16.145
svanigamam apahaya mat-pratijnam
rtam adhikartum avapluto ratha-sthah
dhrta-ratha-carano ’bhyayac caladgur
harir iva hantum ibham gatottariyah
SYNONYMS
sva-nigamam—His own promise not to take a weapon and fight on behalf of the Pandavas; apahaya—giving up; mat-pratijnam—my promise; rtam—true; adhikartum—to make more; avaplutah—having jumped down; ratha-sthah—who was on the chariot (Lord Krsna); dhrta—who took up; ratha-caranah—the wheel of the chariot; abhyayat—ran forward; calat-guh—making the entire planet tremble; harih—a lion; iva—like; hantum—to kill; ibham—an elephant; gata-uttariyah—losing the outer garment " ’Intending to make my promise true, Lord Krsna broke His own promise not to take up a weapon at Kuruksetra.
With His outer garment falling off, Lord Sri Krsna jumped from His chariot, picked up a wheel and came running at me to kill me.
Indeed, He rushed at me like a lion going to kill an elephant, and He caused the whole earth to tremble.’
PURPORT
Lord Krsna promised not to fight in the battle of Kuruksetra or even take up a weapon.
But when Bhisma wanted to keep his own promise to break the promise of the Lord, the Lord immediately got down from the chariot, and to make Bhisma’s promise true He picked up a chariot wheel and rushed forward to kill him.
This is a quotation from Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.9.37).