यथा नदीनां बहवोऽम्बुवेगाः समुद्रमेवाभिमुखा द्रवन्ति । तथा तवामी नरलोकवीरा विशन्ति वक्त्राण्यभिविज्वलन्ति ॥
yathā nadīnāṃ bahavo'mbuvegāḥ samudramevābhimukhā dravanti | tathā tavāmī naralokavīrā viśanti vaktrāṇyabhivijvalanti ||
Translation
As the many currents of rivers flow into the ocean, so these heroes of the human world enter into Your flaming mouths.
Interpretation
A simile of extraordinary power: as rivers flow inevitably into the ocean — not fighting it, not choosing it, simply flowing by the nature of gravity and water — so these warriors of the human world (naralokavirah) are flowing into the flaming mouths of the cosmic form. The imagery converts the battlefield horror into a cosmic natural event: death is as inevitable and as natural as rivers flowing to the sea. The Kurukshetra war is a small ripple in the vast ocean of time's consumption of all beings.