Path Of Enlightenment

Once Yudhisthira  and Krishna had a debate as to who is a more righteous king – Karna or Yudhisthira?

Yudhisthira  said that Yudhisthira is more righteous but Krishna explained that such is not the case. Just because Karna is siding with Duryodhana doesn’t mean he is any less righteous than Yudhisthira. He has his personal limitations but this has nothing to do with his righteousness as a king.

Krishna then decides to test Karna or Yudhisthira

The mountains beside the path they were walking on turned into gold. Krishna said "Yudhisthira , distribute these two mountains of gold among the villagers, but you must donate every last bit of gold". 

Yudhisthira  went into the village, and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to every villager, and asked them to gather near the mountain. 

The villagers sang his praises and Yudhisthira  walked towards the mountain with a huffed up chest. For two days and two continuous nights Yudhisthira  shoveled gold from the mountain and donated to each villager. The mountains did not diminish in their slightest.

Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes. After a while, Yudhisthira , started feeling exhausted, but not ready to let go of his ego just yet, told Krishna he couldn't go on any longer without rest. 

Krishna called Karna. "You must donate every last bit of this mountain, Karna" he told him. Karna called two villagers. "You see those two mountains?" Karna asked, "those two mountains of gold are yours to do with as you please" he said, and walked away.

Yudhisthira  sat dumbfounded. Why hadn't this thought occurred to him? 

Krishna smiled mischievously and told him "Yudhisthira , subconsciously, you yourself were attracted to the gold, you regretfully gave it away to each villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount. Thus the size of your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination. 

Karna holds no such reservations. Look at him walking away after giving away a fortune, he doesn't expect people to sing his praises, he doesn't even care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back.

 That is the sign of a man already on the path of enlightenment".