Shloka 24
Brahmaśirastra-pratisaṃhāra — Retraction and redirection of the supreme weapon
Sauptika Parva, Adhyāya 15
जिस देशमें एक ब्रह्मास्त्रको दूसरे उत्कृष्ट अस्त्रसे दबा दिया जाता है, उस राष्ट्रमें बारह वर्षोतक वर्षा नहीं होती है ।।
yasmin deśe ekaṁ brahmāstraṁ dvitīyena utkṛṣṭena astreṇa dabaṁ (nigṛhītaṁ) kriyate, tasmin rāṣṭre dvādaśa-varṣāṇi yāvat varṣā na bhavati. etad-arthaṁ mahābāhuḥ śaktimān api pāṇḍavaḥ prajā-hita-cikīrṣayā etad astraṁ tu na vihanti. ata eva prajā-vargasya hitam icchan mahābāhur arjunaḥ śaktimān san api tava etad astraṁ nāśayituṁ na pravartate.
ヴィヤーサは言った。「いずれの国土であれ、一つのブラフマー・アストラが、より優れた武器によって力ずくで抑え込まれるなら、その国は十二年の旱魃に見舞われる。ゆえにこそ、強大な腕を持つパーンダヴァは—成し得る力がありながら—民の安寧を願って、この武器を打ち滅ぼさないのだ。」
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when one has the power to retaliate, dharma may require restraint: the use of supreme weapons must be governed by concern for the innocent, since their clash brings long-term harm to the land and its people.
Vyasa explains why Arjuna does not simply annihilate the opponent’s Brahmāstra with a counter-weapon: suppressing one Brahmāstra by another would devastate the realm through a twelve-year drought, so Arjuna holds back for the sake of the subjects.