respond through the frame of our (usually unempowering) conditioning. If we wish to live intentionally and enjoy our life, taking care of how we feel inside is vital. 

Personally, I’ve found a few ways that work for me to prevent these curses from activating. 

But I’m going to talk about that in my next post. 

Right now, I’m going to enjoy this warm bread roll & butter now by myself. :)