"Do not fucking forgive them. You will heal when you accept that you cannot and must not forgive. Honor yourself as I honor you. Don't you dare forgive them, when I have plans to deliver their heads to you."
― Karna
Karna has told me this multiple times, but this is how he said it today after I did an energy healing session on myself. And it's pretty close to scripture too. Krishna did not tell Arjuna to lay down his weapons and forgive his cousins. Krishna told Arjuna to kill.
Incidentally, Karna, Ekalavya and I have a lot in common. Especially Karna, he has been with me from the very beginning of my spiritual journey. When I see people victim-blaming Karna and Ekalavya, I know that is exactly how they would speak to me.
(Note: it is possible to call out Karna's toxic traits without victim-blaming him for, as an example, Parashurama's shitty, evil, disgusting curse. That's on Parashurama. Nobody should ever worship, value, or study Parashurama, after what he did to Karna.)
And I have to say, I love that Drona is finally murdered by one of his own students, after the way he destroyed Ekalavya's future to protect Arjuna's privilege.
In my case, apart from dealing with abuses and curses like Karna and Ekalavya did, I also deal with institutional privilege, just a different institutional privilege than the one Karna and Ekalavya faced. It's ableism.
I have hidden disabilities and have found that society is COMPLETELY intolerant of hidden disabilities. Or the fact that repeated abuse, black magic and torture has left me with severely impaired executive functioning, leaving me unable to perform many basic tasks. The ableists and victim-blamers will still insist that I can be high functioning, while denying me the support I need, or the justice.
Institutional privilege is real. Ableism is murderous. And I don't forgive.
Edited to add: Because this has come up, I want to note that I am fully aware of Karna's flaws. He's my oldest spirit guide, do you think he wasn't sometimes a dick to me? All of his shadow traits have come up, as it happens in all long-term, real spirit-human interactions.
But Karna also has a very high vibrational manifestation which is outside/beyond the mythology he originates from. There is way more to spirits than meets the eye; they are often bigger, older and more complex than their portrayal in mythology. And they tend to evolve over the centuries. Karna's high vibrational manifestation is that of a deeply ethical warrior spirit in service to humanity.
I know who Karna was before he appeared in the Mahabharata, and I know how Karna behaves now after the Mahabharata. At this point, my interactions with him don't have a whole lot to do with the Mahabharata.