I am the Time grown old, destroying all the worlds
The verse Oppenheimer paraphrased at Trinity -- kalo'smi lokakshayakrit pravriddhah -- splits translators sharply. Arnold gives 'I am the Time grown old, destroying all the worlds' -- personifying kala as an elderly destroyer, a Victorian Gothic image. Wilkins chooses 'I am Time, the destroyer of mankind, matured' -- 18th-century Enlightenment gravity, with 'matured' for pravriddhah suggesting ripeness rather than enlargement. Telang, the literal scholar, writes 'I am death, the destroyer of the worlds, fully developed' -- notably choosing 'death' over 'Time,' a different semantic field for kala entirely. Swarupananda's 'I am the mighty world-destroying Time' carries Shankara's emphasis on cosmic inevitability, rendering pravriddhah as 'mighty' rather than 'old' or 'matured.' The key divergence is whether kala means chronological time, personified death, or inexorable fate -- each translation embeds a different metaphysics. Oppenheimer's own 'I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds' drew from none of these exactly, likely synthesizing the Piper 1927 translation.
Arjuna has received divine sight and beholds Krishna’s Vishvarupa — the universal form containing all creation, all destruction, all time. Terrified, he sees warriors being devoured by Krishna’s flaming mouths. He asks: who are you in this terrible form? Krishna answers: I am Time, destroyer of worlds. These warriors are already slain — be my instrument.
Famously paraphrased by Oppenheimer at Trinity: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." The climax of the Gita’s cosmic vision.
