GITA AND BOMBING THE ATOMS OF CONSCIENCE:

"Without cloud, a million thunders roar ,
Lightning slashes at the stillness of morning sky.. ..
Outside the window, a ferocious inferno grows bigger and bigger,
Drowning in it , a thousand innocent soul’s cry."

.... S.K.Sadangi


63 Years ago, on 6th August 1945, an object, code-named “Little Boy”, fell from the sky on the city of Hiroshima. The conscience of humanity has been shaking since then.
But the prelude to that momentous day which changed the course of human history , started 18 days ago .I will try to take you there in the narrative below …

16th July, 1945, 05:29:45 local time. The outbreak of the day was still a good one hour away at the White Sands Missile Range, Jornada del Muerto desert, New Mexico, USA. Over the desolate desert landscape, that day, a new sun suddenly arose in the sky. It was not the usual sun which rises slowly and silently across the horizon bathing the world with its soft glowing rays. It was not the sun which is the source of life and energy for all the living beings on earth and which has been fondly worshipped by all her cultures since the ages of forgotten millennia.

It was brighter, much brighter than even the midday sun. It was as if an angry sun had suddenly leapt into the late night sky with the radiance of a thousand suns, ready to devour everything on its path. Even though the sky was cloudless, the rumbling of a thunder reverberated in the nearby hills as they were being illuminated brighter than day time with a strange light whose color ranged from purple to green and eventually to white.

Ten miles away, near a watch tower like stricture, you could see the silhouettes of some men in protective uniforms - some lying on the sand and some looking at this grand spectacle from behind thick glasses. They were, after all, no ordinary men. They were an enviable collection of some of the finest brains and best scientific talents available on the planet. Their sole purpose was to give birth to the most awesome power known to the mankind - The power of the atom.

While the jewels of world physics had assembled to witness the successful testing of first Atomic explosion at the Trinity Test Site in this remote, inhospitable New Mexico desert, their leader leaned against the wall, distraught and unsure of what he had accomplished. The awesome display of energy released by this explosion had shaken him to the core. The Nuclear genie had finally escaped the Atomic bottle. Physicists clapped and congratulated each other at the spectacular success of this bizarre dress rehearsal for the murder of a hundred thousand innocent souls, scheduled to take place on 6th August, in Hiroshima. Amidst this frenzied atmosphere, R.J. Openheimmer, Scientific Director of Manhattan Project and the unofficial Father of worlds first atom bomb, wrestled with his conscience silently. Has he done the right thing? Was it ethical to be the chief inspiration behind the creation of the most powerful killing machine? Do scientists have any duty rising above their narrow national obligation? As the giant nuclear fireball moved heaven-ward, floated above a twelve miles high mushroom cloud, in this moment of intense remorse and self doubt, he remembered the following text from his favorite book-The Hindu Scripture Gita

kalosmi loka-ksaya-krt pravrddho
lokan samahartum iha pravrttah
rte 'pi tvam na bhavisyanti sarve
ye 'vasthitah pratyanikesu yodhah
(Viswarupa Darshan Yoga, Gita, Ch. 11:32)

I am become death, the destroyer of worlds is how Oppenheimer translated it in the famous television interview to NBC in 1965. He attributes the above sloka to Vishnu, though actually it is Krishna who spoke this to Arjuna in Gita. But Oppenheimer knew his Sanskrit well enough to understand that Krishna is an avatar of Vishnu only).

The actual Indian translation is as follows:

[Sri Bhagavan said:-I am Kala (the eternal time-spirit), the destroyer of the worlds. I am out to exterminate these people. Even without you ( Arjun), all these warriors arrayed in the enemy camp must die, Translation as per Tatvavivekani, Gita Press]

Though most authorities on Gita translate Kala as Time, Oppenheimer translates it as Death(kalah asmi). Actually Kala is Sanskrit can mean both-Time and Death. Kalajayee, a word frequently used in Hindu mythology refers to conquerer of death which automatically means conquerer of time

Since that fateful moment during Trinity Test, this sloka from Gita has been cited profusely in history and literature of nuclear science. It is probably the best known sloka of Gita in the western world. Roger Shattuk, the writer of the book Forbidden Knowledge, is on record, saying that popularity of this legendary quotation from Gita has percolated to even the school curriculum of west where children routinely memorize it. Since then this dubious connection between Gita and Bomb has spawned many philosophical debates.

