Tag: Silicosis

Utopia 17: Whent the Red Wind Blows

“Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

J. Robert Oppenheimer quoting the Bhagavad Gita as he watched his creation, the first atomic bomb, successfully detonate.

Actual quote from the Bhagavad Gita:

sri-bhagavan uvaca:

kalo ‘smi loka-ksaya-krt pravrddho

lokan samahartum iha pravrttah /

rte ‘pi tvam na bhavisyanti sarve

ye ‘vasthitah pratyanikesu yodhah //
 

The Lord said: “Time  [death]  I am, the destroyer of the worlds, who has come to annihilate everyone.  Even without your taking part all those arrayed in the  [two] opposing ranks  will be slain!”

(Gita vs. 11.32

trans. after Swami Tripurari)