10.34 Death, and also fame Krishna speaks
मृत्युः सर्वहरश्चाहमुद्भवश्च भविष्यताम्
कीर्तिः श्रीर्वाक्च नारीणां स्मृतिर्मेधा धृतिः क्षमा
mṛityuḥ sarva-haraśh chāham udbhavaśh cha bhaviṣhyatām
kīrtiḥ śhrīr vāk cha nārīṇāṁ smṛitir medhā dhṛitiḥ kṣhamā
I am death, which carries everything off, and the origin of what is yet to be. Among what is feminine I am fame, fortune, speech, memory, wisdom, steadfastness and patience.
Explanation
I am death — and in the same verse, fame and fortune.
mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraḥ, death which carries everything off. And then: fame, fortune, speech, memory, wisdom, steadfastness, patience.
Both in one breath, with no transition and no apology. It is the clearest statement in the chapter of what its symmetry costs — and what it refuses to hand over to somebody else.
Going further
Word by word
- mṛityuḥ
- death
- sarva-haraḥ
- all-devouring
- cha
- and
- aham
- I
- udbhavaḥ
- the origin
- cha
- and
- bhaviṣhyatām
- those things that are yet to be
- kīrtiḥ
- fame
- śhrīḥ
- prospective
- vāk
- fine speech
- cha
- and
- nārīṇām
- amongst feminine qualities
- smṛitiḥ
- memory
- medhā
- intelligence
- dhṛitiḥ
- courage
- kṣhamā
- forgiveness
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I am death, which carries everything off — and in the same verse, fame, fortune, speech, memory, wisdom, steadfastness and patience.
The Gita keeps refusing to put destruction in a separate compartment. Whatever this text means by the divine, it is not the good half of a pair.