तं दृष्ट्वा भीमसङ्काशं ज्वलन्तमिव पावकम्।
यथा कृष्णगतिं घोरं युगान्ते प्रोद्यतं तथा।
वसिष्ठप्रमुखा विप्रा जपहोमपरायणाः॥
सङ्गता मुनयः सर्वे सञ्जजल्पुरथो मिथः।
कच्चित्पितृवधामर्षी क्षत्रं नोत्सादयिष्यति॥
पूर्वं क्षत्रवधं कृत्वा गतमन्युर्गतज्वरः।
क्षत्रस्योत्सादनं भूयो न खल्वस्य चिकीर्षितम्॥
taṁ dṛṣṭvā bhīma-saṅkāśaṁ jvalantam iva pāvakam
yathā kṛṣṇa-gatiṁ ghoraṁ yugānte prodyataṁ tathā
vasiṣṭha-pramukhā viprā japa-homa-parāyaṇāḥ
saṅgatā munayaḥ sarve sañjajalpur atho mithaḥ
kaccit pitṛ-vadhāmarṣī kṣatraṁ notsādayiṣyati
pūrvaṁ kṣatra-vadhaṁ kṛtvā gata-manyur gata-jvaraḥ
kṣatrasyotsādanaṁ bhūyo na khalv asya cikīrṣitam
tam = Him; dṛṣṭvā = seeing; bhīma-saṅkāśam = of terrifying appearance; jvalantam iva pāvakam = blazing like fire; yathā kṛṣṇa-gatim ghoram; yuga-ante prodyatam = as if intent upon creating the terror of ultimate darkness at the end of the world; tathā vasiṣṭha-pramukhāḥ = headed by Vasiṣṭha; viprāḥ = brahminical; japa-homa-parāyaṇāḥ = absorbed in mantra chanting and sacrifice; saṅgatāḥ = got together and; munayaḥ sarve = all the sages; sañjajalpuḥ atho mithaḥ = spoke to each other their thoughts; kaccit pitṛ-vadhāmarṣī = even though he was angry when his father was killed; kṣatram na utsādayiṣyati = he will not destroy the entire kṣatriya community; pūrvam kṣatra-vadham kṛtvā gata-manyuḥ gata-jvaraḥ = because he destroyed the kṣatriyas in the past and became free from anger and grief; kṣatrasya utsādanam bhūyaḥ = to uproot the kṣatriya community again; na khalu asya cikīrṣitam = so [now] he would not want.
Seeing him of terrifying appearance, blazing like fire, as if intent upon creating the terror of ultimate darkness at the end of the world, all the brahminical sages headed by Vasiṣṭha, absorbed in mantra chanting and sacrifice, got together and spoke to each other their thoughts: Even though he was angry when his father was killed, he will not destroy the entire kṣatriya community because he destroyed the kṣatriyas in the past and became free from anger and grief. So [now] he would not want to uproot the kṣatriya community again.
NOTE. The son of Jamadagni, Paraśurāma, is an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrīla Prabhupāda has remarked, “Each and every avatāra, or incarnation of the Lord, has a particular mission, and they are all described in the revealed scriptures. No one should be accepted as an avatāra unless he is referred to by scriptures.” (Bhagavad-gītā 4.7 purport) And Paraśurāma’s mission was to annihilate the corrupt kṣatriyas of his time. And he did it in an extraordinary fashion. Interested readers can find his astonishing pastimes described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (9.15-16).