Page 4 - Newsletter May 2019

FOOD FOR THOUGHT :

Q & A

With

Mrs Asha Manoharan

Karunai

Today, I would like to talk about “Karunai”, and what does it take to invoke God’s

Karunai?
In essence, Karunai means empathy in English. One might then ask the question,

“Does God have empathy or sympathy for us? The answer is NO to both. Then,
what represents God’s Karunai? Is it the Love He has for us or the forgiveness He
shows us or the boons He bestows us?

Before we dive into this, let us first understand that the root of the word “Karunai”
is “Kara”, which means do, or make us do. In this context, God performs some ac-
tions for us and also makes us perform some on our own. God created this beauti-

ful earth, air, water and all the necessary things for us to lead a comfortable life.
In addition, He furnishes boons and difficulties, to steer us on to the path of Dhar-
ma. All these imply the Karunai of God.

God’s Karunai is also glorified in numerous songs and hymns composed by our
great sages. In this regard, we can take the example of Adi Sankaracharya’s
Soundarya Lahari, which eulogizes the beauty and benevolence of Ambal, who cre-

ates this world, protects it and gives boons to those who deserve it. All this comes
under the umbrella of Karunai.
Another example I would like to bring up, is the battle of Kurukshetra from the

great Mahabharata epic. At the end of the war, all the Kauravas were killed.
Among the few alive, were the Pandavas, Dhritarashtra, Vidur, Lord Krishna,

Kunti and Gandhari.
Angered by the death of her sons, Gandhari asks Krishna, “There was so much de-
struction and loss of life due to this war. You are the sole reason for the death of
my sons. You could have easily stopped this catastrophe. Don't you have any

Karunai?” Hearing this, Krishna stays silent.
Veda Vyasa narrates this encounter by saying that we cannot assess the infinite

depth of Lord Krishna’s Karunai. Everytime a Jivatma died in that war, be it
Kauravas, Abhimanyu, or horses and elephants, a part of Krishna died and he as-
similated that Jivatma back into Himself. The battle of Kurukshetra was necessary

to establish Dharma, and even if warriors fought on the adharma side of this war,
Lord Krishna forgave them. This signifies the Karunai of Lord Krishna.
In the Ramayana, when the battle between Ravana and Lord Rama stretches on,

Ravana was getting exhausted. Lord Ram tells Ravana, “You can go back and
come tomorrow, we will fight then.” In this instance, Lord Rama shows his Karunai
for Ravana, as this is a fight between dharma and adharma, and not between Him

and Ravana.

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