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Bhagavad-gītā 11.29

यथा प्रदीप्‍तं ज्‍वलनं पतङ्गा विशन्ति नाशाय समृद्धवेगा: । तथैव नाशाय विशन्ति लोका- स्तवापि वक्‍त्राणि समृद्धवेगा: ॥ २९ ॥
yathā pradīptaṁ jvalanaṁ pataṅgā
[yathaa pradeeptam jvalanam patangaa]
viśanti nāśāya samṛddha-vegāḥ
[vishanti naashaaya samriddha-vegaah]
tathaiva nāśāya viśanti lokās
[tathaiva naashaaya vishanti lokaas]
tavāpi vaktrāṇi samṛddha-vegāḥ
[tavaapi vaktraani samriddha-vegaah]
Word-for-word
yathā — as pradīptam — blazing jvalanam — a fire pataṅgāḥ — moths viśanti — enter nāśāya — for destruction samṛddha — with full vegāḥ — speed tathā eva — similarly nāśāya — for destruction viśanti — are entering lokāḥ — all people tava — Your api — also vaktrāṇi — mouths samṛddha - vegāḥ — with full speed .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
yathā pradīptaṁ jvalanaṁ pataṅgā
yathā
as
pradīptam
blazing
jvalanam
a fire
pataṅgāḥ
moths
viśanti nāśāya samṛddha-vegāḥ
viśanti
enter
nāśāya
for destruction
samṛddha
with full
vegāḥ
speed
tathaiva nāśāya viśanti lokās
tathā eva
similarly
nāśāya
for destruction
viśanti
are entering
lokāḥ
all people
tavāpi vaktrāṇi samṛddha-vegāḥ
tava
Your
api
also
vaktrāṇi
mouths
samṛddha - vegāḥ
with full speed .
Important Words
  • pradīptam — blazing
    Past participle of pra-dīp, 'to flame forth.' Pra intensifies — not merely lit, but blazing high. The flame is at maximum draw.
  • jvalanam — fire
    Neuter noun from jval, 'to burn.' The general word for fire; here it is the consuming aspect of the universal form.
  • pataṅgāḥ — moths
    Nominative plural. The classical Indic example of self-destructive attraction — pataṅga appears in this sense throughout Sanskrit literature (Mahābhārata, Bhāgavatam, Bhartṛhari).
  • nāśāya — for destruction
    Dative — 'for the sake of destruction.' Repeated twice in the verse. The grammar marks purpose: the moths' goal is destruction, and so is the warriors'.
  • samṛddha — with full
    Past participle of sam-ṛdh, 'to grow completely.' Sam-ṛddha-vega is fully-grown speed — the warriors are at their peak strength precisely when they enter the mouths.
  • vegāḥ — speed
    Nominative plural. Repeated with samṛddha. The vocabulary of energy is preserved — these are not sluggish creatures, they are at full pace.
I see all people rushing full speed into Your mouths, as moths dash to destruction in a blazing fire.
Classical Sanskrit analysis शास्त्रीय विश्लेषण
How Sanskrit scholars read this verse — split, rearranged, grammar-tagged. For the plain English distilled meaning, jump to Plain meaning below.
Auto-generated study layers — original analysis of the public-domain śloka. Review against a published edition for academic work.
Plain meaning (तात्पर्य · Tātparya)
The second simile: moths to flame. Unlike rivers (purposive flow), moths blindly mistake their own destruction for attraction. The image accuses the warriors not of choosing wrongly but of charging blindly into what will end them.
Further notes (विवरण · Vivaraṇa)
Where 11.28's simile was neutral (rivers), this one is darker — pataṅgāḥ are emblems of self-destroying desire. Together the two similes (28 and 29) span the spectrum: ineluctable fate and blind eagerness, both arriving at the same end. The doctrinal payoff is that Arjuna's war is not the cause but the witness of a destruction already underway.
Prose order (अन्वय · Anvaya)
यथा पतङ्गाः समृद्ध-वेगाः नाशाय प्रदीप्तं ज्वलनं विशन्ति, तथा एव लोकाः समृद्ध-वेगाः नाशाय तव वक्त्राणि अपि विशन्ति ।
yathā pataṅgāḥ samṛddha-vegāḥ nāśāya pradīptaṃ jvalanaṃ viśanti, tathā eva lokāḥ samṛddha-vegāḥ nāśāya tava vaktrāṇi api viśanti |
As moths, with swelling speed, enter a blazing flame for their destruction, so do the worlds also, with swelling speed, enter Your mouths for destruction.
Word split (पदच्छेद · Padaccheda)
यथा प्रदीप्तं ज्वलनं पतङ्गाः विशन्ति नाशाय समृद्ध-वेगाः । तथा एव नाशाय विशन्ति लोकाः तव अपि वक्त्राणि समृद्ध-वेगाः ॥
yathā pradīptaṃ jvalanaṃ pataṅgāḥ viśanti nāśāya samṛddha-vegāḥ | tathā eva nāśāya viśanti lokāḥ tava api vaktrāṇi samṛddha-vegāḥ ||
Grammar (व्याकरण · Vyākaraṇa)
SanskritIASTGrammarMeaning
यथा yathā ind. (indeclinable), correl. just as
प्रदीप्तम् pradīptam प्र + √दीप् p.p.p. (past passive participle) acc.sg. (accusative singular)n. blazing
ज्वलनम् jvalanam ज्वलन (n.) acc.sg. (accusative singular) flame
पतङ्गाः pataṅgāḥ पतङ्ग (m.) nom.pl. (nominative plural) moths
विशन्ति viśanti √विश् pres. (present) 3pl.par. (parasmaipada / active voice) they enter
नाशाय nāśāya नाश (m.) dat.sg. (dative singular) for destruction
समृद्ध-वेगाः samṛddha-vegāḥ समृद्ध (p.p.p. (past passive participle)) + वेग (m.) nom.pl. (nominative plural)m., bahuvrīhi cpd. (compound) with mounting speed
तथा tathā ind. (indeclinable), correl. so
एव eva ind. (indeclinable), emphatic indeed
लोकाः lokāḥ लोक (m.) nom.pl. (nominative plural) the worlds (peoples)
तव tava युष्मद् (pron. (pronoun)) gen.sg. (genitive singular) Your
अपि api ind. (indeclinable) also
वक्त्राणि vaktrāṇi वक्त्र (n.) acc.pl. (accusative plural) mouths
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
29. As moths with increasing speed enter a blazing fire to meet their destruction, so men enter Your mouths with increasing speed to meet their destruction.
Commentary

