आत्मनोऽभिमुखान्दीप्तानालक्ष्यास्त्राण्युपाददुः ॥१२॥
tarhy evÄtha muni-Å›reá¹£á¹ha
pÄṇá¸avÄḥ pañca sÄyakÄn
Ätmano 'bhimukhÄn dÄ«ptÄn
Älaká¹£yÄstrÄṇy upÄdaduḥ
tarhi - then; eva - also; atha - therefore; muni-Å›reá¹£á¹ha - O chief amongst the munis; pÄṇá¸avÄḥ - all the sons of PÄṇá¸u; pañca - five; sÄyakÄn - weapons; Ätmanaḥ - own selves; abhimukhÄn - towards; dÄ«ptÄn - glaring; Älaká¹£ya - seeing it; astrÄṇi - weapons; upÄdaduḥ - took up.
O foremost among the great thinkers [munis] [Åšaunaka], seeing the glaring brahmÄstra proceeding towards them, the PÄṇá¸avas took up their five respective weapons.
The brahmÄstras are finer than the nuclear weapons. AÅ›vatthÄmÄ discharged the brahmÄstra simply to kill the PÄṇá¸avas, namely the five brothers headed by MahÄrÄja Yudhiá¹£á¹hira and their only grandson, who was lying within the womb of UttarÄ. Therefore the brahmÄstra, more effective and finer than the atomic weapons, was not as blind as the atomic bombs. When the atomic bombs are discharged they do not discriminate between the target and others. Mainly the atomic bombs do harm to the innocent because there is no control. The brahmÄstra is not like that. It marks out the target and proceeds accordingly without harming the innocent.
