Q. In the Srimad Bhagavatam 1.7.36, Krishna reminds Arjuna: “A person who knows the principles of religion does not kill an enemy who is careless, intoxicated, insane, asleep, afraid or devoid of his chariot”, thereby highlighting Ashwatthama’s heinous crime. But during the Mahabharata war Krishna Himself advises Arjuna to kill Karna who was devoid of his chariot and not resisting. I find this contradictory and difficult to understand. Could you please clarify this matter?
Answer by Romapada Swami: If Krishna chooses to deceive a person, no one can surpass Him in deceit. As Srila Prabhupada remarks, Krishna’s greatness is not one-sided – He can be the greatest cheat when He chooses to. But His cheating is also the supreme justice. Krishna arranges that one who cheats others is in turn cheated. This was one of the lessons He wanted to demonstrate through this episode – those who adopt deceitful means also deserve to be killed by deceitful means.
Right from the beginning Karna, along with Duryodhana and his cohorts, was involved in all of the unrighteous schemes to try to annihilate the Pandavas – beginning with the construction of the lac palace, the treacherous dice game and the attempted insulting of Draupadi. Even during the battle of Kuruksetra, Karna, Dronacharya and others had joined to deceitfully kill Abhimanyu.
Knowing well the lack of scruples and the characteristic disregard for rules of chivalry within Duryodhana’s party, the Pandavas made a condition at the outset of the battle, stipulating the rules for the battle. They said that they would not be the first to break the standard rules for combat, but if the Kauravas adopted devious and unfair means, then they too would resort to whatever tactics they deemed appropriate. Thus, when Abhimanyu was brought down by unfair means, Krishna arranged for those involved in that unrighteous act to also meet their end by similar means.
When Karna’s chariot was stuck due to a brahmana’s curse, and he requested Arjuna to desist from fighting on the principle of virtue, Lord Krishna explicitly reminded Karna of each of the instances in which he violated the principles of virtue. The Lord then reminded him that he did not deserve a righteous fight and thus instigated Arjuna to immediately kill him.
