Verse 11.32 : Visvarupa Darsana Yoga "Vision of Cosmic Form"
Verse 32 of 55
Shloka 11.32
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो
लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्तः |
ऋतेऽपि त्वां न भविष्यन्ति सर्वे
येऽवस्थिताः प्रत्यनीकेषु योधाः ||११-३२||
śrībhagavānuvāca .
kālo.asmi lokakṣayakṛtpravṛddho lokānsamāhartumiha pravṛttaḥ .
ṛte.api tvāṃ na bhaviṣyanti sarve ye.avasthitāḥ pratyanīkeṣu yodhāḥ ||11-32||
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The Translation
“The Supreme Lord said: I am mighty Time, the destroyer of the worlds, engaged here in annihilating people. Even without your participation, none of the warriors arrayed in the opposing armies shall survive.”
Commentary & Insights
In one of the most famous verses of the Gita, Krishna answers Arjuna's question, declaring Himself to be all-consuming Time, the destroyer of worlds, and stating that the fate of the warriors is already sealed.
Practical Application
1
Let go of the false pressure that you must carry the entire weight of your project or family today: do your best, and trust the natural flow of time and events.
Reflections & Notes
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Self-Reflection Prompts
- If everyone is destined to die by the power of Time, what is the value of our actions? How does this free us from the burden of feeling like we are the ultimate controllers of outcomes?
- J. Robert Oppenheimer famously quoted this verse ('Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds') upon witnessing the first atomic bomb test. How does the concept of divine Time put the destructive potential of technology into perspective?
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11.32
श्रीभगवानुवाच
Time is the Supreme Lord in His aspect of change and destruction. All objects in time must perish. Arjuna's grief is based on the illusion that he is the killer and others are the killed. But they are already slain by Time; the physical body is temporary.