In Mahabharat, when Arjun from Pandavas and Duryodhan from Kauravas approach Krishna and request him to fight the war from their respective sides, Krishna didn’t really have any bias. He was neutral and in general reluctant to side with anyone. Both parties knew that Krishna has a large army as well as the most brilliant political mind. So, having him with them would tilt the course of the war in their favor and make it certainly a lop-sided battle. But there’s an interesting story in how Arjun and Duryodhan approached Krishna.
Both Arjun and Duryodhan reach Krishna’s abode while Duryodhan being the first to reach. However, Krishna was asleep at the time. They both agree to wait for Krishna to wake up. While Duryodhan sits near the head of Krishna so that he could pounce first and request Krishna to be with them, Arjun shows patience and grace and stands near Krishna’s feet.
When Krishna wakes up, he sees Arjun first as he was standing near his feet, so obviously, first visible. Since Duryodhan was near the head, it was near but not the first thing one sees when one wakes up. Krishna tells both that since he saw Arjun first, he would help him personally, and since Duryodhan reached first, he could have Krishna’s army. While Arjun is more than happy to have Krishna as his mentor, Duryodhan, all in glee, doesn’t realize that having a large army is nothing in comparison to getting Krishna’s advice, which we know that eventually mattered a lot more.
This is a commonly told story when it comes to seeking someone’s help to solve a problem. It is ridiculously funny that we generally are so eager to grab the answers that getting them becomes our only objective and not how we should really approach the helping hands. Asking for help is such a common thing but more often than not our ego gets into the way. Either we don’t ask for help when we really need it, or we ask with an arrogance that the helper feels awkward to help honestly.
How do you ask for Help?
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