Karna fights only Arjuna because he has assured Kunti that either he or Arjuna would survive. He spares the other Pandava brothers, even after overpowering them though he could have dealt a severe blow to the enemy by killing Yudhisthira. Karna is more concerned with his word of honour and considerations of fair play than the likely consequences of fair play than the likely consequeces of his action. Not for Karna the benefit of divine wisdom in the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Such enlightement is meant for Arjuna. Karna's arch rival, who progresses from the crisis of a bewildered conscience to liberation and victory. As for Karna, he is destined to drift helplessly from one tangled web of tragic consciousness to another, to his ultimate doom.
Karna learns it from the redoubtable Parasurama by claiming to be a Brahmin and invites his wrath when is is exposed as 'sutaputra'. Parasurama curses him that he will forget his skill when he will need it the most. But the innate gallantry of the irrepressible Karna and his martial mettle come to the fore at the tournament organised by Drona to test the proficiency of the Kaurava and Pandava princes, at the end of their training. Derided as an intruder, he boldly challenges Arjuna's invincibility and even demonstrates his expertise. But his call for a duel is frustrated when the question of his lineage comes up. Sensing his discomfiture, Duryodhana seizes the opportunity to befriend him by declaring him the king of Anga and thereby raising his status. Karna's overwhelming sense of gratitude to his new-found friend blinds him to his faults and even makes him an accomplice in some of his pernicious designs.
NAVRATRA or nine auspicious nights signifies the basic principle of yoga that energies should involute back to the primal source to rejuvenate the individual form, which is the human body. This return brings out the union of the microcosmic individual, Pinda, and the macrocosmic consciousness, Brahmanda, passing through the entire cyclic process of creation because time and space are self-perpetuating.
In Navratra, Nav means nine and Ratra means night. In Indian philosophy the number nine is closely associated with the process of creation in the cosmic time cycle. The entire cosmic cycle consists of three phases-creation, preservation and dissolution. Each of these three parts split into triads (3x3=9) brings the numerical order to nine. Adi Sankaracharya in the 8th century AD clearly indicated the significance of number nine in the Soundaryalahiri, 11th sloka: ''The four Siva chakras and five Sakti chakras create the nine Mula-Prakratis or basic manifestations, because they represent the source substance of the whole cosmos.'' These nine cosmic wombs or Nava-Yoni have a parallel nine categories of nature in the macrocosm. This nine-fold division is projected in nine apertures of the body-two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth, genitals and anus, nine psychic centres, nine planets, nine divisions of time - ghatika, yama, ahoratra, vara, tithi, paksha, masa, ritu, nine gems, nine moods or Navras and nine forms of Goddess Durga or Tripurasundari worshipped during Navratras.
The Rug Veda clearly says that before creation began everything was shrouded in the darkness of night and from that darkness creation came about. The same idea is reflected in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. These nine nights occur on equinoxes or equal nights when the sun is vertically overhead at the equator or centre. Hence the human body also attains equilibrium with nature and meditation and worship of Saki with Beej mantras revitalises the body.