Bhagavad Gita 10.34
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 34 of 42
मृत्युः सर्वहरश्चाहमुद्भवश्च भविष्यताम् | कीर्तिः श्रीर्वाक्च नारीणां स्मृतिर्मेधा धृतिः क्षमा ||३४||
mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham udbhavaś ca bhaviṣyatām | kīrtiḥ śrīr vāk ca nārīṇāṃ smṛtir medhā dhṛtiḥ kṣamā || 34 ||
I am all-seizing Death, and the birth of those to come; among feminine: Fame, Prosperity, Speech, Memory, Forbearance.
Word by word (3)
- mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraḥ ca aham
- — I am all-seizing Death · mṛtyuḥ = Death (mṛtyu = death — from √mṛ = to die; the personification of death; in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad, Yama is Mṛtyu — the young Naciketas travels to the realm of Mṛtyu to ask about the nature of the ātman). sarva-haraḥ = the all-seizing/all-taking (sarva = all + hara = seizing, taking — from √hṛ = to take/seize; sarva-hara = 'the one who takes everything, the all-seizer'; Death takes without exception, without partiality — everything is taken by mṛtyu in time). ca = and. aham = I. mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraḥ aham = 'I am Death, the all-seizer.' V10.30 said kālaḥ kalayatāṃ (Time among measurers) — finite time that measures and destroys. V11.32 will say kālo'smi loka-kṣaya-kṛt (I am Time, the world-destroyer). V10.34's mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraḥ is the death-face of the same teaching: the divine IS Death, not merely a deity who sends death. Death is the divine's concentrated expression in the domain of taking-all.
- udbhavaḥ ca bhaviṣyatāṃ
- — And the birth/origin of those who are to be born · udbhavaḥ = birth, arising, origin (ud = up/forth + bhava = arising — from √bhū = to be; udbhava = 'arising upward, coming forth, origin, birth'). ca = and. bhaviṣyatāṃ = of those who are to be/those who will exist in the future (genitive plural of bhaviṣyat = 'one who will be/exist in the future'; from √bhū = to be in the future tense; bhaviṣyatāṃ = genitive plural 'among those who will come to exist'). The divine = Death (the end of all existing beings) AND the birth/origin of all future beings (those who are yet to come). The full circle: the divine is both the dissolution of what is now and the arising of what will be. This is the Brahman-cycle: sarga (creation/udbhava) → sthiti (sustenance) → pralaya (dissolution/mṛtyu). V10.34 captures both sarga and pralaya ends: mṛtyuḥ (pralaya-face) + udbhavaḥ bhaviṣyatāṃ (sarga-face of what is yet to come).
- kīrtiḥ śrīḥ vāk ca nārīṇāṃ — smṛtiḥ medhā dhṛtiḥ kṣamā
- — Among feminine qualities: Fame, Prosperity, Speech; and Memory, Intelligence, Steadiness, Forbearance · nārīṇāṃ = among feminine qualities/goddesses (genitive plural of nārī = woman, feminine; here used for the personified feminine virtues — each of these is a feminine deity in the Indian tradition). kīrtiḥ = Fame, glory (kīrti = 'spreading fame, celebrated glory' — from √kīrt = to celebrate/glorify; Kīrti = the goddess of fame). śrīḥ = Prosperity, beauty, splendor (Śrī = the goddess Lakṣmī herself; śrī = beauty, prosperity, auspiciousness — the most auspicious of the seven divine feminine qualities). vāk = Speech, language (vāk = 'speech, voice, word' — from √vac = to speak; Vāk = the goddess of speech, the equivalent of Sarasvatī; vāk is the personified principle of all meaningful utterance). smṛtiḥ = Memory (smṛti = 'what is remembered, memory, tradition' — from √smṛ = to remember; Smṛti = both the faculty of memory and the class of Hindu texts based on remembered tradition as opposed to śruti = directly heard). medhā = Intelligence, mental brilliance (medhā = 'mental acuity, intellectual power, wisdom' — from √medh = to possess mental power; Medhā = the goddess of intelligence). dhṛtiḥ = Steadiness, firmness (dhṛti = 'holding firm, steadiness, resolve' — from √dhṛ = to hold; Dhṛti = the quality that sustains effort without wavering). kṣamā = Forbearance, patience, forgiveness (kṣamā = 'patience, endurance, forbearance, forgiveness' — from √kṣam = to endure patiently; Kṣamā = the goddess of patience/forgiveness, one of the highest virtues in the Indian tradition).
