Sanskrit
मृत्युः सर्वहरश्चाहमुद्भवश्च भविष्यताम् । कीर्तिः श्रीर्वाक्च नारीणां स्मृतिर्मेधा धृतिः क्षमा ॥ ३४ ॥
mṛtyuḥ sarvaharaś cāham udbhavaś ca bhaviṣyatām kīrtiḥ śrīr vāk ca nārīṇāṃ smṛtir medhā dhṛtiḥ kṣamā
Translation
And all-devouring Death am I, and the origin of all to come; and of feminine qualities, fame, prosperity, speech, memory, intelligence, constancy, forgiveness.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Death that devours all is paired immediately with “the origin of all to come” — the same figure claimed as both ending and beginning in one breath, tightening verse 20’s alpha/omega claim down to a single stark image, before the verse pivots abruptly to a list of feminine qualities in its second half. Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraḥ… udbhavaś ca bhaviṣyatām — “all-taking death, and the coming-forth of what will be” — is Time as both jaws and womb, the image BG 11.32 will make an entire vision.
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Word by word
- mṛtyuḥ sarvaharaś cāhamमृत्युः सर्वहरश् चाहं
- I am all-devouring death (mṛtyuḥ + sarva-haraḥ + ca + aham)
- udbhavaś ca bhaviṣyatāmउद्भवश् च भविष्यतां
- and the origin of things to come (udbhavaḥ + ca + bhaviṣyatām)
- kīrtiḥ śrīr vāk ca nārīṇāṃकीर्तिः श्रीः वाक् च नारीणां
- among feminine things, fame, fortune, speech (kīrtiḥ + śrīḥ + vāk + ca + nārīṇām)
- smṛtir medhā dhṛtiḥ kṣamāस्मृतिः मेधा धृतिः क्षमा
- memory, intelligence, steadfastness, forbearance (smṛtiḥ + medhā + dhṛtiḥ + kṣamā)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Every other entry in this list follows one structure: name a category, then name its foremost member — the best sage, the best river, the best mountain. This verse’s second half breaks that structure entirely. Fame, prosperity, speech, memory, intelligence, constancy, and forgiveness aren’t given individual best-in-class exemplars; the qualities themselves are named directly as Krishna, with no intermediate “best example of X” step at all.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
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Lessons
Personal
- Notice when you've been pattern-matching a situation to a structure that's already stopped applying — a rule that worked for the last ten instances of a problem doesn't have to survive the eleventh unmodified, and forcing it to fit can blind you to what's actually changed.
Professional
- When a template that has worked for the last several tickets or requests stops fitting the current one, notice the shift in structure rather than forcing the old template onto it — the pattern that served you reliably is allowed to reach its limit.
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- When a way of relating to a family member that always worked before doesn't fit today's situation, be willing to notice the shift rather than reflexively applying the old approach — people and situations outgrow the patterns you built for them.
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