Time consumes all embodied forms.
Arjuna speaks to Krishna
वक्त्राणि ते त्वरमाणा विशन्तिदंष्ट्राकरालानि भयानकानि |केचिद्विलग्ना दशनान्तरेषुसन्दृश्यन्ते चूर्णितैरुत्तमाङ्गैः ||११-२७||
vaktrāṇi te tvaramāṇā viśanti daṃṣṭrākarālāni bhayānakāni . kecidvilagnā daśanāntareṣu sandṛśyante cūrṇitairuttamāṅgaiḥ ||11-27||
Use this verse for mortality-based priority reset.
Meaning
They rush into Your fearful mouths with terrible teeth. Some are seen caught between Your teeth, their heads crushed.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Arjuna sees the destructive side of cosmic time.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
This is one of the most intense images in the Gita. It forces the seeker to confront impermanence, mortality, and the fact that ego cannot control time.
Read the traditional commentary
The vision now spares nothing. Arjuna watches the warriors rush headlong into the terrible mouths, and sees some caught between the gnashing teeth, their heads crushed to powder. It is one of the most graphic images in all sacred literature — the unflinching depiction of mortality and the destruction that war unleashes.
Yet there is meaning beneath the horror. The combatants enter tvaramanah — hurriedly, of their own momentum, rushing toward their own end. Time does not chase them; they pour into it.
This conveys a sober truth about the human condition: caught in the grip of pride, enmity and desire, beings hasten toward the very destruction they fear. The cosmic form is not cruel; it simply reveals, without comforting illusion, where the currents of egoic striving lead.
To see this clearly is itself a kind of awakening — a summons to step out of the heedless rush and seek what does not perish.
In daily life
Let mortality make you humble and purposeful.
A person remembering death may stop wasting life in ego conflicts.
Try this today
Drop one ego-driven conflict today.
I live humbly before the power of time.Reflect
What would I stop doing if I remembered time honestly?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘केचित् विलग्नाः’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on destruction, in other chapters
- Verse 16.9A mind that loses its higher vision shrinks into cruelty, and its small thinking ripples outward as harm to the whole world.
- Verse 7.29The honest longing to transcend death, rooted in refuge in the Divine, opens into complete knowledge of Self and action.
- Verse 4.2Even the highest wisdom fades when it stops being practiced and transmitted with sincerity; truth must be renewed in every age.
- Verse 10.30Devotion is the highest glory and can flower anywhere — no circumstance can bar a heart that turns to the Divine.
Swipe left for 11.28 · All streams return to the cosmic ocean.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 11.27
Who says Bhagavad Gita 11.27, and to whom?
Arjuna speaks to Krishna in verse 11.27, in Chapter 11, Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga (Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 11.27 mean?
They rush into Your fearful mouths with terrible teeth. Some are seen caught between Your teeth, their heads crushed. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 11.27 for daily life?
Let mortality make you humble and purposeful. A person remembering death may stop wasting life in ego conflicts.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 11.27 mean?
वक्त्राणि ते — Your mouths; त्वरमाणाः विशन्ति — they enter hurriedly; दंष्ट्राकरालानि — fearful with teeth; भयानकानि — terrible; केचित् विलग्नाः — some, sticking / caught.
Where does verse 11.27 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 27 of 55 in Chapter 11, Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga. The next verse is 11.28.