Shloka 21
Divyāstrāṇāṃ Pradarśana-nivāraṇa
Display of Divine Weapons and Its Prohibition
पितामहेन संहार: प्रजानां विहितो ध्रुवम् । न हि युद्धमिदं युक्तमन्यत्र जगत: क्षयात्,“जान पड़ता है, विधाताने आज समस्त प्रजाका संहार निश्चित किया है, अवश्य ऐसी ही बात है। जगत्के संहारके अतिरिक्त अन्य समयमें ऐसे भयानक युद्धका होना सम्भव नहीं है”
pitāmahena saṃhāraḥ prajānāṃ vihito dhruvam | na hi yuddham idaṃ yuktam anyatra jagataḥ kṣayāt ||
Arjuna disse: “Parece certo que o Criador ordenou hoje a destruição de todos os seres. Uma guerra tão terrível não pode ser apropriada em tempo algum, exceto na própria dissolução do mundo.”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames extreme violence as morally and cosmically abnormal: a war of such terror appears justifiable only at a world-ending dissolution, highlighting the tension between dharma (what is fitting) and a sense of inevitable fate.
Arjuna reacts to the prospect or spectacle of catastrophic conflict, interpreting it as a sign that the Creator (Pitāmaha) has decreed mass destruction; he questions the propriety of such warfare except in an apocalyptic context.