Bhagavad Gita Chapter 11, Verse 28

English Translation

As the numerous currents of the waters of rivers rush towards the sea alone so also do those heroes of the human world enter into Your blazing mouths.

Detailed Commentary

'Just as the many torrents of rivers flow towards the ocean' – Fundamentally, water belongs only to the ocean. That very water, descending as rain from the clouds upon the earth, assumes the form of rivers. These rivers, with all their currents, naturally rush towards the ocean, for the ocean alone is the origin of water. This flow of water, upon reaching the ocean, relinquishes its name and form and becomes one with the ocean itself. Thereafter, they no longer possess any separate, independent existence. In reality, their separate existence was never there; they merely appeared distinct due to the flow of the rivers. 'So too, these heroes of the human world enter Your blazing mouths' – Just like rivers, *jivas* (individual souls) run towards *Paramatma* (the Supreme Self) with a yearning for eternal bliss. However, by identifying with the body, they become engrossed in worldly accumulation and pleasures born of contact, beginning to assume a separate existence. Among those *jivas*, only those are true heroes who, instead of engaging in worldly accumulation and pleasures, are earnestly dedicated to the path of attaining *Paramatma*. Thus, Bhishma, Drona, and others who have come to this war, are entering Your effulgent mouths. Among the people visible before Him, those desiring *Paramatma* realization are distinct and very few. Therefore, the pronoun 'ami' (those), which refers to something indirect or distant, has been used for them. Arjuna describes in the next verse the entry of such men – those who have come to war with a desire for kingdom and praise, and those who are engaged in the attainment of worldly accumulation and enjoyments – into the *Virat Rupa* (Universal Form), using the analogy of moths.