Shloka 5.67.12
अभिज्ञानवृत्तान्त-प्रत्यायनम् (Token of Recognition and the Crow–Brahmāstra Episode)
स दर्भं संस्तराद्गृह्य ब्रह्मास्त्रेण ह्ययोजयः।स दीप्त इव कालाग्निर्जज्वालाभिमुखः खगम्।।।।
sa darbhaṃ saṃstarād gṛhya brahmāstreṇa hy ayojayaḥ |
sa dīpta iva kālāgnir jajvālābhimukhaḥ khagam ||
Taking a blade of darbha-grass from the mat, you invoked the Brahmā-weapon upon it; blazing like the fire at the end of time, it flared forth straight toward the bird.
'You took out a blade of grass from your mat and chanted the mantra to invoke the weapon of Brahma (Brahmastra) and hurled it on the crow. It blazed like the fire of the doom's day.
Power must serve dharma: the invocation of sacred force is justified only as protection and justice, and it implicitly raises the ethical question of measured response.
Hanuman recounts how Rama empowered a simple blade of grass as Brahmāstra to strike the offending crow.
Rama’s spiritual potency and decisive guardianship—tempered later by restraint in how punishment is concluded.