Shloka 38
Adhyāya 168: Arjuna’s counters to māyā-rains and the onset of darkness
Nivātakavaca engagement
परंतु उस महान् तेजस्वी वीरने क्षणभरमें ही मेरे उस ब्रह्मास्त्रको भी शान्त कर दिया। राजन! उस ब्रह्मास्त्रके नष्ट होनेपर मेरे मनमें महान् भय समा गया ।।
tato 'haṃ dhanur ādāya tathākṣayyau maheṣudhī | sahasābhyahanaṃ bhūtaṃ tāny apy astrāṇy abhakṣayat ||
Then I took up my bow and, with my two inexhaustible quivers filled with great arrows, rushed at that wondrous being and struck at him with all speed. Yet he consumed even those missiles as though they were his food. Seeing my Brahmāstra neutralized and my weapons rendered futile, fear rose powerfully in my mind.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even the greatest martial skill and the most potent astras can be rendered ineffective before a higher, divinely grounded power; the episode underscores humility and the ethical recognition of human limits in the face of the transcendent.
Arjuna, alarmed after his Brahmāstra is pacified, takes up his bow and his two inexhaustible quivers and attacks the extraordinary being; however, the being simply consumes the missiles, leaving Arjuna shaken with fear.