Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 11, Verse 32
श्री भगवानुवाच
कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो
लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्तः।
ऋतेऽपि त्वां न भविष्यन्ति सर्वे
येऽवस्थिताः प्रत्यनीकेषु योधाः।।
कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो
लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्तः।
ऋतेऽपि त्वां न भविष्यन्ति सर्वे
येऽवस्थिताः प्रत्यनीकेषु योधाः।।
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
kālo ’smi loka-kṣaya-kṛt pravṛddho
lokān samāhartum iha pravṛttaḥ
ṛte ’pi tvāṁ na bhaviṣyanti sarve
ye ’vasthitāḥ pratyanīkeṣu yodhāḥ
also searched as "kalo asmi lokakshayakrit pravriddho"
Translation
The Lord said, "I am the world-destroying Time. Manifesting myself fully, I have begun to destroy the worlds here. Even without you, none of the warriors arrayed in the hostile ranks will survive."
Vāṇi's rendering
I am time, ripened — destroyer of worlds, come to consume them. Even without you, these warriors will not survive.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| श्री भगवान्śrī-bhagavān | the Blessed One, Krishna |
| उवाचuvāca | said |
| कालःkālaḥ | time (sandhi: kālo before asmi) |
| अस्मिasmi | I am |
| लोकक्षयकृत्loka-kṣaya-kṛt | the one who brings the worlds to their end |
| प्रवृद्धःpravṛddhaḥ | grown full, ripened, come to full force |
| लोकान्lokān | the worlds |
| समाहर्तुम्samāhartum | to gather in, to draw together and consume |
| इहiha | here |
| प्रवृत्तःpravṛttaḥ | set in motion, already begun |
| ऋतेṛte | without, apart from |
| अपिapi | even (sandhi: 'pi after ṛte) |
| त्वाम्tvām | you |
| नna | not |
| भविष्यन्तिbhaviṣyanti | will be, will continue to exist |
| सर्वेsarve | all of them |
| येye | who |
| अवस्थिताःavasthitāḥ | standing, drawn up (sandhi: 'vasthitāḥ after ye) |
| प्रत्यनीकेषुpratyanīkeṣu | in the opposing ranks |
| योधाःyodhāḥ | warriors, fighting men |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 11 Verse 32 mean?
Krishna names himself kāla — time — grown to full force and already at work consuming the worlds. The warriors Arjuna fears to kill are finished men whether he lifts his bow or lays it down. The verse does not license slaughter. It strips Arjuna of the belief that endings are his to grant or withhold.
Did Oppenheimer quote this verse when the atomic bomb was tested?
He recalled the line as "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." The Sanskrit says kāla — time — not mṛtyu, death. Krishna is not a weapon speaking. He is duration itself, which takes every city and every maker of weapons alike. Oppenheimer's dread was honest; his word was one degree off.
What does kalo asmi lokakshayakrit pravriddho mean?
"I am time, ripened, destroyer of worlds." Pravṛddha carries the sense of something grown to fullness, like fruit or fire. Krishna is not threatening to begin. He is telling Arjuna that the work is already under way, and the armies on the field are inside it, as you are inside it now.
If everything is destroyed by time anyway, why should I bother acting?
Because Krishna does not tell Arjuna to sit down. He tells him to rise. Time settles what ends; it says nothing about how you meet it. Outcomes were never the measure of your action. What remains yours is the quality of the doing — done cleanly, without the fantasy that you author the result.
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Commentary
Arjuna has been asking whether he should kill. Krishna answers a question he did not ask. The men in front of him are already gone — not by Arjuna's hand, but by time's, which ripens everything and then takes it. This is not permission to be cruel. It is the removal of an illusion: that you are the one who decides whether things end. You are not. You decide only how you stand while they do. Arjuna's arrow will land in a field where the harvest was already cut. So will yours. Do what is yours to do, and stop imagining you hold the ending.