Very good question! Possessing a weapon which you cannot use at all is useless isn’t it? But the answer is ‘no’.
Having ‘pashupatastra’ in your arsenal is identical to having ‘pashupati’ by your side! You use it or not, you would be victorious!
In the entire mahabharata, no other warrior has been shown as assisted by lord shankara in the battle (except for giving some boons etc). Only arjuna was assisted by him personally. How? Where? - We’ll know shortly, but before that let me show how does mahadeva protect his devotees!
[Section a]: lord shiva’s style of protecting his devotees
Bhagavan rudra, if stands for your protection in battlefield, he would himself slay your enemies in style, and that style is described in yajurveda as follows:
“Namo agrevadhaya ca durevadhaya ca |” (yajurveda iv:5:8:e)
=======================================================
(X) (agrevadhaya)
Meaning: salutations to the one who stands ahead of his devotees in the battlefield and kills the enemies.
(Y) (durevadhaya)
Meanings: there are two meanings to this as per various commentators.
Salutations to the one who destroys the enemies of devotees, who are at a great distance”.
Salutations to the one who destroys the enemies of devotees, even before commencement of the act of killing/battle”.
[Section b]: the story from drona parva
You should read the ‘jayadratha vadha parva’ to understand why arjuna needed ‘pashupatastra’. Let me tell that story in my words for you.
Arjuna, in a fit of rage over his son abhimanyu’s death, makes a ‘hasty’ vow of killing jayadratha before the next day’s sun sets. If that was only the vow it would have been all fine, but he added another sub-clause on himself saying, “I’ll give up my life if I fail to slay jayadratha by the said time”. This sub-clause became a matter of celebration in kaurava camp whereas it became a matter of worry in the pandava camp. It was a great golden opportunity for the enemies to have arjuna kill himself if somehow jayadratha was successfully protected till the next day’s sun sets. And this was exactly the reason which was a matter of worry for pandava-s because kaurava giants cannot be underestimated especially drona! Also, there was another difficulty associated with killing jayadratha. He had a boon from his father ‘vriddhakshatra’ that if his head falls on the ground, the one who caused it fall, his head would burst into 100 fragments.
Arjuna doesn’t get sleep probably he also realized the danger that was hidden in his own vow for himself. He keeps thinking while sleeping then krishna appears in his dream. In his dream itself krishna asks him one simple question, “do you still remember the mantra of pashupatastra”? And then tells him “if that astra is with you, all your worries are gone”. Arjuna says he doesn’t remember that. Then krishna takes arjuna’s ‘sukshma-sharira’ along with him (in the same dream) to kailasha mountain, the residence of the great lord, maheshvara! There they both (nara and narayana, the eternal shiva-bhakta-s) sing ‘shata rudriya’ hymn in front of shiva and after pleasing him, gets the pashupata weapon again. This is the second time arjuna gets that weapon.
And then what happens next day in the battlefield is a remarkable and amazing event in history. That day as expected drona creates shakata-vyuha and entire kaurava army remains in their best form just with one mission - to protect jayadratha till sun set at any cost.
And then arjuna’s performance was unbelievable. On that single day arjuna does such a large scale mass annihilation, which was never done by any of the warriors before. He singly slays as many as seven akshauhini-s of kaurava warriors. And finally reaches jayadratha and cuts his head and with arrows keeps it flying till it reaches beyond the boundaries of ‘syamantapanchaka’ and lets that head fall in the lap of jayadratha’s father.
He did two amazing feats:
He slayed 7 akshauhini-s of army singly on single day
he could shoot the target (jayadratha’s head) across such large distance and make it fall precisely in the lap of a person located outside the battle field in some remote place doing sandhya-vandana. Very supernatural feat.
