Oppenheimer Hindu Verse

[Paul Pless]

After the successful detonation of the first atomic bomb. Oppenheimer quoted a Hindu religious verse of which I can only recall the last line, "I have become death, the shatterer of worlds." Does anybody know the rest of the verse? It starts out by describing creation, I believe.

[Don Olney]

Its from the Bhagavad-Gita.

http://www.bartleby.com/45/4/11.html#44

You can always get a hard copy from those nice shaven-head people hanging around any airport. :D

[ 06-23-2004, 10:11 AM: Message edited by: Don Olney ]

[martin schulz]

Oppenheimer always had a knack for swaggering.

[Joe ( Cold Spring on Hudson )]

The Bhagavad Gita is technically part of the Mahabharata, although it is known to be a later accretion to the saga, which stands on its own merits. It is a dialog between the God Krishna and the hero Arjuna, taking place in a timeless moment on the battlefield before the climactic struggle between good and evil. The Gita (which can be found in hotel bedstands throughout India) is a classic summary of the core beliefs of Hinduism. It has had a significant influence far beyond Hinduism. Robert Oppenheimer apocryphically recited the verse (from Chapter 11) 'I [have become] Death, Destroyer of Worlds", just before the first test of the atom bomb, which ironically has a much different meaning in context.

I read Chapter 11 and did not find the exact quote though :rolleyes:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/gita/bg11.htm

[Don Olney]

NUMBER: 123

AUTHOR: Bhagavad Gita

QUOTATION: If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst forth at once in the sky, that would be like the splendour of the Mighty One.

I am mighty, world-destroying Time …
ATTRIBUTION: Bhagavad Gita. Bhagavad Gita, trans. Swami Nikhilananda, chapter 11, sections 12 and 32, pp. 256, 261 (1944).

A variation of this translation flashed through the mind of J. Robert Oppenheimer as he stood in the control room at the explosion of the first atomic bomb at Los Alamos, New Mexico, July 16, 1945: “If the radiance of a thousand suns / were to burst into the sky / that would be like / the splendor of the Mighty One and I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds.”—Current Biography Yearbook, 1964, p. 331.

http://www.bartleby.com/73/123.html

[Paul Pless]

That's it. Thanks