After all, Oppenheimer only had remarked, after the Trinity Test, that the scientists who built the bomb had known sin and that he has blood on his hands. It is he who later became the centre of anti-nuclear lobby in post-war USA warning the world about the dangers of nuclear holocaust. How , then could this diminutive effable scientist , a product of orthodox god fearing Jewish family who was educated for ten years of childhood in the Ethical Culture School of New York , came to preside over the bomb factory at Los Alamos and directed the Manhattan Project with such great conviction and steadfast determination ? And finally, why and how did this enigmatic father of the bomb take recourse to Gita on the day of reckoning at Trinity Test site? How could he ratify his actions through this sacred text? In other words, how did this ancient Hindu scripture which had influenced the thinking of some of the greatest peacemakers like Gandhi and Vivekananda, came to serve as the inspiration behind the inspiration to create the worlds first atom bomb?

The answer lies in the fascination of Oppenheimer with Gita from his early student days and the unusual influence it had on him during his life time and especially when he was serving as the scientific director of the vastly complex Manhattan Project that had 130000 scientists, six Nobel laureates, spread all over USA and was the costliest ever scientific venture undertaken in the history of mankind (It cost $2bn then which translates to $24bn in current dollar price!)

Right from the dawn of 20th century, every physicist knew that the Atom, literally meaning indivisible in Greek, is actually divisible into smaller particles like electron, neutron and proton. Just before the war in 1938, Nazi Germany stunned the world when two of its Scientists, Hahn and Strassman, discovered nuclear fission, making the atom bomb a theoretical possibility. To convert such a bomb from theory to reality, one has to control the wayward activities inside the nucleus during its fission. Physicist in every country scrambled to unravel this mystery and knew that the war can be instantly won if the awesome power trapped inside the atom of some special elements like a particular type of Uranium (U-235) can be packaged into a deliverable bomb. The side that tamed the nucleus would tame the enemy. At that time Germany was the mecca of theoretical physics with the likes of Heisenberg, Plank and Schrdinger leading the way. Together, these three scientists probably knew more about the mysteries of atom than all other scientists in the world put together. As the war gathered momentum after 1939, Hitler notched up one effortless victory after another and the Nazi Juggernaut rolled on from the Baltic Sea to the English Channel.

At this moment, physicist Leo Szillard, a Hungarian Jew who fled an increasingly anti-Semitic Europe to US, realized that Germany, with the legendary atomic scientists at its disposal, may beat the allies to the bomb. He knew that if that happens then Hitler would have no qualms to use it and the entire civilization will be at his mercy. He requested Einstein, who, disturbed by the rise of intolerance and hatred towards Jews spread by Hitler, had already renounced German citizenship and settled in Princeton, US, to write a letter to Roosevelt about the possibility of Nazis making the bomb. Einstein wrote the letter, warning Roosevelt about the distinct possibility of an early Nazi Atom Bomb and the extraordinary destructive power such a bomb can deliver. The result was the start of the historic Manhattan project that saw Oppenheimer as its charismatic administrative chief.

Oppenheimer had the uncanny ability to navigate among contradictory scientific possibilities and reconciled the often conflicting egos of the many giants of science working in the project. Without him, the bomb would not have been created soon enough to be dropped on Hiroshima. Had it been delayed by even a few months, the tottering imperial Japan could have surrendered lock, stock and barrel to US - thus removing the very military rationale to use the bomb. In fact when it was suggested that instead of dropping the bomb on a civilian city, US should give the demonstration of its awesome power by blasting it in an un-inhabited area of Japan in front of her military leaders, he was reported to have said that the Japanese would not care to surrender by the demonstration of a firecracker in a desert. US air command which had been routinely firebombing Japanese cities by that time had been cautioned not to harm Hiroshima in any manner so that the effect of the scheduled nuclear blast can be precisely measured by US scientists. Von Neumann, refugee Hungarian Jewish mathematician and the father of modern electronic computer who worked in Manhattan Project under Oppenheimer theorized that the Little Boy (the codename of the bomb that dropped on Hiroshima of 6th August) should be made to blast not when it reaches the ground but a little above it for attaining maximum sphere of influence! For months he had been solving complex equations of physics to determine the exact height of explosion. Few incidents in the history of human brutality have parallels with such cold blooded and calculated mass extermination effort! And yet, Oppenheimer, the lover of Gita could stoically reconcile all of these and led from the front knowing too well about the consequence of his brain child!

