Shloka 47
भीष्मपर्व — अध्याय ११०: पार्थभीमयोः प्रहारः तथा भीष्माभिमुखं संग्रामविस्तारः
Arjuna and Bhima’s pressure; escalation toward Bhishma
तस्माद् देववब्रतं भूयो वधोपायार्थमात्मन: । भवता सहिता: सर्वे प्रयाम मधुसूदन
tasmād devavrataṁ bhūyo vadhopāyārtham ātmanaḥ | bhavatā sahitāḥ sarve prayāma madhusūdana ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Therefore, O Madhusūdana, let us all go again, accompanied by you, to Devavrata (Bhīṣma), to learn the means of his slaying. For from him we must seek the counsel that will secure our cause—however painful the necessity—so that the war may proceed by a discerned strategy rather than by blind fury.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even in a righteous war, action should be guided by deliberate counsel and moral awareness. Yudhiṣṭhira seeks a lawful, considered strategy—approaching the very elder they must oppose—showing that dharma involves restraint, consultation, and accountability, not mere victory-seeking.
On the battlefield context of Bhīṣma Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira addresses Kṛṣṇa (Madhusūdana) and proposes that all of them go again to Bhīṣma (Devavrata) to ask for the means by which Bhīṣma may be brought down—seeking guidance from the grandsire himself regarding how he can be defeated.