Here no secrets are revealed in mahabharata, but we can get the at the end of drona parva arjuna goes to vyasa with a question stated below:
"Sanjaya, said, 'after the rout of the kuru army, upon the slaughter of that atiratha, viz., drona, by prishata's son, dhananjaya, the son of kunti beholding a wonderful phenomenon in connection with his own victory, asked vyasa, o bull of bharata's race, who came thither in course of his wanderings, saying, 'o great rishi, while I was engaged in slaying the foe in battle with showers of bright shafts, I continually beheld before me, proceeding in advance of my car, a person of blazing hue, as if endued with the effulgence of fire. Whithersoever he proceeded with his uplifted lance, all the hostile warriors were seen to break before him. Broken in reality by him, people regarded the foe to have been broken by me. Following in his wake, I only destroyed those, already destroyed by him. O holy one, tell me who was that foremost of persons, armed with lance, resembling the sun himself in energy, that was thus seen by me? He did not touch the earth with his feet, nor did he hurl his lance even once. In consequence of his energy, thousands of lances issued out of that one lance held by him.'
In response to that vyasa reveals the secret of that supreme being who helped arjuna throughout the career in the kurukshetra-battle field.
"Vyasa said, 'thou hast, o arjuna, seen sankara, that first cause from which have sprung the prajapatis, that puissant being endued with great energy, he that is the embodiment of heaven, earth and sky, the divine lord, the protector of the universe, the great master, the giver of boons, called also isana. O, seek the protection of that boon, giving deity, that lord of the universe….(big lecture, message clipped)
[Section c]: the summary
Now let’s relate the points discussed above:
Krishna tells arjuna if he has pashupata weapon he need not worry and makes him gain it second time
arjuna destroys 7 akshauhini-s of army in a single day singly
arjuna cuts of jayadratha’s head and makes it fly in sky and lands it exactly in the lap of jayadratha’s father who was seated remotely outside of the battlefield
arjuna reveals to vyasa that it was not him who slayed all the armies throughout the war. He saw someone running in front of his chariot slaying his enemies. Vyasa tells arjuna that it was shankara who did that.
[Section d]: the conclusion
From the analysis above here are the two conclusions that we can draw.
The [point c(1) + point c(2) + point c(4)] = [(a(x) + a(y.2)] ? Because of mahadeva’s involvement as “agrevadhaya |” and “durevadhaya |”
The [point c(1) + point c(3)] = [ a(y.1)] ? The point c[3] which is otherwise too far fetched from reality, a feat next to impossible for any warrior is because of mahadeva’s involvement as “durevadhaya |”
||Etat sarvam sri umamaheshvara parabrahmarpanamastu ||
Having ‘pashupatastra’ in your arsenal is identical to having ‘pashupati’ by your side! You use it or not, you would be victorious!
In the entire mahabharata, no other warrior has been shown as assisted by lord shankara in the battle (except for giving some boons etc). Only arjuna was assisted by him personally. How? Where? - We’ll know shortly, but before that let me show how does mahadeva protect his devotees!
[Section a]: lord shiva’s style of protecting his devotees
Bhagavan rudra, if stands for your protection in battlefield, he would himself slay your enemies in style, and that style is described in yajurveda as follows:
“Namo agrevadhaya ca durevadhaya ca |” (yajurveda iv:5:8:e)
=======================================================
(X) (agrevadhaya)
Meaning: salutations to the one who stands ahead of his devotees in the battlefield and kills the enemies.
(Y) (durevadhaya)
Meanings: there are two meanings to this as per various commentators.
Salutations to the one who destroys the enemies of devotees, who are at a great distance”.
Salutations to the one who destroys the enemies of devotees, even before commencement of the act of killing/battle”.
[Section b]: the story from drona parva
You should read the ‘jayadratha vadha parva’ to understand why arjuna needed ‘pashupatastra’. Let me tell that story in my words for you.
Arjuna, in a fit of rage over his son abhimanyu’s death, makes a ‘hasty’ vow of killing jayadratha before the next day’s sun sets. If that was only the vow it would have been all fine, but he added another sub-clause on himself saying, “I’ll give up my life if I fail to slay jayadratha by the said time”. This sub-clause became a matter of celebration in kaurava camp whereas it became a matter of worry in the pandava camp. It was a great golden opportunity for the enemies to have arjuna kill himself if somehow jayadratha was successfully protected till the next day’s sun sets. And this was exactly the reason which was a matter of worry for pandava-s because kaurava giants cannot be underestimated especially drona! Also, there was another difficulty associated with killing jayadratha. He had a boon from his father ‘vriddhakshatra’ that if his head falls on the ground, the one who caused it fall, his head would burst into 100 fragments.
