Devanagari
सरहस्यो धनुर्वेद: सविसर्गोपसंयम: ।
अस्त्रग्रामश्च भवता शिक्षितो यदनुग्रहात् ॥ ४४ ॥
Verse text
sarahasyo dhanur-vedaḥ
savisargopasaṁyamaḥ
astra-grāmaś ca bhavatā
śikṣito yad-anugrahāt
Synonyms
sa
—
rahasyaḥ — confidential
;
dhanuḥ
—
vedaḥ — knowledge in the art of manipulating bows and arrows
;
sa
—
visarga — releasing
;
upasaṁyamaḥ
—
controlling
;
astra
—
weapons
;
grāmaḥ
—
all kinds of
;
ca
—
and
;
bhavatā
—
by yourself
;
śikṣitaḥ
—
learned
;
yat
—
by whose
;
anugrahāt
—
mercy of .
Translation
It was by Droṇācārya’s mercy that you learned the military art of throwing arrows and the confidential art of controlling weapons.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
By the mercy of Droṇa you learned the military arts with secret mantras, the method of throwing and withdrawing all weapons. Droṇa is standing before you in the form of his son. The other half of Droṇa, his wife Kṛpī, did not follow her husband when he died, but remains alive, because she has a son.
Purport
Dhanur-veda,
or military science, was taught by Droṇācārya with all its confidential secrets of throwing and controlling by Vedic hymns. Gross military science is dependent on material weapons, but finer than that is the art of throwing the arrows saturated with Vedic hymns, which act more effectively than gross material weapons like machine guns or atomic bombs. The control is by Vedic
mantras,
or the transcendental science of sound. It is said in the
Rāmāyaṇa
that Mahārāja Daśaratha, the father of Lord Śrī Rāma, used to control arrows by sound only. He could pierce his target with his arrow by only hearing the sound, without seeing the object. So this is a finer military science than that of the gross material military weapons used nowadays. Arjuna was taught all this, and therefore Draupadī wished that Arjuna feel obliged to Ācārya Droṇa for all these benefits. And in the absence of Droṇācārya, his son was his representative. That was the opinion of the good lady Draupadī. It may be argued why Droṇācārya, a rigid
brāhmaṇa,
should be a teacher in military science. But the reply is that a
brāhmaṇa
should become a teacher, regardless of what his department of knowledge is. A learned
brāhmaṇa
should become a teacher, a priest and a recipient of charity. A bona fide
brāhmaṇa
is authorized to accept such professions.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Sa-rahasyaḥ means “with secret mantras.” In mentioning that the father taught how to throw and withdraw the weapon, she implies “If you had not learned how to throw and withdraw the brahmāstra from his father, how could you now bind him up and bring him here?” The son is considered a representative of the father according to the saying ātmā vai jāyate putraḥ: one is born again as one’s son. [Note: This is quoted in CC. Madhya-līlā, 12.56. There is a similar text in SB 10.78.36.] The wife is considered half of the husband according to the śruti text ardho vā eśa ātmano yat-patnī: the wife is half of oneself. (Black Yajur-veda, Baudhāyana-śrauta-sūtra 29.89.381.2) She did not follow her husband to death because she had a son (vīra-sūḥ).