Shloka 5
भीष्मपर्व — अध्याय 54: फल्गुन-प्रतिरोधः, सौबली-व्यूह-विध्वंसः, दुर्योधन-भीष्म-संवादः
कथमेनं महात्मानं शक्ष्याम: प्रतिवीक्षितुम् । लेलिहामान सैन्यं मे हविष्मन्तमिवानलम्,'जैसे अग्निदेव प्रज्वलित होकर हविष्यकी आहुति ग्रहण करते हैं, उसी प्रकार ये महामना भीष्म अपनी बाणरूपी जिह्ठासे मेरी सेनाको चाटते जा रहे हैं। हमलोग कैसे इनकी ओर देख सकेंगे--किस प्रकार इनका सामना कर सकेंगे?
sañjaya uvāca | katham enaṁ mahātmānaṁ śakṣyāmaḥ prativīkṣitum | lelihāmānaṁ sainyaṁ me haviṣmantam ivānalam ||
Sañjaya said: “How shall we be able even to look upon this great-souled one? Like a blazing fire that consumes the oblation, he is licking up my army—how can we face him, how can we withstand him?”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the overwhelming force of a righteous and formidable warrior: when power, skill, and resolve converge, opposition can feel morally and psychologically impossible to confront. It also shows how fear arises when one perceives the enemy as an unstoppable, almost elemental force.
Sañjaya reports the battlefield situation to Dhṛtarāṣṭra: Bhīṣma is cutting through the Kaurava host so fiercely that Sañjaya compares him to a blazing fire consuming sacrificial offerings, leaving the soldiers unable even to face him.