Why: seeing Krishna's mouths, terrible with their fangs, resembling the fire of dissolution, Arjuna loses his sense of direction and finds no peace, he asks Krishna directly to be gracious, describing the fear reaching a genuine peak and prompting a direct plea.

In life: there's often a specific peak moment within a frightening experience where you directly ask for relief or mercy, rather than continuing to just endure it silently.

Teaching: it's entirely appropriate, at the peak of a genuinely overwhelming experience, to directly ask for relief or grace, rather than assuming you're supposed to silently endure the full intensity without any request for reprieve.