Father of nuclear bomb and Sanskrit scripture Bhagavat-Gita

"I have always been curious to know the inspiration behind those brains of key nuclear physicist, working in the 'Manhattan Project' in 1945, resulting in nuclear bomb then code named 'Gadget'.

And here comes a book, from the 'Hindu' scripture 'Bhagavat-Gita', which 'Oppenheimer' quoted before and after the 'Trinity test', many a time.

Hard it is to conclude if the 'Gita' was/is a book inspiring for a decisive fight against enemy or a truce resulting after the war of such a ferocious magnitude.

What an irony, the war referred in this scripture was finally fought with 'Brahmastra', a name in 'Sanskrit', believed to be a nuclear weapon of that time." 

--Author 

(Storyline: J. Robert Oppenheimer/ Nuclear bomb/ Inspiration/ Bhagavat-Gita/ Indology)

July 16th:

Every year this date reminds us about first nuclear detonation, code named 'Trinity' (assigned by Oppenheimer), tested successfully in 1945 on the culmination of 'Manhattan Project' which later used against humans in shorter than a month time, i.e. 6th August 1945 on Hiroshima, killing 126,000 civilians instantly.

It is recorded that more than 130,000 strong human force were employed in this Nuclear weapon research project, secretly conducted at various sites in US, Canada and UK, in the World War II years ranging from 1942 to 1946.

What an irony:

1. The German chemists were the pioneer scientist namely Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann discovering Nuclear fission which theoretically explained by Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch. 

But it was the party opposite to use this technology to win and end the second world war lastly.

2. Those who were involved in the Project may not be knowing the full impact of destruction it was going to cause and whole concept of war and peace was going to change there on.

3. It is said that two days before the 'Trinity' test, Oppenheimer expressed his hope and fear by citing a quote from the Hindu scripture Bhagavat-Gita, as: "In battle, In the forest, at the precipice in the mountains, On the dark great sea, in the midst of javelins and arrows, In sleep, in confusion, in the depths of shame, The good deeds a man has done before defend him."

4. Later in 2016 US President Barack Obama was in Hiroshima, recalled; "Death fell from the sky and the world was changed" where 80,000 lives were lost instantly on 9th August 1945 as the second Nuclear bomb was dropped over Japan.

That reminds the warning wordings of then President Truman saying, "expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth."

Julius Robert Oppenheimer: (Physicist and Professor at the University of California Berkeley)
Oppie, as his friends called him, the war time head of the Los Alamos laboratory, was among many who worked in the 'Manhattan Project', he is the one credited as the 'Father of the Atomic bomb.'

While witnessing the 'Trinity' explosion he thought about a verse from a Hindu scripture Bhagvat Gita (XI, 12): "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one.."

His Gita connection: 

It was way back in 1933, much before the 'Manhattan Project', Oppenheimer, a Jewish by birth, learned Sanskrit from an Indologist, Professor Arthur W. Ryder at Berkeley, read Gita in Sanskrit. Later he recalled that this was the book that shaped his philosophy of life.

Oppenheimer persuaded to quote again for a television broadcast in 1965:
"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita (verse 32 of chapter 11). Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty, and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another."

Link for text, translated-audio, Oppenheimer's video:
http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/Gita/verse-11-30.html

'Bhagvat-Gita' scripture showing page with a verse 11-30, with an English translation by Oppenheimer, which is being quoted more often.

Life after: 

As quoted by author Robert Monk in his book, Oppenheimer reportedly told the then President Truman on October 25, 1945: "Mr.President, I feel I have blood on my hands."

Such was the sorrow !

it enveloped everyone !! 

even those who created it !!!

*A related article by the author:

Hiroshima, Nagasaki in ethical perspective of nuclear bomb creator

Hiroshima, Nagasaki in ethical perspective of nuclear bomb creator

"Out of curiosity, I have always thought about the minds of scientists working 76 years back in 'Manhattan project' then in 1948 and whose labor was materialized in less than a month time after 'Trinity' test, into a man hunting arsenal causing massacre at large in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6th and 9th August 1945, culminating into the last bloodiest scar for humanity to remember for generations, if they do not learn any lesson from.

From their statements, some being quoted below for easy reference, one can easily conclude their utter frustration from this outcome with a collective sense of regret." 

--Author

(Storyline: Second world war/ Nuclear bomb/ Aesthetic and ethical judgement)

Life is lot more fragile than we think. So you should treat others in a way that leaves no regrets. Fairly, and if possible, sincerely. It's too easy not to make the effort, then weep and wring your hands after the person dies. 

--Haruki Murakami 

J. Robert Oppenheimer: 'We have made a very grave mistake', and 'in some sort of crude sense..the physicist have known sin.'

In a famous quote about his meet with President Henry Truman, he has said then, 'Mr. President, I feel I have blood on my hands.'
Well, then he was referring the future too.

Henry Wallace, then the Vice President, recalls about him in his diary, 'I never saw a man in such an extremely nervous state as Oppenheimer. He seemed to feel that the destruction of the entire human race was imminent.'

Later he vocalize his fear by saying, 'the people of this world must unite or they will perish.'

Reminiscing his earlier days while working in Los Alamos Laboratory, 'To me (the task at hand) is primarily the development in time of war of a military weapon of some consequences,....concern was as if to save the civilization.'

Perhaps when he referred through his famous quote of the Gita after the Trinity test:   'I am become death, the destroyer of the worlds,' ..was perhaps pointing his concern for humanity in posterity.

Albert Einstein: He did not play a direct role but his discoveries did and he was in regret for the letter he wrote to Roosevelt . 'Had I known that the Germans would not succeed in producing Atomic bomb', he said, 'I would have never lifted a finger.'

In 1954, 5 months before his death, he has said, 'I made one great mistake in my life ..when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made.'

'Politics is more difficult than physics', was the answer of Albert Einstein when he was asked, why one can discover the atomic power and not to control it.