SB 1.8.12
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 12
- tarhy evātha muni-śreṣṭha
- pāṇḍavāḥ pañca sāyakān
- ātmano 'bhimukhān dīptān
- ālakṣyāstrāṇy upādaduḥ
SYNONYMS
target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="//vanipedia.org/wiki/Special:VaniSearch?s=tarhi&tab=syno_o&ds=1">tarhi — then; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="//vanipedia.org/wiki/Special:VaniSearch?s=eva&tab=syno_o&ds=1">eva — also; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="//vanipedia.org/wiki/Special:VaniSearch?s=atha&tab=syno_o&ds=1">atha — therefore; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="//vanipedia.org/wiki/Special:VaniSearch?s=muni&tab=syno_o&ds=1">muni-target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="//vanipedia.org/wiki/Special:VaniSearch?s=śreṣṭha&tab=syno_o&ds=1">śreṣṭha — O chief amongst the munis; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="//vanipedia.org/wiki/Special:VaniSearch?s=pāṇḍavāḥ&tab=syno_o&ds=1">pāṇḍavāḥ — all the sons of Pāṇḍu; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="//vanipedia.org/wiki/Special:VaniSearch?s=pañca&tab=syno_o&ds=1">pañca — five; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="//vanipedia.org/wiki/Special:VaniSearch?s=sāyakān&tab=syno_o&ds=1">sāyakān — weapons; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="//vanipedia.org/wiki/Special:VaniSearch?s=ātmanaḥ&tab=syno_o&ds=1">ātmanaḥ — own selves; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="//vanipedia.org/wiki/Special:VaniSearch?s=abhimukhān&tab=syno_o&ds=1">abhimukhān — towards; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="//vanipedia.org/wiki/Special:VaniSearch?s=dīptān&tab=syno_o&ds=1">dīptān — glaring; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="//vanipedia.org/wiki/Special:VaniSearch?s=ālakṣya&tab=syno_o&ds=1">ālakṣya — seeing it; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="//vanipedia.org/wiki/Special:VaniSearch?s=astrāṇi&tab=syno_o&ds=1">astrāṇi — weapons; target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" class="external text" href="//vanipedia.org/wiki/Special:VaniSearch?s=upādaduḥ&tab=syno_o&ds=1">upādaduḥ — took up.
TRANSLATION
O foremost among the great thinkers [munis] [Śaunaka], seeing the glaring brahmāstra proceeding towards them, the Pāṇḍavas took up their five respective weapons.
PURPORT
The brahmāstras are finer than the nuclear weapons. Aśvatthāmā discharged the brahmāstra simply to kill the Pāṇḍavas, namely the five brothers headed by Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira and their only grandson, who was lying within the womb of Uttarā. Therefore the brahmāstra, more effective and finer than the atomic weapons, was not as blind as the atomic bombs. When the atomic bombs are discharged they do not discriminate between the target and others. Mainly the atomic bombs do harm to the innocent because there is no control. The brahmāstra is not like that. It marks out the target and proceeds accordingly without harming the innocent.