tarhy evātha muni-śreṣṭha pāṇḍavāḥ pañca sāyakān ātmano 'bhimukhān dīptān ālakṣyāstrāṇy upādaduḥ
Synonyms
tarhi—for the matter of that; eva—also; atha—therefore; muni-śreṣṭha—oh the chief amongst the munis; pāṇḍavāḥ—all the sons of Pandu; pañca—five; sāyakān—weapons; ātmanaḥ—ownselves; abhimukhān—towards; dīptān—glaring; ālakṣya—seeing it; astrāṇi—weapon; upādaduḥ—took up.
Translation
Oh the chief amongst the great thinkers (Muni) for the matter of that the Pandavas also took up their five respective weapons seeing the glaring Brahmastra was proceeding towards them.
Purport
The Brahmastras are finer than the nulcear weapons with control by the discharger. Aswatthama discharged the Brahmastras simply for the purpose of killing the Pandavas namely the five brothers headed by Moharaj Judhisthir and their only grand son lying within the womb of Uttara. Therefore, Brahmastra although more effective and finer than the atomic weapons, still the Brahmastra was not as blind as the atomic bombs. When the atomic bombs are discharged they do not discriminate the target or the innocent. Mostly the atomic bombs do harm to the innocent because there is no control over the discharged weapon. The Brahmastra is not like that. It marks out the target and proceeds accordingly without any harm to the innocent.