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bookc. 200 BCE

Bhagavad Gita

Disciplines:
philosophy
religion/sacred text
literature/sanskrit literature

Summary

An ancient Sanskrit text and central Hindu scripture in which Krishna reveals the nature of duty, action, and the self to Arjuna.

Core Contribution

Oppenheimer's quotation from the Gita at Trinity fused the atomic bomb with the metaphysical register Nolan dramatizes.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Duty without attachment to outcome (Krishna's core instruction to Arjuna -- act according to your role regardless of consequences -- is the precise opposite of Oppenheimer's post-Trinity regret)
  • The destroyer of worlds (the cosmic form chapter in which Krishna reveals himself as creation and destruction simultaneously -- what Oppenheimer recognized at Trinity)

Historical Influences

No recorded historical influences.

Intellectual Lineage

Sanskrit literatureHindu philosophy Vedic tradition

Allied Works

Oppenheimer

Contemporaries & Peers

No recorded contemporaries.

Minds Influenced

Oppenheimer's self-understandingChristopher Nolan's Oppenheimer

Intellectual Posterity

Oppenheimer's Death quotation as cultural touchstone

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Bhagavad Gita

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