Excellence is never an accident!

Today’s post is about one of the most controversial characters in Mahabharatha, Karna! Chances are you might have heard this before, nevertheless.

Karna was known for his charity apart from being a great archer, warrior, and a benevolent friend.

So it was no surprise that whenever the topic of Karna arose, Krishna never spared that opportunity to praise Karna as the most charitable man much to the despair of Arjuna.

Arjuna would probably even take it about Karna being a warrior, he knew that but wanted to see Karna and his exploits on charity and remove all his doubt.

Krishna too saw the urge in Arjuna and told him to announce a charity drive for the poor, and when Arjuna asked him what was in store for charity, Krishna said there was a whole truck of gold that he would need to distribute in charity.

Thrilled at this, Arjuna called his subordinates and told them this is the time he would defeat Karna in charity and made extensive arrangements to make the world know he is having a charity drive on a particular day.

The day arrived, and the whole of the town was in attendance to partake of Arjuna’s charity. Long queues of men and women with children waited patiently in line.

The day ended and still over 90% of heap of gold remained. Arjuna was helping the people with spoonfuls of gold dust and he was wondering how he is going to finish this off. So he told the drummers to go far and wide and announce that this charity drive is happening!

This went on for days, and there was no chance of any gold dust getting any lesser…and some seven days later, Arjuna gave up looked at Krishna and said, I don’t know what to do!

Krishna smiled and said come with me, let me illustrate you something. before that change yourself to a farmer in disguise.

So Arjuna accompanied Krishna in the guise of a farmer and they went on a small ride on a chariot.

A few minutes into the drive they came across Karna, and Krishna seizing the opportunity asked him where he was headed to.

Karna said he was going to meet Duryodhana, then Krishna told him he needed Karna’s help with some charity. Karna smiled and told him he is always game.

So Krishna pointed to the corner of the street and said there's a heap of gold (which was left behind by Arjuna) and Karna had to give that in charity. Karna looked at the corner and did indeed see a heap of gold. He got down the chariot and as he was walking to the heap of gold, he saw two people working on the roadside.

Karna called them and asked if they can see the heap of gold, they nodded in affirmation. Karna then said, share it equally among yourself and he left the place!

Arjuna was dumbfounded. He had no answers to this. What he had taken seven days and not completed Karna had done in a few seconds. Since then Arjuna has held Karna in deep respect secretly though he would not show it to others.

So the management lesson here is excellence can never be an accident. What Karna did we need to ingrain in ourselves the best practices so that it comes naturally to us. Karna had the final goal in mind. That was charity, let us also be very clear about what is the final goal. We can be better ourselves in a smart but firm and powerful way like Karna did if we live by what we want to do. You won't make it by doing an Arjuna trying to drum up his charity and still not making it happen. Sometimes if you do not know the end no matter how hard you work like Arjuna, you will never make it. Processes are fine but ideally, if they don’t take you to the destination please be aware of its shortcomings, and earlier you understand the better!

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