Mahabharata — Virata Parva, Shloka 26
Adhyāya 55: Pārtha–Rādheya Saṃvāda and Tactical Exchange
Chapter 55
पतन्त्यरूपेषु यथा चक्षूंषि न कदाचन । नालक्ष्येषु शरा: पेतुस्तथा गाण्डीवधन्वन:
vaishampāyana uvāca | patanty arūpeṣu yathā cakṣūṃṣi na kadācana | nālakṣyeṣu śarāḥ petus tathā gāṇḍīvadhanvanaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Just as the eyes never alight upon what has no form to be seen, so too the arrows of Arjuna, the wielder of the Gāṇḍīva, did not fall upon those who were not his intended targets. The verse underscores disciplined mastery in battle—power governed by intention, not by indiscriminate violence.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
True martial excellence is restrained and intentional: even in war, force should be directed only toward the chosen objective, avoiding harm to those not meant to be struck.
The narrator describes Arjuna’s extraordinary control and accuracy: his arrows do not strike unintended persons, just as eyes do not perceive what is formless or not an object of sight.