lelihyase grasamānaḥ samantāl

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Gauḍīya
Translation
29. As moths with increasing speed enter a blazing fire to meet their destruction, so men enter Your mouths with increasing speed to meet their destruction.
Commentary

Jvalanam means fire.

Study Notes — Gauranga Priya Dāsa
Gauranga Priya Dāsa Study
Bhakti-śāstrī Notes, ISKCON Chowpatty (2009)
Theme

Now Arjuna describes Kala-rupa

COMMON THEME: Text 11.19 marks the beginning of description of ‘Kala-rupa’ (The form as Time) which

continues up till Text 11.31

PLEASE NOTE: All points of the purports are included as the sub-points; as such there are no individual ‘Focus of

Learning’ sections for these verses.

ARJUNA’S FURTHER DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSAL FORM AS ‘KALA-RUPA’.

Blazing fire coming forth from your mouth, burning this entire universe (11.19)
Numberless arms and sun and moon are the eyes
Without origin, middle and end
Repetition of glories is not a flaw – It is a sign of bewilderment, wonder or great ecstasy
Spread throughout – Spread throughout the sky and planets and all space in between; and all the planetary systems are perturbed seeing you (11.20)
‘Dyav-a-prthivyoh’ (Space between heaven and earth) and ‘Loka-trayam’ (Three worlds) –indicate that not only Arjuna saw, but other planetary systems, whoever endowed with divine vision, also saw this form and got perturbed
This proves that Arjuna’s seeing was not a dream
Petitioned by demigods – Kala-rupa is petitioned by demigods and sages – All are fearful (11.21 – 11.22)
Demigods are surrendering and praying with folded hands
Great sages are praying with Vedic hymns
Siva, Adityas, Vasus etc beholding You in wonder
Rasa changes to fear – Arjuna experiences a terrible fearsome sight (11.23)
Arjuna loses steadiness and equilibrium of mind, because mind is perturbed by fear (11.24)
Arjuna sees blazing death-like faces and awful teeth (11.25)
Link between texts 11.25 & 11.26: Text 11.26 through 11.30 describe future occurrences that Arjuna sees within the kala-rupa. In Text 11.7, Krishna said that Arjuna could see “whatever *he+ may want to see in the future.” In these texts, Arjuna sees that Bhisma, Drona and Karna – the three most feared members of the opposing army – will be destroyed.
Two Analogies: Devouring all soldiers of both armies on both sides, including Bhisma, Drona & Karna, rushing into Your mouth (11.26 – 11.27)
Analogy: As many waves of river flow into the ocean (11.28)
Analogy: As moths dash to destruction in blazing fire (11.29*)
Indicates that Arjuna could see his awaited victory
All-devouring – You are devouring all people from all sides, your effulgence is covering all the universe with terrible scorching rays(11.30)

