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.

Dear Hitler, my friend

During my varied trip around the streets and back alleys of Mumbai today, one of the highlights on my "grand tour" of the city was Gandhi's Mumbai home, which now houses a modest museum to the father of modern India.

The more that I am learning about Gandhi, and the longer (only two days so far) that I am in India, especially Mumbai, the more I am simply in awe of the man. In the hallways of the home are various pictures of Gandhi with some of India's and the world's most powerful people of the time and he is always there in his khadi loincloth and wrap, smiling serenely while enormous world events were unfolding. However, this did not mean that Gandhi was not one to act, and boldly at that.

In one of the main rooms, there was a display board with two letters, one to President Roosevelt, and the other to Adolf Hitler, the latter is dated July 23, 1939, and is addressed to "Dear friend,".

Now, Gandhi was anything but chums with Der Führer, but he did not let his personal agenda stand in the way of his message, and one of Gandhi's quotes highlighted at the museum (and on t-shirts outside of the caves of Elephanta) was "My life is my message."

In the letter, Gandhi appeals to Hitler's conscience by saying that "[i]t is quite clear that you are today the one person in the world who can prevent a war which may reduce humanity to the savage state. Must you pay that price for an object however worthy it may appear to you to be?"

Less than six weeks later, Germany invades Poland, determining the course of humanity's reduction to savagery for quite some time.

Gandhi signed the letter, "I remain, Your sincere friend"

If it were not Gandhi, you would think that was the work of a madman. However, knowing that Gandhi drew his inspiration from the Gita, it is not hard to comprehend.

In my hotel room, there is a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, so I opened it to the following verses, which I found appropriate for Gandhi's letter.

When the lessons of history are forgotten, or ignored..

dhyãyato vishayãn pumsah

sangas teshupajãyate

sangãt sañjãyate kãmah

kãmãt krodho 'bhijãyate

krodhãd bhavati sammohah

sammohãt smrti-vibhramah

smrit-bhramshãd buddhi-nãsho

buddhi-nãshãt pranashyati

When focused intently upon sensory objects,

An attachment to them grows in one, and

From such attachment develops lustful greed, and

From such lust, anger comes about.

From anger, utter delusion takes hold, and

From delusion, the bewilderment of the memory.

When memory is thoroughly distorted, intelligence is lost, and

When intelligence is lost, one drowns in the material.

Stairway to Heaven

The nature of Hinduism is elusive at best. It is perhaps the most inclusive religious system in the history of human beings in that it incorporates aspects of every other religious system that it comes into contact with. This is not to say that it says that all religions are "the same," a gross oversimplification and common misconception when "white guys like me" try to approach Hinduism and/or any other religious branch of thought from India.

At some point, somewhat exasperated by this inclusive nature, the urban legend goes that the British Raj needed to have a "bible" of sorts, something to pin down the protean religion. The Bhagavad Gita was apparently selected.

Bhagavad Gita itself literally means, "The song of the Lord/Divine One," but in itself is not a discreet text, despite being treated as such, but is rather merely a very small portion of the much, much larger Mahabharata, which means "the Great Epic/Event/Story." However, the Gita (as it is usually called and is the past passive participle of the verb "gai" <<to sing>>) has served its purpose and has come down through the recent centuries earmarked as the "Hindu Bible."

It was a source of inspiration for Gandhi, who made his own Gujarati translation and purportedly read it each day, as well as being the source of poetic inspiration for many writers, Western and Eastern, Northern and Southern, over the years.

The story is in media res of the great battle between the related families, the Pandavas and the Kauruvas.

Arjuna, a warrior prince of the Pandavas, has viewed the battlefield of Kurukshetra and is disheartened and lays down his bow and arrow dejectedly, lamenting to his charioteer, who is none other than the Lord Krishna, that he cannot fight his own flesh and blood, merely for honor.

After some deliberation, Arjuna refuses to fight, thus introducing the Gita's dilemma and prompting the response of Krishna, which comprises the remaining chapters of the Gita.

Weighing the choice between being responsible for killing one of his cousins or friends or being slain unarmed by one of them, Arjuna believes that he prefers the latter. The despondent words of Arjuna set up one of the most influential discourses on the need for us to act in the face of the greatest dilemmas that we face in life, exposing the illusive duality of the Desires of the Self and the Will of the Universe.

Aho bata mahat papam

kartum vyavasita vayam

yad rajyasukhalobhena

hantum svajanam udyatah

yadi mam apratikaram

ashastram shastrapanayah

dhartarashtra rane hanyus

tan me ksematram bharet

Alas, woe is me, 

We are fated to execute such great evil

Standing prepared to kill our own kin

For the greed of royal pleasures.

Should the armed Sons of Dhritarashtra

Strike me down in battle,

Unarmed and unresisting,

Such would be the greater serenity for me.