Shloka 122
Atithi-satkāra and the Consolation of Wise Counsel (अतिथिसत्कारः प्रज्ञानवचनस्य च पराश्वासनम्)
अगाच्छोषं समुद्रश्न हिमवांश्व व्यशीर्यत । पृथ्वी काँपने लगी
agāc choṣaṁ samudraś ca himavāṁś ca vyaśīryata | pṛthivī cākampata, ākāśaṁ ca vyacalyata | sarvāṇi tejasvīni padārthāḥ (graha-nakṣatrādayaḥ) niṣprabhāṇy abhavan | brahmā cāsanāt papāta | samudraḥ śuṣyate sma, himavān ca vidīryate sma || 121 || tasminn evaṁ samutpanne nimitte pāṇḍunandana, pāṇḍunandana! evaṁvidheṣv apashakuneṣu prādurbhūteṣu brahmā devatābhiḥ saha mahātmabhir ṛṣibhiś ca sārdhaṁ śīghram ājagāma tat sthānaṁ yatra yuddhaṁ pravartate sma || 122 ||
The ocean began to dry up, and the Himalaya split apart. The earth started to quake and the sky seemed to reel. All radiant bodies—planets and stars—lost their brilliance. Brahmā himself fell from his seat. As these ominous portents arose, O son of Pāṇḍu, Brahmā quickly came to the battlefield, accompanied by the gods and great seers, to the very place where the war was raging.
अर्जुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
When adharma-driven violence reaches a critical intensity, the tradition portrays the cosmos itself as reacting through ominous signs. The episode underscores moral causality: grave ethical disorder in human action is mirrored as disturbance in the natural and divine order, prompting higher beings (Brahmā, gods, seers) to bear witness and intervene.
A series of catastrophic portents appears—ocean drying, Himalaya splitting, earth and sky shaking, celestial lights dimming, and Brahmā falling from his seat. In response to these inauspicious signs, Brahmā arrives swiftly at the place where the battle is occurring, accompanied by gods and great sages.