ARJUNA’S QUESTIONS

Arjuna in great fear asks two questions (11.31)
Who are You?
What is Your mission?
Why Arjuna asks these questions – Because although Arjuna knew Krishna as his friend and Supreme Personality of Godhead, but he was puzzled by various forms exhibited by Krishna
Classical Ācāryas
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya Classical
Translation
11.29 Yatha, as; patangah, moths, flying insects; visanti, enter; samrddha-vegah, with increased haste; into a pradiptam, glowing; jvalanam, fire; nasaya, for destruction; tatha eva, in that very way; do the lokah, creatures; visanti, enter into; tava, Your; vaktrani, mouths; api, too; samrddha-vegah, with increased hurry; nasaya, for destruction. You, again-
Śrī Rāmānujācārya Classical
Translation
11.28 - 11.29 These innumerable kings rush to their destruction in Your flaming mouths, even as many torrents of rivers flow towards the ocean and moths rush into a blazing fire.
Śrī Abhinavagupta Classical
Translation
11.29 Sri Abhinavagupta did not comment upon this sloka.
Swami Sivananda Classical
Translation
11.29 As moths hurriedly rush into a blazing fire for (their own) destruction, so also these creatures hurriedly rush into Thy mouths for (their own) destruction.
Commentary

11.29 यथा as? प्रदीप्तम् blazing? ज्वलनम् fire? पतङ्गाः moths? विशन्ति enter? नाशाय to destruction? समृद्धवेगाः with ickened speed? तथा so? एव only? नाशाय to destruction? विशन्ति enter? लोकाः creatures? तव Thy? अपि also? वक्त्राणि mouths? समृद्धवेगाः with ickened speed.No Commentary.

Swami Gambhīrānanda Classical
Translation
11.29 As moths enter with increased haste into a glowing fire for destruction, in that very way do the creatures enter into Your mouths too, with increased hurry for destruction.
Shri Purohit Swami Classical
Translation
11.29 As moths fly impetuously to the flame only to be killed, so these men rush into Thy mouths to court their own destruction.
Related values & verses
Related verses
BG 11.28 BG 11.32 BG 16.19 SB 3.30.1 SB 10.1.24 SB 11.9.29 CC Madhya 20.117 CC Madhya 19.138 CC Ādi 5.26 Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.5Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.8
Personal Guidance
As moths rush into the flames of fire to be destroyed — so all the worlds rush into Your mouths to be destroyed.
Practical Applications
  • See the moth-to-flame quality of material life.
  • Pause your own rushing toward what destroys.
  • Use this image to break automatic patterns.
Reflection Questions
  • What flame am I rushing toward as a moth?
  • What stops me midway?
Analogy

A moth flying into a flame does not see the flame as enemy; it sees only the light. So men rushing into the Lord's mouths do not see Death; they see what looks like glory. The image is not a slander on the warriors — it is a diagnosis of all material striving.

Stories
Hiraṇyakaśipu's Rush at Nṛsiṁha

When Hiraṇyakaśipu, in the height of his power, rushed at Lord Nṛsiṁha (SB 7.8) to destroy Him, he was not running away from death — he was running toward what he could not see was his end. The Bhāgavatam describes him as samṛddha-vega, full of momentum, rushing with sword raised.

Kṛṣṇa's image in 11.29 of moths racing into flames — pataṅgāḥ samṛddha-vegāḥ — captures the same pattern: full force, wrong direction, eager destruction. Material energy at peak is precisely what hurls itself into the Lord's mouths.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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