Of course, you would not associate these qualities with Oppenheimer if you knew that merely 12 years ago, when Hitler was ascending the steps of German Reichstag in 1933, he was busy learning Sanskrit from Professor W.Ryder at Berkeley University to be able to understand the original Bhagavad-Gita better. After leaving school at New York, he went to Harvard and then to the famous Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge, UK for higher education. There, he was seized by strange despair bordering on psychotic depression which took him to the brink of suicide. It was possibly at that time he was acquainted with Gita and regained his zeal for science.

This ancient Hindu text seemed like a fountain of inspiration to him. He wrote to his brother Frank that Gita was the most beautiful philosophical song existing in any human tongue. So fond was he of Gita that he used to gift its translated version to friends. In a bookshelf, close to his desk inside the Los Alamos bomb laboratory, he kept an old copy of original Sanskrit Gita and browsed it intermittently.[1] When Roosevelt died in April, 1945, he even quoted a sloka from Sradhhatrayamarg Yoga (Chapter 17) in his memorial speech [2]at Los Alamos to describe the life and belief of Roosevelt.

The parallels would now be obvious. In Gita, a reluctant Arjuna is persuaded by Krishna to abandon his sadness and ambivalence to battle on without unduly bothering about inevitable bloodshed of war. He explains Arjuna the irrelevance of the mortal body tagged to the ever changing soul. And finally In Ch 11:32, God solemnly declares that even without Arjun, the evil forces of the enemy camp would have to die as He; Himself has decided to destroy them.
From the brink of suicidal despair he, Oppenheimer, the modern-day Arjuna, was now poised in the centre of the battlefield of virtue and vice!

In the epic battle of WW-II, Oppenheimer had to do his duty, just like Arjuna, to build the bomb without thinking as to how many lives will be lost as a consequence. It was not his duty to decide its consequence or when and where it should be dropped. As scientists, this was a technical challenge and his sacred duty. The decision to drop the bomb lies elsewhere, with the political leaders of the nation, who have the relevant information about the subsequent utility of such a device. Not only did he believe that the scientists have no control over the outcome of their research, he actively discouraged everyone from even discussing the future consequence of the bomb as it would distract from their duty of creating it. He frequently used the term fruit of action a well known phrase from Gita. He repeatedly stressed that the futility of scientists to think about the uses to which their discoveries would be put forward. According to him, they had a right over their actions and not the consequence of it and therefore cannot be held responsible for the outcome of their research. A direct flashback to arguably the most popular sloka of Gita in India would explain the underlying mental process of this distinguished scientist:

(Describing the glory of karmayoga, represented by equanimity, an fruit the Lord now, devotes two verses to an exposition of the character of karmayogi and exhorts Arjun to perform his duties: -)

Karmanyevaahikarastey, maa phaleshu kdaachan,
Maa karmaphala heturbhuh maa te sangvastu akarmani.
(Karma Yoga, Chapter -2, sloka-47)

(Your right is to work only, but never to the fruit thereof. Be not instrumental in making your actions bear fruit, nor let your attachment be to inaction.)

So when, fellow scientist Leo Szillard, whose initiative with Einstein started the very project, wanted to circulate a petition urging US government not to drop the bomb on a Japanese city, Oppenheimer opposed [3]it as he felt such an action is inconsistent with the duties of a scientist. Of course, he could not have been unaware of the subsequent verse which must have resolved the doubt as to what should be the duty of the scientists:

Yogastha kuru karmani sangam tyaktva dhananjaya
Sidhhi asidhhyayosamo bhutva samatvam yoga uchyate
(Karma Yoga, Chapter -2, sloka-47)

(Arjun, perform your duties established in yoga, renouncing attachment and be immune to success or failure; evenness of temper is called yoga.

