Alternative learning: expand your sources
FIND THE WEAK SPOT
Krav Maga learning interpretation 2
Finding the weak spot
This is the second in the series of alternative learning from Krav Maga.
The story of Jarasandha
Jarasandha was a mighty king of Magadh, an ancient province in India. Jarasandha was a just King, a great wrestler, and a warrior.
Jarasandha’s sworn enemy was Krishna, the principal character in Mahabharata. One day Krishna, Bheem, and Arjun entered his fourth through the back entrance, met him, and invited him for a challenge. Jarasandha wanted Krishna dead, and Krishna said, “Hey, I’m here. And so are my two friends. Pick one of us; we are happy to fight with you.” Jarasandha chose Bheem. He knew Bheem was a good wrestler, and Jarasandha wanted a good competitor.
The following morning the whole city of Magadh was out there surrounding the wrestling pit. They were all cheering for King Jarasandha. Bheem and Jarasandha entered the wrestling pit. There was silence all around. Bheem and Jarasandha were circling each other, trying to find each other’s strengths and weak points. It was the first time both of them were facing each other in a wrestling pit. Both wanted to win.
Well, Bheem made the first move. Jarasandha responded this wrestling bout dragged on and on and on for the next few days. Both Jarasandha and Bheem were extremely tired. Bheem did not know what to do. Every time Bheem caught hold of Jarasandha in a chokehold and thought he had killed Jarasandha, who was lifeless for a few seconds, Jarasandha bounced back to life. This happened a few times, and Bheem did not know what to do a pleading look over to Krishna.
Krishna knew the history of Jarasandha’s birth. When Jarasandha was born to two mothers, he was born in two halves, one half each to the mother. His father was completely shocked. He did not know what to do with such two halves of a baby that he sent the two parts of the body into the forest. The Goddess of the forest, Jara, happened to find the two pieces to get in the palm and brought it together. The two parts of the lifeless body came together as one a wailing, crying baby boy. Jara brought them together, and Sandha means “joining”. And so, Jarasandha was born, returned to the king, and became a mighty warrior. Krishna knew that the only way to kill Jarasandha would be to rip apart his body the way he was born. Krishna took a reed of grass from the bottom, split it into two, and threw them away.
Bheem got the message, and it appeared that only the two of them knew what was going on as only their eyes were speaking. In the next bout, Bheem trapped Jarasandha, ripped apart his body, and threw the parts away. He stood facing the silently shocked audience, hands up in the air to signify that he was the victor. A loud collective gasp came out across all over him in the crowd. He turned around to see that the two halves of Jarasandha’s body were flying towards each other to become one, and Jarasandha came back to life all over.
Jarasandha stood in the middle of the wrestling pit, hands on his hips, chest out, and gave a burst of raucous laughter out there as if taunting Bheem to come and attack him once more. Bheem did so. A couple of more instances of ripping apart Jarasandha and him coming back to life. He looked at Krishna again. The look was more like imploring for help and saying “Whatever you suggested is not working!”.
Krishna smiled, the smile that only he is capable of. Krishna picked another reed of grass from the bottom. He ripped it apart and swapped the direction of the throw. So what was in his right hand was thrown over his left shoulder, what was in his left hand was thrown over his other shoulder. Bheem got this message. In the next five minutes, he had Jarasandha flat down on the floor of the wrestling pit. Jarasandha was ripped apart. The right side of Jarasandha’s body was thrown to Bheem’s left and the action was reversed with the other part. Well, that was the end of Jarasandha.
What is the purpose of the story?
It is not to talk to you about ancient Indian tales, but to share a lesson. A lesson that I learnt from my teacher Krav Maga Sreeram. He said that when you are attacked, you need to find the weak spot in the attacker.
Human bodies may be different, but our facial structure remains the same. That’s the weak spot attack that first to get out of that stranglehold. Well, in this case, Bheem was not aware of the weak spot of Jarasandha. His mentor Krishna knew and helped him out. When you do not know, you need to ask somebody who knows. Sometimes all it needs is just a clue. And these signs of weak spots are all around us.
Achille’s heel, Krishna’s toe, and Samson’s lack of hair are historical examples.
You might ask me what the relevance is to business!
Suppose you want to establish your place and your brand. In that case, whether it is a company or your personal brand, you need to realize that you will have to displace or replace something else that exists in the client or customer’s mind.
For this, you need to find out what is the weak spot. PaperBoat used nostalgia and emotion to make a connection. PaperBoat came up with entirely new concoctions and beverages that the regular competition did not have. They found a weak spot, and that was the focus of the attack. Pantanjali picked up Ayurvedic products and the emerging trend to buy made in India Ayurvedic products as a weak spot in larger companies.
What are you going to do?
You will need to find out your weak spot first to ensure that the competition does not take advantage of it. Then it would be best if you found the weak spot in your competition to ensure that is attacked first. Marketing is all about adding value and making positive change happen. But to do that, you will need to find the weak spot, which is the key message behind this story.
This is the second in the series of learning from Krav Maga.
Pravin Shekar is an outlier marketer, parallel entrepreneur and a raconteur.
mic @ PravinShekar.com .
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Pravin is the author of seven books: Devil Does Care, Marketing lessons from Mythology, Getting paid to speak, a Virtual Summit Playbook, Climb your way out of hell & a collection of travel pics/romantic poems, and stories from the heart!
http://tiny.cc/PravinShekarBooks
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