Balāka Ākhyāna
The Balāka Ākhyāna is an account that Kṛshṇa tells Arjuna in Chapter 69 of the Karṇa Parva of the Mahābhārata. Balāka was a hunter who killed a creature that was destroying innocent travellers. Killing is usually pāpa (sin), but Balāka’s act protected the innocent, and he reached a great and auspicious loka after death. Kṛshṇa used the account to show Arjuna that the outer form of an act is not the whole of it. The same act, killing, can be pāpa or puṇya (merit) depending on the aim, the one who is killed, and the result.
The Gāṇḍīva crisis
On the seventeenth day of the war, Yudhishṭhira was wounded and in pain. He was also furious that Karṇa was still alive. In his anger he spoke terrible words to Arjuna. The last insult was the command: “Give away your Gāṇḍīva to someone worthier than yourself.”
Arjuna had a secret vow: whoever insulted his Gāṇḍīva bow would be killed by him. He had now heard this insult from his own elder brother. In deep inner conflict he drew his sword. He was about to kill Yudhishṭhira.
Kṛshṇa steps in
Kṛshṇa stopped him. He first spoke about how fine and subtle dharma is. A wise person follows the spirit and purpose of a vow and not only its letter. To kill one’s own elder brother in order to keep a vow about honour was itself adharma, however exactly the vow had been worded.
To show that the same act can be pāpa or puṇya depending on the case, Kṛshṇa told two accounts. One was the Balāka Ākhyāna, a killing that earned puṇya. The other was the Kauśika Ākhyāna, a true speech that earned naraka (hell).
Balāka the hunter
Balāka was a hunter. He lived by killing animals for food and trade. One day he met a fearsome creature of evil intent, a hunter of the worst kind, that was destroying innocent lives. It preyed on travellers, on people going about their lawful work, on those who had done no wrong. Its existence only brought destruction and suffering to the world.
Balāka killed this creature.
Killing is usually wrong. Balāka was also not a brāhmaṇa, a king, or a protector with the duty to punish. Even so, Kṛshṇa taught that what he did was a righteous act. The creature’s whole existence was the destruction of others, and by its nature and its steady deeds it was a source of evil. Killing it served the world. Balāka reached a great and auspicious loka after death, because his killing protected others and was not done to harm. (Karṇa Parva, Chapter 69)
What Kṛshṇa teaches through the account
Kṛshṇa used the Balāka Ākhyāna to make one point to Arjuna. The worth of an act is not set by its outer form alone. It depends on three things:
- Who is killed. Killing a being whose life harms others is very different from killing an innocent.
- The aim. The aim may be to protect, or it may be to destroy or to serve oneself.
- The result. The act may lessen suffering in the world or increase it.
Kṛshṇa set this beside the Kauśika Ākhyāna, in which a brāhmaṇa‘s true speech led to great harm and earned him naraka. His teaching was this: what looks like virtue (telling the truth) can become pāpa when it brings evil results, and what looks like pāpa (killing) can become puṇya when it prevents greater harm.
The lesson for Arjuna was direct. To kill Yudhishṭhira, his own elder brother and Dharmarāja, in order to keep a literal vow about honour, was not virtue. It was adharma of the deepest kind. The vow existed to protect honour, and destroying his brother to keep the vow to the letter would be the greatest dishonour. (Karṇa Parva, Chapter 69)
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Karṇa Parva, Chapter 69