Bg. 11.28

BG 11.28

Devanagari

यथा नदीनां बहवोऽम्बुवेगा: समुद्रमेवाभिमुखा द्रवन्ति । तथा तवामी नरलोकवीरा विशन्ति वक्‍त्राण्यभिविज्‍वलन्ति ॥ २८ ॥

Verse text

yathā nadīnāṁ bahavo ’mbu-vegāḥ samudram evābhimukhā dravanti tathā tavāmī nara-loka-vīrā viśanti vaktrāṇy abhivijvalanti

Synonyms

yathā as ; nadīnām of the rivers ; bahavaḥ the many ; ambu-vegāḥ waves of the waters ; samudram the ocean ; eva certainly ; abhimukhāḥ towards ; dravanti glide ; tathā similarly ; tava Your ; amī all these ; nara-loka-vīrāḥ kings of human society ; viśanti are entering ; vaktrāṇi the mouths ; abhivijvalanti and are blazing.

Translation

As the many waves of the rivers flow into the ocean, so do all these great warriors enter blazing into Your mouths.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

28. As many swift currents of rivers flow towards the sea, so these heroes of the world enter Your flaming mouths.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

28. As many swift currents of rivers flow towards the sea, so these heroes of the world enter Your flaming mouths.

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

Two examples are given to describe their entering the mouths in two verses. In the first example they enter unintentionally, without understanding it. In the second example, they enter knowingly.

Surrender Unto Me

Two different analogies are used here: (1) as the waves of the rivers flow into the ocean and (2) 'the warriors enter into Your mouths ‑ like moths enter into the fire'. There is actually a difference between the two. 'The rivers enter into the ocean' in an inconscious way, they just flow right in. That is compared to Bhisma and Drona. They lose all their material qualities and entered Krsna's abode even though they entered in His mouth. But on the other hand 'moths' consciously enter into the fire and they are like Duryodhana who is consciously entering into his destruction.