View source for As by releasing nuclear weapon there is radiation, similarly, we have got description that when Asvatthama released his brahmastra, there was a big radiation, people were feeling very terrible heat

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[[Category:Release]]
[[Category:Nuclear Weapons]]
[[Category:There Is]]
[[Category:Radiation]]
[[Category:Similarly]]
[[Category:We Have]]
[[Category:Have Got]]
[[Category:Described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam]]
[[Category:When]]
[[Category:Asvatthama]]
[[Category:Brahmastra]]
[[Category:There Was]]
[[Category:Big]]
[[Category:People Were...]]
[[Category:Feeling]]
[[Category:Very]]
[[Category:Terrible]]
[[Category:Heat]]
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Lectures" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures"><h3>Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonSB1719VrndavanaSeptember161976_0" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="175" link="Lecture on SB 1.7.19 -- Vrndavana, September 16, 1976" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.7.19 -- Vrndavana, September 16, 1976">
<div class="heading">As by releasing nuclear weapon there is radiation, similarly, we have got description that when Aśvatthāmā released his brahmāstra, there was a big radiation, people were feeling very terrible heat. And then Kṛṣṇa informed that "This heat is due to the Aśvatthāmā's release of brahmāstra," and Arjuna was advised counteract it. Now they do not know how to counteract this nuclear weapon. Formerly they knew. I throw one kind of weapon, and if you are expert, you can counteract it. Now they have discovered the nuclear weapon, but they have not yet discovered the counteraction.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.7.19 -- Vrndavana, September 16, 1976|Lecture on SB 1.7.19 -- Vrndavana, September 16, 1976]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Lakṣaṇam means symptoms. One must act as a brāhmaṇa. So he is accepted as brahmātmaja. Of course, everyone can claim that his father is like that. But that does not mean he has acquired the father's qualifications. That is not meaning. And onward the son may claim that "Such and such big man is my father." Of course, from social point of view, we sometimes give respect, as it will be seen. Aśvatthāmā, because he happened to be a great personality, Droṇācārya, so he was excused from capital punishment. Otherwise, Arjuna decided to kill him. But because he was a very great man's son, guru-putra, considering that "If he dies, then guru's wife will be very much unhappy," Draupadī advised... She was unhappy on account of death of her sons. So they considered that Aśvatthāmā's mother, she's innocent, but on account of the son's death, she would be unhappy. So considering all these points he was excused from the capital punishment.</p>
<p>So yadā aśaraṇam ātmānam aikṣata. He was running on on the back of a horse, but when he saw that Arjuna is coming nearer, so he has no other alternative, protection. Then he thought of the brahmāstra. Brahmāstra is the last weapon. Just like it is similar to modern nuclear weapon, brahmāstra. As by releasing nuclear weapon there is radiation, similarly, we have got description that when Aśvatthāmā released his brahmāstra, there was a big radiation, people were feeling very terrible heat. And then Kṛṣṇa informed that "This heat is due to the Aśvatthāmā's release of brahmāstra," and Arjuna was advised counteract it. Now they do not know how to counteract this nuclear weapon. Formerly they knew. I throw one kind of weapon, and if you are expert, you can counteract it. Now they have discovered the nuclear weapon, but they have not yet discovered the counteraction. Fight means I show some expert fighting craft or experiencing. The opposite party must also show something better than that. That was fighting. And in this way when one party fails, he's killed. And if he's killed then war stops. No more war. This was the system.</p>
<p>So Aśvatthāmā was thinking of this brahmāstra. Astraṁ brahma-śiro mene ātma-trāṇaṁ dvijātmajaḥ. Hopelessly. So far, of course, I know that this nuclear weapon was already discovered by the German people and Hitler, it is said that he did not use it. Because he knew it that "If I throw this nuclear weapon there will be devastation." So from this point it can be considered that he had some human consideration. So he's advertised very adversely, but if it is a true fact, then how he could have this human consideration that he did not throw the nuclear weapon? And this was taken by the Americans and it was thrown in Japan. That is the history so far we know. So anyway, as we have got experience, the nuclear weapon is very, very dangerous. Similarly the brahmāstra is also very, very dangerous. And another weapon, they knew this art, śabda-vedhī. Śabda-vedhī means if I throw some arrow, it will go to my enemy wherever he is. A little sound of the enemy will attract this weapon, and it is sure to kill my enemy. Śabda-vedhī. There are many instances in Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata. Śabda-vedhī-vāk.</p>
<p>So such warfare of mantra, very subtle. This, at the present moment this warfare is carried on gross weapons. But finer than that, there is mantra war. By mantras the warfare can go on. So this warfare is mantra. That is... Just like indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 3.42 (1972)|BG 3.42]]). It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā that the indriyāṇi, so far our body's concerned, the indriyas, the senses are prominent. But more important than the senses, above the senses is the mind. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 3.42 (1972)|BG 3.42]]). So as we have discovered so many weapons... That is gross, to be handled by senses. Even this nuclear weapon, it is handled by the scientists. But it is not by mantra. That science is still to be discovered by the modern scientists, how to... Or just like this mantra. Snake-charming mantra still there are. You are dealing the snake poison with some counter medicine. This is one kind of treatment. But there is another kind of treatment. That is called mantra, by chanting mantra. Or by herbs you can counteract snake bite. Still, there are in India. Therefore Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said that mantrauṣadhi-vaśaḥ sarpaḥ. Sarpa means snake. It can be brought under control by mantra and herbs. Still, in our Māyāpur some Mohammedans, they know how to use these herbs and mantras for treating snake bites. In Māyāpur there are many snakes, and occasionally snakebite cases are there. But they treat it. And mantra has got power. It has been seen by many medical men in Lucknow. That's a long story.</p>
<p>So mantra is powerful. This is mundane. Now you can imagine how spiritual mantra is powerful. Even in mundane world the mantra acts. This is very subtle thing.</p>
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