Shloka 7
Brahmaśirastra-pratisaṃhāra — Retraction and redirection of the supreme weapon
Sauptika Parva, Adhyāya 15
ब्रह्मतेजोद्धवं तद्धि विसृष्टमकृतात्मना । न शक््यमावर्तयितु ब्रह्मचारिव्रतादृते
brahmatejoddhavaṃ taddhi visṛṣṭam akṛtātmanā | na śakyam āvartayituṃ brahmacārivratād ṛte ||
ವೈಶಂಪಾಯನನು ಹೇಳಿದರು—ಆ ಅಸ್ತ್ರವು ಬ್ರಹ್ಮತೇಜಸ್ಸಿನಿಂದ ಉದ್ಭವಿಸಿದದ್ದು. ಆತ್ಮಸಂಯಮವಿಲ್ಲದವನು ಅದನ್ನು ಬಿಡುಗಡೆ ಮಾಡಿದರೆ ಅದನ್ನು ಮತ್ತೆ ಹಿಂತಿರುಗಿಸುವುದು ಅಸಾಧ್ಯ; ಬ್ರಹ್ಮಚರ್ಯವ್ರತವಿಲ್ಲದೆ ಯಾರೂ ಅದನ್ನು ಸಂಹರಿಸಲಾರರು.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sacred power (brahma-tejas) demands inner discipline. When a supreme weapon is used by an undisciplined person, it becomes ethically and practically uncontrollable; only rigorous brahmacarya-like restraint qualifies one to withdraw or neutralize such force.
In the Sauptika Parva context of catastrophic night-violence and the use of terrible astras, the narrator explains a rule about Brahman-powered weapons: once discharged by someone without self-mastery, recalling it is not feasible, because the capacity to retract it depends on strict ascetic discipline.