यथा प्रदीप्तं ज्वलनं पतङ्गा विशन्ति नाशाय समृद्धवेगाः। तथैव नाशाय विशन्ति लोका स्तवापि वक्त्राणि समृद्धवेगाः ॥
yathā pradīptaṃ jvalanaṃ pataṅgā viśanti nāśāya samṛddhavegāḥ| tathaiva nāśāya viśanti lokā stavāpi vaktrāṇi samṛddhavegāḥ ||
As moths rush to the flame for their own destruction, so these worlds rush into Your mouths to perish!
Word by word (3)
- pataṅgāḥ patanti nāśāya samṛddha-vegāḥ
- — moths fall for their destruction with increasing/swelling speed · Pataṅga = moth (literally: a flying being; from pat = to fly + ṅga = moving). The same root pat (to fly/fall) echoes in patanti (they fall/fly). The word nāśāya = 'for their own destruction' (dative of nāśa = destruction, annihilation; dative = purpose: 'in order to be destroyed'). Samṛddha-vegāḥ = with increasing, perfected speed (samṛddha = grown great, swelled, completed; vega = speed, impulse). The speed INCREASES as they approach the fire — they are not reluctantly dying; they accelerate toward the flame. This acceleration is the most tragic element: the moth is attracted by the very light that destroys it.
- nāśāya viśanti lokāḥ tavāpi vaktrāṇi
- — for their destruction these worlds enter Your mouths · The scope shifts from 'heroes of the human world' (nara-loka-vīrāḥ of V28) to lokāḥ (worlds, beings in general — all living creatures of all realms). The word nāśāya (for destruction) now appears twice in the verse — it opened the first half (pataṅgāḥ patanti nāśāya) and now closes the second half (nāśāya viśanti lokāḥ). The double nāśāya creates an emphatic frame: this is not accidental entry but purposive destruction. The worlds are rushing TO destruction, not simply toward it accidentally.
- pradīptaṃ jvalanam
- — the blazing fire / the kindled flame · Pradīpta = kindled, fully ablaze (pra = forth + dīpta = lit, blazing; past participle of √dīp = to blaze, shine). Jvalana = fire, that which blazes (from √jval = to blaze). The compound pradīptam jvalanam = a fire that is fully, intensely burning — not a spark or dying ember but a roaring flame. This is the exact fire the moths rush toward. Contrast with kālānala (V25) = the fire of Time; here pradīptam jvalanam = a smaller, more everyday image of the consuming fire principle. The simile makes the cosmic dissolution graspable through the ordinary (the candleflame moths know).
Arjuna compares the rushing of all beings into the cosmic form's mouths to moths rushing into a blazing fire for their own destruction. The scope expands: not just warriors but 'worlds' (lokāḥ) — all beings everywhere are drawn to this consuming fire.
A modern analogy
Moths flying toward a lightbulb at night — they don't know it will burn them; they only know the light is irresistible. The cosmos has a similar blind attraction to its own dissolution. Some cycles must complete. The moth cannot not fly.
Sit with this: The moth rushes to the flame that destroys it — and does so with increasing speed (samṛddha-vegāḥ). Is there something in human experience that has this quality: something we are attracted to that may not serve our survival, but that we rush toward faster the closer we get?
The moth-to-flame simile (V29) and the rivers-to-ocean simile (V28) are paired opposites: rivers flowing to ocean = passive, cool, natural, liberation-tinged; moths rushing to flame = active, hot, tragic, destruction-emphasizing. Together they capture the two faces of cosmic dissolution: the cool receiving (ocean = nirvāṇa) and the hot consuming (fire = pralaya). The double nāśāya (for destruction) in V29 removes any ambiguity: unlike V28, which could be read as liberation, V29 explicitly names destruction. But the acceleration (samṛddha-vegāḥ = increasing speed) is the philosophical key: the cosmos is not dragged to dissolution against its will — it accelerates toward its own dissolution. This is the svabhāva (own-nature) principle: things fulfill their nature completely, including the nature of impermanence.
Bhakti lens
In bhakti, the moth-to-flame simile has a second register: the saint-poets of India (Mīrā, Kabīr, Rūmī) consistently use moth-to-flame to describe the lover's fatal attraction to the Beloved. 'I am the moth and You are the flame' = the total consuming love that destroys the separate self. V29 carries both registers: the tragic (worlds rushing to annihilation) and the devotional (beings rushing toward the Divine, even at the cost of individual existence). The same movement; the same acceleration.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
As moths hurriedly rush into a blazing fire for destruction, just so do these creatures also hurriedly rush into Thy mouths for destruction. [1]
As moths precipitately rush into a blazing fire only to perish, even so do these creatures also precipitately rush into Thy mouths only to perish. [4]
Like moths which in the night flutter towards a light, drawn to their fiery doom, flying and dying, so to their death still throng, blind, dazzled, borne along ceaselessly, all those multitudes, wild flying! [7]
As moths with increasing speed rush for their own destruction to the blazing fire, so also do these people, with unceasing speed, enter thy mouths for their destruction. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Birth means death is certain. Death means birth is certain. Grief over the unavoidable serves no one.
Licking all around, You devour all worlds with blazing mouths — Your fierce splendors scorch the universe, O Viṣṇu!
At the end of each cosmic age, all beings return to My prakriti — at the next dawn, I send them forth again.
I taught this imperishable yoga to the sun-god at the dawn of time — it has been passed down through kings ever since.
Brahman is the Imperishable; Adhyātma is its presence in each body; Karma is the cosmic offering sustaining all beings.
All worlds up to Brahma's realm are subject to return — but those who attain Me, O Arjuna, are not reborn.