Arjuna doesn’t get sleep probably he also realized the danger that was hidden in his own vow for himself. He keeps thinking while sleeping then krishna appears in his dream. In his dream itself krishna asks him one simple question, “do you still remember the mantra of pashupatastra”? And then tells him “if that astra is with you, all your worries are gone”. Arjuna says he doesn’t remember that. Then krishna takes arjuna’s ‘sukshma-sharira’ along with him (in the same dream) to kailasha mountain, the residence of the great lord, maheshvara! There they both (nara and narayana, the eternal shiva-bhakta-s) sing ‘shata rudriya’ hymn in front of shiva and after pleasing him, gets the pashupata weapon again. This is the second time arjuna gets that weapon.
And then what happens next day in the battlefield is a remarkable and amazing event in history. That day as expected drona creates shakata-vyuha and entire kaurava army remains in their best form just with one mission - to protect jayadratha till sun set at any cost.
And then arjuna’s performance was unbelievable. On that single day arjuna does such a large scale mass annihilation, which was never done by any of the warriors before. He singly slays as many as seven akshauhini-s of kaurava warriors. And finally reaches jayadratha and cuts his head and with arrows keeps it flying till it reaches beyond the boundaries of ‘syamantapanchaka’ and lets that head fall in the lap of jayadratha’s father.
He did two amazing feats:
He slayed 7 akshauhini-s of army singly on single day
he could shoot the target (jayadratha’s head) across such large distance and make it fall precisely in the lap of a person located outside the battle field in some remote place doing sandhya-vandana. Very supernatural feat.
Here no secrets are revealed in mahabharata, but we can get the at the end of drona parva arjuna goes to vyasa with a question stated below:
"Sanjaya, said, 'after the rout of the kuru army, upon the slaughter of that atiratha, viz., drona, by prishata's son, dhananjaya, the son of kunti beholding a wonderful phenomenon in connection with his own victory, asked vyasa, o bull of bharata's race, who came thither in course of his wanderings, saying, 'o great rishi, while I was engaged in slaying the foe in battle with showers of bright shafts, I continually beheld before me, proceeding in advance of my car, a person of blazing hue, as if endued with the effulgence of fire. Whithersoever he proceeded with his uplifted lance, all the hostile warriors were seen to break before him. Broken in reality by him, people regarded the foe to have been broken by me. Following in his wake, I only destroyed those, already destroyed by him. O holy one, tell me who was that foremost of persons, armed with lance, resembling the sun himself in energy, that was thus seen by me? He did not touch the earth with his feet, nor did he hurl his lance even once. In consequence of his energy, thousands of lances issued out of that one lance held by him.'
In response to that vyasa reveals the secret of that supreme being who helped arjuna throughout the career in the kurukshetra-battle field.
"Vyasa said, 'thou hast, o arjuna, seen sankara, that first cause from which have sprung the prajapatis, that puissant being endued with great energy, he that is the embodiment of heaven, earth and sky, the divine lord, the protector of the universe, the great master, the giver of boons, called also isana. O, seek the protection of that boon, giving deity, that lord of the universe….(big lecture, message clipped)
[Section c]: the summary
Now let’s relate the points discussed above:
Krishna tells arjuna if he has pashupata weapon he need not worry and makes him gain it second time
arjuna destroys 7 akshauhini-s of army in a single day singly
arjuna cuts of jayadratha’s head and makes it fly in sky and lands it exactly in the lap of jayadratha’s father who was seated remotely outside of the battlefield
arjuna reveals to vyasa that it was not him who slayed all the armies throughout the war. He saw someone running in front of his chariot slaying his enemies. Vyasa tells arjuna that it was shankara who did that.
[Section d]: the conclusion
From the analysis above here are the two conclusions that we can draw.
The [point c(1) + point c(2) + point c(4)] = [(a(x) + a(y.2)] ? Because of mahadeva’s involvement as “agrevadhaya |” and “durevadhaya |”
The [point c(1) + point c(3)] = [ a(y.1)] ? The point c[3] which is otherwise too far fetched from reality, a feat next to impossible for any warrior is because of mahadeva’s involvement as “durevadhaya |”
||Etat sarvam sri umamaheshvara parabrahmarpanamastu ||
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