Shloka 27
Adhyāya 108 — Nimitta-darśana and Drona’s counsel amid Arjuna’s advance (निमित्तदर्शनं द्रोणोपदेशश्च)
पश्यतां वो महाबाहो सेनां द्रावयति प्रभो । त॑ वारय महाबाहो वेलेव मकरालयम्
paśyatāṃ vo mahābāho senāṃ drāvayati prabho | taṃ vārayā mahābāho veleva makarālayam ||
Sañjaya sprach: „O Mächtigarmiger, o Herr, vor euren Augen jagt er das Heer in die Flucht. Halte ihn zurück, Mächtigarmiger — wie das Ufer den Ozean, die Heimstatt der Makara, zurückhält.“
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse stresses a ruler/warrior’s responsibility to act decisively when disorder spreads: leadership is shown by restraining destructive force and protecting the collective, just as a boundary (the shore) contains the sea.
Sañjaya urgently reports that a formidable fighter is driving the army into flight right before their eyes, and he exhorts the addressed hero/leader to check and contain that onslaught, using the image of the shoreline holding back the ocean.