BHAGAVAD-GITA 10:34

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 10:34

 

mrtyuh sarva-haras caham

udbhavas ca bhavisyatam

kirtih srir vak ca narinam

smrtir medha dhrtih ksama

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

mrtyuh--death; sarva-harah--all-devouring; ca--also; aham--I am;

udbhavah--generation; ca--also; bhavisyatam--of future manifestations;

kirtih--fame; srih--opulence or beauty; vak--fine speech; ca--also;

narinam--of women; smrtih--memory; medha--intelligence;

dhrtih--firmness; ksama--patience.

 

TRANSLATION

 

I am all-devouring death, and I am the generating principle of all

that is yet to be. Among women I am fame, fortune, fine speech,

memory, intelligence, steadfastness and patience.

 

PURPORT

 

As soon as a man is born, he dies at every moment. Thus death is

devouring every living entity at every moment, but the last stroke is

called death itself. That death is Krsna. As for future development,

all living entities undergo six basic changes. They are born, they

grow, they remain for some time, they reproduce, they dwindle, and

finally they vanish. Of these changes, the first is deliverance from

the womb, and that is Krsna. The first generation is the beginning of

all future activities.

 

The seven opulences listed--fame, fortune, fine speech, memory,

intelligence, steadfastness and patience--are considered feminine. If

a person possesses all of them or some of them he becomes glorious. If

a man is famous as a righteous man, that makes him glorious. Sanskrit

is a perfect language and is therefore very glorious. If after

studying one can remember a subject matter, he is gifted with a good

memory, or smrti. And the ability not only to read many books on

different subject matters but to understand them and apply them when

necessary is intelligence (medha), another opulence. The ability to

overcome unsteadiness is called firmness or steadfastness (dhrti). And

when one is fully qualified yet is humble and gentle, and when one is

able to keep his balance both in sorrow and in the ecstasy of joy, he

has the opulence called patience (ksama).

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.