Chapter 2 · Verse 59 · Sankhya Yoga
Bhagavad Gita 2.59
Sanskrit
विषया विनिवर्तन्ते निराहारस्य देहिनः। रसवर्जं रसोऽप्यस्य परं दृष्ट्वा निवर्तते।।2.59।।
Transliteration
viṣhayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ rasa-varjaṁ raso ’pyasya paraṁ dṛiṣhṭvā nivartate
In plain words
You've tried so hard to stop—to white-knuckle your way past the drinking, the resentment, the craving to fix what won't be fixed—and it exhausts you. Krishna says: the grip loosens not through force, but through tasting something truer than what you're clinging to. When you touch even a glimpse of real meaning, real peace, the old poisons lose their power over you.
Word by Word
When you withdraw from sense-objects through discipline, the tastes naturally lose their grip—yet even this restraint is not the final freedom. The deepest renunciation comes not from force, but from tasting the Supreme Reality itself, which makes all lesser pleasures fade like ash.
In modern life, this means you don't white-knuckle your way past temptation; instead, you cultivate such a vivid inner connection to meaning and truth that distractions simply lose their magnetism.
Listen
Bhagavad Gita 2.59 — BG 2.59
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