"About fear & courage amidst uncertainty"

The portrayed face offs between Karna and Arjuna in the epic battle of Mahabharata always caught my fascination for the sheer energy and action packed events they were albeit never without valuable lessons for life.

 At one point in time towards the end of 18 day long battle, Karna’s charioteer, 'Shalya' - the King of Madara, drove towards Arjuna’s chariot steered by Lord Krishna himself. As they came in proximity, Karna’s charioteer commented  “I think I should take my chariot somewhere else", this to instill fear in Karna, as he added that “you probably haven’t heard the twang of Arjuna’s bow Karna”. To which Karna confidently replied that “you also haven’t heard the twang of my bows, O King of Madara”, sounding resolute in his determination to defeat Arjuna.

Strikingly, further Karna mentioned “What a beautiful sight this is. A chariot drawn by four white horses, on that a charioteer like Krishna and a warrior like Arjuna, anyone except Lord Shiva will fear such a scene”.

"So are you afraid Karna?", said his chariotter, to which Karna gave a remarkable response saying that:

“Those warriors are made up of stone, O king of Madara, who don’t fear’

This brings me to the despair and gloom that’s hovering around our lives today, dampening the human spirit leading to doubts about even the basic sustenance of life forget the leading or lagging indicators of economy that often disappoint and hardly exhibit any light ahead. The second wave of COVID-19 has put everyone’s life itself in question, a scene compelling enough to instill fear in anyone of us, bearing striking resemblance to what happened with the great warrior Karna in the battlefield, although we just have an invisible virus on the other side in these times.

Let’s all understand that this fear & dilemma is very much humanly thing to have or probably omnipresent and something that we all are going through in these times. We must recognize & acknowledge these emotions and yet find ways and means to deal with these effectively. The means can be as diverse as finding solace in togetherness with our families, any exercise regimen or hobby that one can maintain to keep the spirits high, meditation to calm the mind, speaking to friends or colleagues who reinforce hope and revitalize our strength, realizing that 1-2 years without a pay-hike or with a salary cut won't make any material difference to our lives or maybe a job loss even won't last a couple of months or few quarters at the most and that we will find our feet again - no matter what. 

Let’s have faith that collective human spirit will prevail, we will prevail and that we will see through these times together. Let us do our bit to extend financial or moral help to those who need it and comfort/pray for those who have lost their near and dear ones, let us stand with our colleagues or people who have lost their jobs or businesses and always have more empathy. And if you are one of those who is healthy and have survived against all these odds, let's thank our Chariotter, the almighty God – the bigger force, our savior, and our ultimate guide for his grace.

No matter how tough this battle, this will also last and we will see the good times again. Let's keep faith, let's believe, let's choose courage, let’s choose hope and face our fears valiantly; because being human- to fear is natural as we aren't carved in stone!