‘Now I Am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.’ The Story of Oppenheimer’s Infamous Quote | WIRED
Seeking his advice, Arjuna asked Krishna to reveal his cosmic form. Krishna is imperative, and in verse 12 of the Gita he manifests as a fearsome, superhuman being with many mouths and eyes. It was this moment that entered Oppenheimer’s mind in July 1945. “If the glory of a thousand suns burst into the sky at once, it would be like the splendor of a mighty being,” was Oppenheimer’s translation of that moment in the New Mexico desert.
In Hinduism, which has a non-linear conception of time, the great deity is involved not only in the process of creation but also in disintegration. In verse 32, Krishna says the famous sentence. In it, “death” literally translates as “time to destroy the world,” Thompson said, adding that Oppenheimer’s Sanskrit teacher chose to translate “time to destroy the world” as “death,” a common interpretation. Its meaning is simple: No matter what Arjuna does, everything is in the hands of the divine.
“Arjuna is a soldier, he has a duty to fight. Krishna, not Arjuna, will decide who lives and who dies and Arjuna should not grieve or rejoice over what fate awaits, but should be absolutely untethered to such outcomes,” Thompson said. “And finally, the most important thing is that he should be devoted to Krishna. His faith will save Arjuna’s soul.” But Oppenheimer, it seems, was never able to achieve this peace. and this is knowledge they cannot lose.”
“He doesn’t seem to believe that the soul is eternal, while Arjuna does,” says Thompson. “The fourth argument in the Gita actually holds that death is an illusion, that we are not born and we do not die. That’s the philosophy, really. That there is only one consciousness and that the whole of creation is a great play.” Perhaps Oppenheimer never believed that those killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki would not suffer. While he takes his job seriously, he can never accept that this can free him from the cycle of birth and death. In stark contrast, Arjuna realized his mistake and decided to go to war.
“Krishna is saying you just have to do your duty as a fighter,” Thompson said. “If you were a priest, you wouldn’t have to do this, but you are a warrior and you have to do it. In a larger scheme, perhaps, the bomb represents the path of the war against the forces of evil, which are the epitome of the forces of fascism.
For Arjuna, indifference to war can be relatively easy as he believes that the souls of his opponents will live regardless. But Oppenheimer felt deeply the consequences of the atomic bomb. “He doesn’t believe the ultimate destruction is just an illusion,” Thompson said. Oppenheimer’s apparent inability to accept the idea of an immortal soul weighed heavily on his mind.