On that fateful day at Trinity test sites, while Oppenheimer remembered Gita to justify his actions, a few feet away, Enrico Fermi, Nobel prize winning Italian scientist was tearing some papers to fly it in the in the wind like a happy child. The distance the papers will be shifted in the resulting shock wave, he had calculated, will give a rough indication of the nuclear yield. Just before the blast he and Isaac Rabii, another Nobel physicists, had been asking other scientists to lay bets on the odds of the bomb destroying whole world or just the new Mexico desert. None appeared to be bothered by any murmur of their inner conscience. In fact just two years earlier in 1943, a person , no less than Enrico Fermi, the father of modern nuclear technology whose four students went on to win the Nobel, discussed the feasibility of contaminating the German food supply with radio active by-product available from Uranium enrichment plants. The idea was abandoned not because it was unethical to poison a nation but because of its technical complexity and the fact that it was easier to build the bomb instead.[4]

So what were the moral duties of the great scientists and thinkers who went on to build the bomb? Did Oppenheimer never think about the future of the bomb? Subsequent research shows that it is not entirely true. Despite his karmic stoicism, Oppenheimer thought that a demonstration of this bomb over Hiroshima will make nations in future renounce armed combat and resolve their disputes peacefully as no war will be winnable by any nation. In any case , it will save a lot of lives if the bomb helps bringing the WW-II to a close and spare millions of lives of Japanese and Americans in case of a mainland invasion by US. The instant killing of a 130000 in Hiroshima and nearly 50000 in Nagasaki may seem horrendous, but they are small in comparison to the overall causality in the whole war. (Only a month before Hiroshima bombing, 100000 had perished in Tokyo in the firebombing of the city by low flying US airplanes carrying napalm bombs that set fires to a large portion of the city). The bomb did end the war. There has been relative peace and a remarkable lack of imperialistic aggression among nations because of the MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) shift in international defense paradigm. Everybody knows that a full fledged conflict will gravitate to a nuclear war which ensures destruction to both the victors and the vanquished. Even though the world passed through the cold war where a million nuclear bombs were made by both superpowers, the 1962 missile crisis was resolved under the realization that, in case of war, the bombs become the death and destroyer of all worlds. So in a way, the discovery in Los Alamos has contributed to world peace, albeit an uneasy one.

Later in 1954, before the US Atomic Energy commission[5], Oppenheimer said I did my job which I which I was supposed to do. I was not in a policy making position at Los Alamos. I would have done anything that I was asked to do, including making the bomb in different shapes, if I had thought it was technically feasible. How strikingly similar this sounds to General Dyers confession in front of Hunter Commission that had he been able to maneuver a canon in the narrow by lanes of Amritsar, he would have used it on the innocent people who gathered in the meeting at Jalianwalabag all as part of his duty to protect the British Empire ! In the book Man and the Universe: Continuity from India, Murray Kempton described oppenheimers words as the words in cold tone stripped of every ideal except the rules of functionalism , a pinnacle of dispossession which is the spiritual payload Oppenheimer extracted from Gita..

This was also what Paul Tibbet, the pilot of the B-29 Superfortress (Tibbet had named the plane Enola Gay after his mothers name) bomber that and dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, had to say in a 1975 interview:

I am proud that I was able to start with nothing, plan it, and have it work as perfectly as it did... I sleep clearly every night. In another interview in March 2005, he expressed no regret and maintained, If you give me the same circumstances, hell yeah, I would do it again.

All these people were just doing their assigned job, their allotted karma. Al their statements are eerily similar to what Rudolf Hoess, the commandant of the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp, who sent 2.5 million innocent Jews to death including helpless infants and women, said during the historic Nuremberg trial: I was an SS man. I was taught to obey orders without thinking (and not the result of my actions). I was taught from my childhood that a Jew is an enemy of Germany. So I had no problem in sending these people to efficiently constructed cyanide gas chambers. I was leading a perfect normal life all through the time I spent as commandant in the Auswitchz camp. Stunned by the revelation of this dark side of human nature, when American Military Chief Psychologist, Gustave Gilbert asked him whether not even once he had felt guilty about sending so many innocent men to their death, he calmly shot back Does a rat catcher think about the rats when he kills them?

So was Hoess also doing the duty of a Karma yogi? Well, if so, then he was not rewarded but hanged for steadfastly devotion to his karma by the International War Crime tribunal at Nuremberg. The court, which set new trends in international jurisprudence, ruled that blind obedience to duty without concurrent individual responsibility of its consequence is against human value and civilization.

One final question If Gandhi, the apostle of peace and another ardent practitioner of Gita, would have been questioned as to whether the duty of atomic scientists at Los Alamos was in accordance with the text of this scripture, what he would have said? Probably he would have echoed what Einstein once said Science without religion is lame, Religion without science is blind.

( Written on the night of 5th August 2008 )