I am all-devouring Death, and the birth of all that is to come; among feminine powers I am fame, fortune, speech, memory, intelligence, steadfastness, and forgiveness.
A modern analogy
The seven feminine virtues this verse names (Fame, Prosperity, Speech, Memory, Intelligence, Steadiness, Forbearance) are the Gita's catalogue of the divine's expression in human excellence. Think of people you most admire — in every case, their greatness comes from one or more of these: the speaker whose words genuinely illumine (the quality of Speech, vāk), the leader whose calm presence holds a team through difficulty (the quality of Steadiness, dhṛti), the grandmother who forgives without holding grudges (the quality of Forbearance, kṣamā), the scholar with extraordinary memory and precision (the qualities of Memory and Intelligence, smṛti and medhā). All are divine expressions, this verse says.
What it does NOT mean
Naming all-seizing Death as a divine expression is not saying death is punishment or that the divine is indifferent to suffering. The all-seizing quality of death is the divine's concentrated expression in the domain of endings — the force that ensures nothing can hold on indefinitely. This is the same teaching given earlier in the Gita — that for the born, death is certain, and grief over the unavoidable serves no one — now delivered from the divine's own voice: Death is not the divine's enemy but the divine's own concentrated expression in the domain of completion and release.
Take with you
- Forbearance and forgiveness (kṣamā) is the most practically difficult of the seven feminine expressions: identify one person or situation toward which you have held resentment. The practice of kṣamā is not forcing forgiveness but recognizing that the burden of the resentment is yours, not theirs. Write one sentence — not for them, for yourself: 'I am willing to put down this burden.' This is the beginning of kṣamā, the divine's expression in the domain of release from the past.
- Steadiness and constancy (dhṛti) is the key quality for long projects: anything worth building requires sustained effort without assurance of visible progress. Dhṛti is the quality that says, 'I continue even when I cannot see the progress.' In your most important current long-term commitment — what specific steadiness-practice do you have? Regular re-commitment (weekly or monthly), a ritual of recommitment, a community of accountability — these are dhṛti-practices for the sustained action the divine's steadiness-expression embodies.
- All-seizing Death becomes a memento mori practice: once a week, spend five minutes with the fact of your own death — not morbidly, but with honest recognition. 'Everything I am holding right now will be taken by all-seizing Death in time. Given this, what is genuinely important to do today?' The Stoics called this memento mori (remember you will die); the Gita names it all-seizing Death as a divine expression. Both point to the same clarifying function of death-awareness.
Public-domain translations (3) compare all →
And I am the all-seizing Death, and the prosperity of those who are to be prosperous; of the feminine qualities (I am) Fame, Prosperity (or beauty), Inspiration, Memory, Intelligence, Constancy and Forbearance. [4]
I am all-grasping death, and the birth of those who are to be; among feminine things I am fame, fortune, speech, memory, intelligence, patience, and forgiveness. [6]
And bitter Death which seizes all, and joyous sudden Birth, / Which brings to light all beings that are to be on earth; / And of the viewless virtues, Fame, Fortune, Song am I, / And Memory, and Patience; and Craft, and Constancy [7]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
I am Time, the world-destroyer — even without you, none of these warriors shall survive; they are already slain!
Birth means death is certain. Death means birth is certain. Grief over the unavoidable serves no one.
Those who eat yajna's remnants reach eternal Brahman. Without offering, not even this world is theirs.
Intellect, wisdom, patience, truth, calm, restraint, joy, pain, birth, death, fear, fearlessness — all arise from Me.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
Those who know Me as Adhibhūta, Adhidaiva, and Adhiyajña — they know Me even at death, with unified minds.
Verse 34 of 42 · back to Chapter 10