Shloka 41
अध्याय १५९ — रात्रौ श्रमविरामः
Night Exhaustion and Brief Pause in Battle
ब्रह्मास्त्रमुद्यतं दृष्टवा कुन्तीपुत्रो युधिष्ठिर: । ब्र्मास्त्रेणैव राजेन्द्र तदस्त्रं प्रत्यवारयत्,राजेन्द्र! ब्रह्मास्त्रको उद्यत देख कुन्तीकुमार युधिष्ठिरने ब्रह्मास्त्रसे ही उस अस्त्रका निवारण कर दिया
brahmāstram udyataṃ dṛṣṭvā kuntīputro yudhiṣṭhiraḥ | brahmāstreṇaiva rājendra tad astraṃ pratyavārayat ||
Sañjaya said: Seeing the Brahmāstra raised, Kuntī’s son Yudhiṣṭhira—O king—checked that weapon by deploying a Brahmāstra in return. In the midst of war’s fury, the narrative underscores a grim ethic of restraint-through-countermeasure: a catastrophic force is not met with panic or vengeance, but with a matching means intended to neutralize it and prevent wider ruin.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
When overwhelming destructive power is unleashed, the ethical impulse highlighted here is containment rather than escalation: a matching counter-weapon is used to neutralize the threat, aiming to limit collateral devastation and uphold a minimal order (dharma) even within war.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Yudhiṣṭhira sees an opponent’s Brahmāstra being readied and responds by releasing a Brahmāstra of his own to check and ward off that incoming divine missile.