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Re: Origin of well-known quote?
In article <4duep2$gim@babbage.ece.uc.edu>,
Matt Stanley <ms018c@uhura.cc.rochester.edu> wrote:
>Hello all-
>
> I'm looking for the source of a fairly well known quote that is
>usually attributed to "Ancient Hindu Scripture":
>
> "I have become Death, destroyer of worlds"
>
> Robert Oppenheimer allegedly said this at the Trinity test of teh
>atomic bomb. I've also seen it start with " I am become Death..."
> Does anyone know the origin of this passage?
Oppenheimer was misquoting the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter XI, verse 32:
"kaalo'smi loka-kshaya-krt-pravrddho, lokaan samaahartum-iha-pravrttaH."
Specifically, "become" is wrong; should be "am." Krishna did not say he
had "become" anything, because that would mean a change in His nature,
which is unchanging.
Regards,
Shrisha Rao
> Many thanks...
>
> Matt Stanley
> ms018c@uhura.cc.rochester.edu
