Speaker: Śrī Kṛṣṇa
विषया विनिवर्तन्ते निराहारस्य देहिनः ।
रसवर्जं रसोऽप्यस्य परं दृष्ट्वा निवर्तते ॥५९॥
viṣayā vinivartante
nirāhārasya dehinaḥ
rasa-varjaṁ raso 'py asya
paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate
Word for word (synonyms)
- viṣayāḥ
- objects for sense enjoyment
- vinivartante
- are practiced to be refrained from
- nirāhārasya
- by negative restrictions
- dehinaḥ
- for the embodied
- rasa-varjam
- giving up the taste
- rasaḥ
- sense of enjoyment
- api
- although there is
- asya
- his
- param
- far superior things
- dṛṣṭvā
- by experiencing
- nivartate
- ceases from
Translation
The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness.
Purport
Unless one is transcendentally situated, it is not possible to cease from sense enjoyment. The process of restriction from sense enjoyment by rules and regulations is something like restricting a diseased person from certain types of eatables. The patient, however, neither likes such restrictions, nor loses his taste for eatables. Similarly, sense restriction by some spiritual process like aṣṭāṅga-yoga, in the matter of yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dharaṇā, dhyāna, etc., is recommended for less intelligent persons who have no better knowledge. But one who has tasted the beauty of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, in the course of his advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, no longer has a taste for dead material things. Therefore, restrictions are there for the less intelligent neophytes in the spiritual advancement of life, but such restrictions are only good if one actually has a taste for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When one is actually Kṛṣṇa conscious, he automatically loses his taste for pale things.
What this verse teaches
[A3] Sthita-prajña’s sense control (sitting) – He withdraws senses like a tortoise. Sense control is difficult even for the wise, and is possible only by kṛṣṇa-bhakti. One falls down in eight stages due to uncontrolled mind.
- Gita for Life
- Self-control
In thematic compilations 2
- By experiencing a higher taste, one can easily control one’s mind and senses from sense objects. (2.59 viṣayā vinivartante...)
Śrīla Prabhupāda lectures 3
- Bhagavad-gītā 2.58–59 1966-04-15 · New York
- Bhagavad-gītā 2.59–69 1966-04-18 · New York
- Bhagavad-gītā 2.46-62 1968-12-16
Articles on this verse 1
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.