గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః
గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః
శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం
ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే
శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం
నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం
ఓం నమః శివాయ
Once Sri Krishna
and Arjuna were walking along some farm lands. They saw one farmer trying to
plough his land without bullocks. Sri Krishna gestured to Arjuna and both of
them went to the farmer and took the plough on their shoulders and the farmer
started ploughing the land. After some time they were done with that and Sri
Krishna and Arjuna resumed their walking.
Arjuna said,
"Krishna! Its a very good feeling after working hard." Then Sri
Krishna responded, "Working hard alone does not give you the pleasure, but
working hard for some one else gives you the pleasure."
The actual
conversation in Hindi goes like this.
"Vasudev!
Sram se kaafi sukh milta hai."
"Sram se
nahin arjun! Sram daan se sukh milta hai."
When the
Pandavas go to Vaanavrat, the Kauravas hatch a plot to kill the Pandavas. They
make a huge house made of wax (lakka) and the plan was to light fire to that
and kill the Pandavas. Pandavas escaped that bid.
But before that
incident happened, Sakuni discussed that plan with Duryodhana and his brothers
in front of Karna. Karna did not like that plan as it was not right. He felt
very disturbed about that, but he could neither disclose that to anyone nor
prevent it. So he went to this parents home (Karnas father was the charioteer
of Bheeshma). He made some statements indirectly hinting that some adharma was
happening at Vaanavrat. He was so disturbed that he asked his father for a
solution to reduce/divert the guilt feeling he was suffering from. His father
told him to start giving alms (Daanam).
He said, "The
act of giving is one of the best ways to find peace and happiness in life. Go
ahead and give alms as if there is no tomorrow. Never say no to any Yachaka
(the one who seeks), irrespective of what is sought."
As they say, the
rest is history and Karna is known as "Daana veera soora karna". He
went to the extent of even giving off his Sahaja Kavacha kundalaalu (armor and
ear rings, he was born with) when asked.
Once Arjuna
became jealous of Karna on the aspect of Daanam. He felt, whats the big deal
about daanam. Giving something that you already have is a very easy thing. He
went to Sri Krishna and expressed his displeasure of Karna having the title of
Daana Veera. Sri Krishna told him that its not easy to do Daanam and advised
him not to feel jealous of Karna, as thats a great attribute of Karna. Arjuna
challenged Sri Krishna that he can also do Daanam the way Karna does.
Then Sri Krishna
tells Arjuna that he will prove to him why Karna is greater than Arjuna on the aspect
of Daanam. Sri Krishna gives a huge pile of money and gold and other ornaments
to both Karna and Arjuna separately and asks them to donate to people. Arjuna
invites lot of people and starts distributing the gold to different people in
different quantities. He gets tired distributing and at the end of the day he
goes to Sri Krishna saying that he has donated most of it, but there is still
something left to be donated which he would do the following day. Sri Krishna
tells him, "Karna called multiple people and asked them to take all of
that and within a minute he left the place and he was done with that job."
Arjuna realizes
the greatness of Karna and bows his head as an act of respect to Karna.
I am not sure
how true the above story is, but it teaches us a great lesson that unless there
is a real intention to help someone, it's not easy to perform that act to gain
some respect or gain popularity or to please someone. You should give it as if
it is not yours and without any expectations.
సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు
PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and
english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.
