Narakaloka, the Abode of Hell;
Lord Yama, the God of Death, was giving out judgments to the sinners so that their soul gets purified and then they could be reborn.
A soldier from Suryaloka entered the court and interrupted him.
"Father wants me back at home, right away?" Lord Yama frowned as he knew it was going to be something important. "I wonder what might have happened."
Leaving the judgments on hold, Lord Yama instantly left for Suryaloka. He went directly to the courtroom, but no one was present. The doorkeeper informed him that Lord Surya is at the mandir.
He went there only to find his mother was standing on one leg with flames in her palms, praying for Lord Shiva to appear before her.
"Sangya, stop being ridiculous." Lord Surya is scolding her. "I promised that I would bring Karna to you, didn't I? I had sent our army to search every place. Even Indra promised me that he would search for Karna."
"I don't trust Lord Indra or other gods in Swargloka, for they never wanted Karna to stay here." Sangya seemed stubborn. "I don't know which asura took him. I don't even know whether he's alive or not."
"Mother, Karna is definitely alive." She heard a familiar voice from behind. It was her eldest son whom she had last met more than a hundred years ago. She wanted to turn around, but she couldn't stop her ritual either.
"My son, Yama, thank goodness, you came at the right time." Lord Surya sighed in relief. "Tell your mother to stop being a fool. She's harming herself."
Before the god of death even responded to him, Sangya spoke, "No, I won't stop until Lord Shiva appears before me and gives back my son."
As more and more time passed, Lord Surya and Lord Yama also began to pray to Lord Shiva for help.
And soon, their prayers were answered, and a blinding flash of light appeared above the Shivalinga, followed by a deep voice. "Your son is sleeping behind the linga, Goddess Sangya. And Suryadev, come to Kailash right this instant."
The gods knew this voice too well. Along with Chhaya, everyone also held their palms together and paid their respects to Lord Shiva, while Sangya stopped her ritual and rushed towards the place behind the Shivalinga to find Karna leaning against it and shutting his eyes. It seemed like he was in a deep sleep that the commotion wasn't even disturbing him.
"Hmm?" Little Karna rubbed his eyes as he was tightly hugged by someone. The presence was extremely familiar to him. He opened his eyes. "Mother?"
Not long after, he met his eldest brother, Yama, the god of death and dharma, for the first time.
Lord Surya departed for Kailash while Lord Yama decided to stay at his home for a while.
Sangya left Karna with Yama and left for the kitchens to oversee the lunch preparations. As her son visited the home after so long, she was arranging a grand lunch with a hundred varieties of dishes.
In their mother's absence, Lord Yama started to preach about dharma, the path of righteousness, to 4-1/2-year-old Karna, who had great difficulty in understanding most of the words and their complex meanings.
Realizing his mistake, Lord Yama took a different route of preaching to him, by telling the story of Samudra Manthan, churning the ocean of milk.
Upon hearing everything, Karna asked curiously, "Why did Goddess Parvati stop Lord Shiva from consuming it? Father told me that Mahadeva (Lord Shiva) is a Supreme Being with no beginning and no end, he's eternally living, everlasting."
Lord Yama smiled as he replied, "The answer lies in your question itself, Karna. It is because this entire universe resides within him. Every element of creation, material as well as the spiritual, has emanated from his body.
Lord Shiva could digest the poison without any harm, but this could cost the destruction of the universe. So, this is why Goddess Parvati helped him so that the poison stays in his throat. There's another thing that one needs to learn. A man's success will be incomplete without the contribution of a woman in it."
"Why did Goddess Mohini allow Rahu to consume Armit? Isn't she the avatar of Lord Vishnu? How could she get deceived by the Asura?" Karna continued to ask the questions.
Lord Yama patiently answered, "Whether it is Lord Vishnu or Lord Shiva, the abilities of their avatars are determined by the form they took. In Goddess Mohini's form, Lord Vishnu wasn't able to find Rahu's existence when he first took the appearance of Lord Chandra.
However, everything in the world revolves around karma. One cannot escape the result of their actions, whether it is human, animal, plant, bird, asura, deva, or even the Trimurti.
Rahu did drink the celestial nectar (Armita), but his actions weren't righteous. So, he received the punishment. This is why one should always think twice whenever they are going to make an important decision."
"But, I'm a child. How would I know what is right and what is wrong?" Karna asked him.
Lord Yama answered, "By acquiring knowledge from a great guru. But, at present, your age is low, and you aren't ready to start learning. So, what you can do is to hear the stories of Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva, and their avatars. From the stories, try to understand why a person became bad, why a person held on to the truth, or why a person met his demise."
Karna felt greatly enlightened by this meeting with his eldest brother. Unlike his father or his mother, Lord Yama would give him an answer even for the silliest question. "No wonder Mother praises the eldest brother very much."
But, there was this one question that is still troubling him. Considering how his parents don't know the answer, Karna tried his luck with Yama.
"Eldest Brother, can you tell me why people are devoted to only one god? Why can't someone become a true devotee to Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu, and Lord Maheshwara (Shiva) at the same time when a child is devoted to their parents equally?"
Lord Yama was taken aback by surprise when he heard the question. Is that really a mortal child whose age is less than 5?
After thinking for a while, he replied, "Because they are one and the same. All three of them are manifestations of Para Brahman, the Ultimate Reality. When someone is worshiping Lord Shiva or Lord Shiva with all their heart, they are connecting their souls with the Absolute, which is everything and nothing. So, it doesn't matter who you are worshipping, but what matters is how devoted you are."
"Para Brahman?" Karna went into a daze. He looked as if he was thinking about something. Yama waited for his brother to digest the knowledge.
After a brief silence, Karna opened his mouth, "Father told me that for a child, one's mother and father have the status of the Supreme gods to their child. This is why their order is considered an order from Trimurti. Following it is the dharma of their child.
If such is the case, then, if I become a devotee to my parents, can it be considered as the same as connecting with Para Brahman?"
"This..." Yama fell into thought once again. If Karna were an adult, he would have probably scolded him for such words, but the thoughts of children are always pure. And Karna is an innocent child without any knowledge, too. As an elder brother, as the god of dharma, and as an adult, it is his job to clear Karna's confusion.
Yama explained, "Mother, father, siblings, wife, husband, friends, all of their love has selfishness attached to it. In one situation or another, one will expect something from the other. That is why devotion towards them cannot be a true devotion.
According to the sacred scriptures, the orders of one's parents are indeed absolute and cannot be rejected by a son or a daughter. However, they cannot represent the Para Brahman.
This is why one's devotion should be dedicated to someone who will give nothing but blessings for our hard work and never expect something in return. It should be someone who will not turn a blind eye to our bad deeds. This is why devotion towards the Supreme Beings of Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu, or Lord Shiva is what one connects with the ultimate reality, Para Brahman."
"So that would mean whether I devote myself to Lord Shiva or all the other three, it is the same, right?" Karna's mind was clear from Lord Yama's explanation. "Thank you, Eldest brother."