Shloka 23
Jaitrya-nimitta: Signs of Prospective Victory and the Priority of Conciliation (जयलक्षण-निमित्त तथा सान्त्व-प्रधान नीति)
संदर्शेनेव सेनाया भयं भीरून् प्रबाधते | वज्रादिव प्रज्वलितादियं क्व नु पतिष्यति
saṁdarśanenaiva senāyā bhayaṁ bhīrūn prabādhate | vajrādiva prajvalitād iyaṁ kva nu patiṣyati ||
Bhīṣma said: “At the mere sight of an army, fear overwhelms the timid. It is as though a blazing thunderbolt were about to fall upon them; they keep wondering, ‘On whom, indeed, will this host descend?’”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Fear is often born from inner timidity rather than immediate harm; the weak-minded are shaken merely by the appearance of danger, imagining catastrophic outcomes before anything happens.
In Bhishma’s instruction during the Shanti Parva, he uses a vivid simile—an army like a blazing thunderbolt—to describe how cowards panic at the very sight of opposing force, anxiously guessing where it will strike.