Not Even Krishna Could Escape the Gita’s Hardest Truth: Karma Never Forgets
Nidhi | Jul 16, 2025, 07:00 IST
( Image credit : Times Life Bureau )
Highlight of the story: Most people know Krishna as the divine guide who spoke the Bhagavad Gita’s timeless truths about karma and duty. But few reflect on how his own death proved those teachings in the harshest way. This piece explores how Krishna’s quiet passing — struck by a hunter’s arrow in a lonely forest — reveals that not even an avatar can escape the law of karma. Through his life and death, Krishna shows us that every action matters, and that accepting our karma with courage is the Gita’s deepest lesson.
When Krishna spoke these words to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, he revealed one of the deepest laws of existence: that while we must act in this world, we are not the masters of what returns to us. The fruit of karma never truly disappears.
We often remember Krishna as the divine strategist, the teacher of Dharma, and the Supreme Being who came to restore balance. Yet hidden in the closing chapters of the Mahabharata is a truth that few truly reflect on. Even the one who revealed the highest wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita could not escape the consequences of his actions.
Krishna’s own death, alone in a forest, struck by a hunter’s stray arrow: is not just a tragic ending to a glorious story. It is the ultimate reminder that karma, once created, must complete its circle. It never forgets.
When Gandhari, the grieving mother of the Kauravas, saw her sons lying lifeless, she cursed Krishna for allowing such destruction. Though he accepted her curse without anger, it sealed the fate of his own people. This was not punishment, but the simple law of cause and effect.
In this way, Krishna demonstrated the same truth he asked Arjuna to accept: that one must act without clinging to outcomes, and when the results arrive, they must be faced without resistance.
When the time came, the entire clan destroyed itself in drunken conflict on the shores of Prabhasa. This was the collective debt of the Yadavas, which even Krishna did not interfere with. It shows that the karma we create together can overpower the virtue of even the greatest souls among us.
The hunter Jara who struck Krishna’s foot was believed to be the reincarnation of Vali, the Vanara king whom Rama, another avatar of Vishnu, had killed in the Ramayana. This connection, found in local traditions, suggests that karma travels not only across actions but also across lifetimes. The arrow that ended Krishna’s earthly life was the final balancing of an old account.
This is the heart of karma yoga: to accept the fruits of action, pleasant or painful, without resistance. In the Gita, Krishna says the person who remains steady in pleasure and pain, gain and loss, is the one who truly understands immortality. By allowing his life to close as it did, Krishna showed that not even an avatar clings to the body when the time comes.
In our time, we often seek ways to bypass karma. We hope good deeds will erase past mistakes instantly. We wish for the blessings of saints or rituals to erase every consequence. But the Mahabharata reminds us that karma works far deeper than human calculations.
Krishna did not fear his karma. He did not cling to the power he held or to the people he loved. He lived and taught the truth that the soul must do its duty and accept the fruits as they come. His death is not a failure of divinity, but a demonstration of Dharma’s impartial nature.
When we look at the image of Krishna smiling on the battlefield, guiding Arjuna with timeless wisdom, we often forget the forest where he chose to rest his head at the end. The one who could summon divine weapons and protect entire armies chose to let a simple arrow find him. He let karma complete its cycle.
The Gita’s deepest lesson is not that we can escape karma through devotion alone, but that we can meet it with full awareness, courage, and detachment. Krishna’s final act was not the chariot at Kurukshetra, but his quiet acceptance under a tree by the sea.
If the teacher of the Gita embraced his karma fully, then perhaps the greatest act of faith for us is not trying to outrun our actions, but to live in such a way that when the fruits come — sweet or bitter — we stand ready, without fear.
कर्म कभी भूलता नहीं — Karma never forgets.
That is not a threat. It is a reminder that life itself remembers us as we are.
And in that remembering, we find our freedom.
॥ ॐ तत्सत् ॥
We often remember Krishna as the divine strategist, the teacher of Dharma, and the Supreme Being who came to restore balance. Yet hidden in the closing chapters of the Mahabharata is a truth that few truly reflect on. Even the one who revealed the highest wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita could not escape the consequences of his actions.
Krishna’s own death, alone in a forest, struck by a hunter’s stray arrow: is not just a tragic ending to a glorious story. It is the ultimate reminder that karma, once created, must complete its circle. It never forgets.
1. Karma Is Action, and Every Action Has a Return
Mahabharata
( Image credit : Times Life Bureau )
When Gandhari, the grieving mother of the Kauravas, saw her sons lying lifeless, she cursed Krishna for allowing such destruction. Though he accepted her curse without anger, it sealed the fate of his own people. This was not punishment, but the simple law of cause and effect.
2. Detachment Does Not Mean Exemption
Karma: Bhagavad Gita
( Image credit : Times Life Bureau )
In this way, Krishna demonstrated the same truth he asked Arjuna to accept: that one must act without clinging to outcomes, and when the results arrive, they must be faced without resistance.
3. Collective Karma Surpasses Individual Virtue
Pandav
( Image credit : Pixabay )
When the time came, the entire clan destroyed itself in drunken conflict on the shores of Prabhasa. This was the collective debt of the Yadavas, which even Krishna did not interfere with. It shows that the karma we create together can overpower the virtue of even the greatest souls among us.
4. Fate and Karma Are Not Separate
Krishna' Death
( Image credit : Times Life Bureau )
The hunter Jara who struck Krishna’s foot was believed to be the reincarnation of Vali, the Vanara king whom Rama, another avatar of Vishnu, had killed in the Ramayana. This connection, found in local traditions, suggests that karma travels not only across actions but also across lifetimes. The arrow that ended Krishna’s earthly life was the final balancing of an old account.
5. The Highest Dharma Is Acceptance
Bhagavad Gita Says About
( Image credit : Freepik )
This is the heart of karma yoga: to accept the fruits of action, pleasant or painful, without resistance. In the Gita, Krishna says the person who remains steady in pleasure and pain, gain and loss, is the one who truly understands immortality. By allowing his life to close as it did, Krishna showed that not even an avatar clings to the body when the time comes.
What Krishna’s Passing Means for Us
Krishna did not fear his karma. He did not cling to the power he held or to the people he loved. He lived and taught the truth that the soul must do its duty and accept the fruits as they come. His death is not a failure of divinity, but a demonstration of Dharma’s impartial nature.
The Last Lesson: Acceptance of Karma
The Gita’s deepest lesson is not that we can escape karma through devotion alone, but that we can meet it with full awareness, courage, and detachment. Krishna’s final act was not the chariot at Kurukshetra, but his quiet acceptance under a tree by the sea.
If the teacher of the Gita embraced his karma fully, then perhaps the greatest act of faith for us is not trying to outrun our actions, but to live in such a way that when the fruits come — sweet or bitter — we stand ready, without fear.
कर्म कभी भूलता नहीं — Karma never forgets.
That is not a threat. It is a reminder that life itself remembers us as we are.
And in that remembering, we find our freedom.
॥ ॐ तत्सत् ॥