Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 59 (BG 2.59) — Meaning, Translation & Commentary

# BG 2.59 — Translation of Meaning Without the capacity for withdrawal of the senses or restraint, no person ever truly abandons the enjoyment of sense objects—whether due to illness, the impulse of momentary sorrow, or practices such as fasting. At such times, it may appear that dispassion or aversion toward sense objects has arisen, yet the attachment dwelling in the mind toward those objects merely remains in an unmanifest state for a brief period. A doubt arises in Arjuna's heart: perhaps the yogi's mastery of the senses is also fleeting and impermanent, breaking apart when favorable or tempting circumstances arise. This doubt is now dispelled here. If you observe the flow of consumable goods from shops to customers, you will understand this principle clearly. Those articles of consumption reach only those homes where people are earnestly striving to obtain them through intense desire. The storehouse of wine empties only when bottles flow to fill the shelves of those who drink. The plows made by the blacksmith go only to the farmer's home, not to the house of an artist, poet, physician, or lawyer. Similarly, sense objects reach only those who desire them. Objects of enjoyment remain distant from one who has renounced them. By abstaining from food, sense objects may indeed depart, yet the taste or attachment born of past experience in the mind does not cease. The Lord assures us here that upon direct realization of the Supreme Self, this very attachment dissolves, or sense objects become powerless in the mind of the person, like burnt seeds. Understanding this truth is not difficult, for we know that undesirable things and sorrows acquired in one state of experience do not remain the same in another state. The kingdom of dream does not dispel the poverty of my waking state, yet the poverty of waking life cannot deprive me of enjoying the kingdom of dream. While dwelling in the waking, dream, and deep sleep states, the ego has accumulated countless desires and vasanas. But upon recognizing the pure consciousness that transcends all three states, the ego itself dissolves—then upon what shall these vasanas exert their influence? For the seeker desirous of attaining Self-knowledge, the foremost necessity is mastery over the senses; otherwise...