Srimad Bhagavatam – day 24
Arjuna continued his prayer, “This incarnation of yours O Lord is also to help those devotees of yours, who exclusively meditate upon you with total concentration. O Devadeva! What could be this huge illumination that is advancing in this direction? From where is it coming? This terrible illumination is encircling from all directions. I am unable to understand anything. Please rescue me”. In this manner Arjuna prayed.
In response, Srikrishna said, “Arjuna, do you realize that this is the dangerous Brahmastra? Panic stricken and fearing for his life, Ashwatthama, the son of Drona, has used this weapon. I think you do not realize this. He does not know the art of recalling or neutralizing this weapon. There is no weapon in this world which can counter a Brahmastra. You are an expert in the knowledge of archery. Hence you release a Brahmastra to neutralize this. Only a Brahmastra can neutralize another Brahmastra”.
How to counteract fire? Suppose there is a forest fire. To subdue the flames water is poured upon it but it continues to spread everywhere. It is said that the direction in which the flames are spreading must be estimated. Thereafter in that path another fire should be lit. Fire neutralizes fire.
“Hence Arjuna, go ahead and release a Brahmastra since no other weapon has the power to neutralize it”.
Arjuna then performed acamana (a purificatory ritual), offered pradakshina (circumambulation) to Lord Srikrishna and then released a Brahmastra.
The two weapons merged and created an unimaginably mammoth illumination which resembled the Sun or a huge ball of fire. This brilliance enveloped all the three planes of existence. Due to the combined intensity of these two weapons, all the three planes were scorched. People believed that the fire of destruction (pralaya agni) had descended upon them.
Destruction (pralaya) is of many types; water, fire etc. The earth splits and releases huge fumes that are contained within it and so on.
Sensing that destruction of the world was about to be caused, Srikrishna was not happy. He realized that the destruction of the world was imminent now. Arjuna who understood the feelings of Srikrishna, instantaneously recalled both the weapons.
Since both the weapons had merged, it had now become only one weapon. Arjuna recalled it back. Arjuna had the knowledge of recalling weapons that had been released by others also. He had the blessings of his Guru.
Arjuna, who was deeply incensed, now rushed at great speeds and caught hold of Ashwatthama. He bound him with ropes as if he was an animal. Arjuna wanted to take Ashwatthama by dragging him like an animal to Draupadi’s camp. Seeing this, Krishna angrily said, “O Arjuna, do not spare him. He is a lowly degraded Brahmin. Kill him. He has gone and murdered innocent children who were sleeping. He is a terrible sinner.
Anyone who knows the tenets of dharma will not kill his enemy when he is intoxicated, is careless, is insane or is sleeping. He will not kill a person who has sought refuge under him, who cannot help himself, who does not have a chariot or one who is terrified. He will not kill children or women. Such a person is a true warrior. He will not kill helpless persons. Instead he will simply let them go.
A wretched person, who devoid of compassion saves his life at the cost of others, should be killed, for in it lies his well-being. This is because if such a person is left free, his wickedness only increases and thus he tends to fall to the lowest states. Therefore killing him now is for his own benefit. Hence Arjuna kill him now right away. With that his sins will be destroyed. Not only this. Arjuna, did you not, in my presence, promise Draupadi that you will bring to her the head of this Ashwatthama who has murdered her sons? Therefore kill this Ashwattama, the murderer of children, right now!
His cruel deed was not to the liking of his master Duryodhana. He caused him displeasure through this deed. Durdyodhana did not even believe him. ‘Is it so easy to kill the sons of the Pandavas? He must be fooling me’ Duryodhana thought in this manner. Duryodhana also thought that if he really had killed the sons of the Pandavas, then he, Ashwatthama, who had been invincible so far, had brought about his own downfall”.
In this manner, Lord Krishna, seeking to test Arjuna’s wisdom and his adherence to the rules of dharma, instigated him in various ways to kill Ashwatthama. But Arjuna, the supreme being, did not have the heart to kill Ashwatthama, the son of his Guru, although he was the murderer of his sons. He considered killing his Guru’s son as equivalent of killing his own son. How could he inflict pain upon another merely because his sons were killed? After all Ashwatthama was the son of their revered Guru. How could he kill him? Arjuna did not want to kill Ashwatthama.
Arjuna then dragged Ashwatthama and entrusted him to the grieving Draupadi. Draupadi, the virtuous woman, seeing Ashwatthama, the son of their Guru, who was being dragged like an animal and who had bent his head in shame, was totally filled with feelings of compassion towards him. With such feelings of compassion she respectfully saluted him. She was totally pacified. Such a divine being she was! After all, she was also a mother. A mother always remains a mother. Draupadi, who was a pious devoted chaste woman, could not bear to see Ashwatthama being dragged about like an animal.
She screamed loudly, “Release him! Release him right now! After all he is a revered Brahmin, he is the son of our Guru. Just free him right now. O Arjuna! that revered Guru from whom you learnt the secrets of archery; that revered Guru from whom you learnt how to release and recall weapons, that great spiritual teacher Guru Drona is now standing in front of us in the form of Ashwatthama. Kripi, the wife of Guru Drona, the mother of this warrior, still remains alive. She did not give up her life along with her husband Drona. Hence release him right away.”
Narayana, Narayana, Sriman Narayana!