348 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 7

procedure, and Sri Arjuna, although an intimate friend of the Lord, is
observing this method for general information.

TEXT 27

wT sas
RAE FAA aeaet sal say |
aaa aq dew ATT safAA IRWII

sri bhagavan uvaca
vetthedam drona-putrasya
brahmam-astram pradarsitam
naivasau veda samharam

prana-badha upasthite

sri bhagavan—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; uvaca—said; vettha—
just know from Me; idam—this; drona-putrasya—of the son of Drona;
brahmam astram—hymns of the brahma (nuclear) weapon; pradarsitam—
exhibited; na—not; eva—even; asau—he; veda—know it; samharam—retrac-
tion; prana-badhe—extinction of life; upasthithe— being imminent.

TRANSLATION

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Know from Me that this is
the act of the son of Drona. He has thrown the hymns of nuclear energy
[brahmastra], and he does not know how to retract the glare. He has
helplessly done this, being afraid of imminent death.

PURPORT

The brahmastra is similar to the modern nuclear weapon manipulated
by atomic energy. The atomic energy works wholly on total combusti-
bility, and so the brahmastra also acts. It creates an intolerable heat similar
to atomic radiation, but the difference is that the atomic bomb is a gross
type of nuclear weapon, whereas the brahmastra is a subtle type of weapon
produced by chanting hymns. It is a different science, and in the days gone
by such science was cultivated in the land of Bharatavarsa. The subtle
science of chanting hymns is also material, but it has yet to be known by
the modern material scientists. Subtle material science is not spiritual, but
