I Am Death, Destroyer of All

There has been much discussion about Robert Oppenheimer, the maven of the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, New Mexico, which was the genesis of the first Atomic Bomb, that later was dropped on the civilian targets of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan to end a World War, that by all intents and purposes had already ended. But, we had built a bomb to end all bombs, and we needed to let the world know it. For that, it served its purpose and put the fear of the Bomb into everyone’s hearts and minds across the world. It was the shock that sent waves around the world.

One of the points of mindless dispute over Oppenheimer was his usage and actual knowledge of the Gita, perhaps in order to detract from his actual message, for when one really considers what he said, it is hard to wish away or merely brush off as intellectual posturing.

When the Trinity Site explosion had been successful and it was clear that the US had indeed succeeded in winning the arms race towards nuclear weaponry, there was great jubilation amongst the scientists, because, they had cheated the praises of Lucretius and Democritus and Epicurus who had called the a-tom (from Gk. <<not to cut>>) as that which could not be split. We split the un-splittable. There was jubilation, for about 24 hours, until the reality set in. We had thought the un-thinkable. We were going to use this awesome power to disintegrate hundreds of thousands of civilians.

When it was all said and done, and the War was over, Oppenheimer fell into a series of difficult times, which are quite eloquently described in Kai Bird and Marthin J. Sherwin’s Pulitzer-Prize winning, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

One of the famous urban legends about Oppenheimer is that he quoted the Bhagavad Gita regarding his role in the development of the Atomic Bomb. Condensed, it is often quoted as “Now I am Death, Destroyer of All.” Pundits like to wag their tongues on whether he said it or not, or did he know Sanskrit and all of that other jazz, which means nothing. According to Kai and Sherwin, Sanskrit was not just a passing fancy, nor the mere flippancy of a New York dandy that Oppenheimer was.

The point is that the quote has been associated with the Modern World, and perhaps rightly so.

It appears in the Gita in Book Eleven, after Krishna, the human-avatar of Vishnu and personal charioteer of our hero, Arjuna, finally acquiesces to Arjuna’s pleas to see the Godhead in all his glory. Arjuna, as is painfully clear in the Gita, does not exactly “get it” and it takes Krishna several books to warn him that he better be careful for  what he asks for, because he just might really get it.

So, Krishna reveals his true Self, as the Cosmos as Everything. But, Everything includes the not-so-nice, as well as the shits and giggles and bunnies and butterflies. When Krishna reveals his godlike form, it is Awe-some. It is Death and destruction and a level of terror that Arjuna cannot even conceive of because it is all Death at all Times at Once. It is all of Creation at all Times at Once.

It is Time, all at once.

Time is Death. Time is also Life. We cannot live exclusively with one or the other, as both are Omni-present, Omni-potent.

Eventually, Krishna returns to his human form, and Arjuna, having had the epiphany to end all epiphanies, realizes the ephemeral nature of the moment, yet at the same time, it eternity. He realizes that in the face of such power and Awe, he can only do what he can do. He must live out his life, according to his Dharma, or personal Duty, in accordance with the Dharma of the Universe. He is a part of the greater whole, both of which are always living and always dying.

The key to understanding his Mortality is the very thing that links him inextricably with the Immortality of Time.

At 11:32 of the Gita, Krishna says,

Kãlo’ smi lokakshayakrtpravrddho

lokansamãhartumiha pravrttah

rte’pi tvã na bhavishanti sarve

ye’ vasthitãh pratyanikeshu yodhã

Now, I am Time, the world destroyer;

Here, I have come to annihilate the worlds.

Even without you, these warriors will all perish, all

Who are now legion in battle, shall die.