Bhagavad Gita 2.59
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 59 of 72
विषया विनिवर्तन्ते निराहारस्य देहिनः । रसवर्जं रसोऽप्यस्य परं दृष्ट्वा निवर्तते ॥
viṣayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ | rasa-varjaṃ raso 'py asya paraṃ dṛṣṭvā nivartate ||
Discipline removes the object but longing persists. Only direct experience of the Supreme removes the longing itself.
Word by word (3)
- viṣayā vinivartante nirāhārasya
- — sense-objects fall away from one who abstains · Viṣaya = sense-object, domain of the senses. Vinivartante (from vi+ni+vṛt) = to turn back, to recede. Nirāhāra = one who does not feed (the senses) — from nir (without) + āhāra (food, intake). External objects can be removed through discipline but this is insufficient on its own.
- rasa-varjam
- — except the taste / but the longing for taste remains · Rasa = taste, essence, the subtle flavor of experience. Even when the object is removed, the rasa (the inner taste, the craving for it) persists. This is the Gita's psychological acuity: suppression does not equal transformation. The craving survives its object.
- paraṃ dṛṣṭvā nivartate
- — having seen the Supreme, the taste also recedes · Param = the Supreme, the Highest — the direct experience of the Self / Brahman. Dṛṣṭvā (having seen) is the aorist participle — a completed seeing. Only this direct seeing dissolves rasa. Not willpower, not technique, not philosophy: direct experience of the higher.
When someone withdraws from sense-pleasures, the objects recede — but the craving for them remains. However, for one who has directly experienced the Supreme, even that craving disappears.
A modern analogy
Someone quits sugar through sheer willpower. They stop eating it — but they still think about it, still desire it, still feel the pull at a birthday party. The object is removed; the rasa (craving) persists. But when they discover a genuinely satisfying way of eating that makes them feel vibrantly alive, the craving for sugar naturally falls away — not through force but through replacement with something better. Param dṛṣṭvā — seeing the higher — is the only complete solution.
Take with you
- Willpower-based abstinence is incomplete — it removes the object but not the longing. This is why most 'just stop it' advice fails.
- Genuine transformation happens when you find something of higher value that makes the lower desire irrelevant.
- This verse teaches: don't fight the desire head-on; cultivate direct experience of what is greater.
- The Gita is not asking you to suppress — it is asking you to be drawn upward by something more real.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
For the self-restrained man, the sense-objects recede, but the taste for them remains. Even this taste disappears for one who has seen the Supreme. [1]
The objects of sense turn away from the abstemious man, leaving the longing behind; but his longing also ceases on seeing the Supreme. [4]
The objects of the senses fall away from the abstinent man, but not so the love for them; even the love falls away from him who has seen the Supreme. [6]
Objects of sense-desire, even the hankering Fade, when the Spirit hath its fill of bliss, Have they not 'fled,' yet taste of them remains: Only God seen, all longing dies. [7]
The objects of sense fall off from the abstemious man, but not so the longing for them; but even the longing falls off from him when he has seen the Supreme. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Like a tortoise draws in its limbs, the wise one withdraws senses from objects. Wisdom stands firm.
Know the Self as higher than the intellect. Steady the self by the Self. Then slay the formidable enemy — desire.
Royal knowledge, royal secret — supreme purifier, directly known, easy to practice, of imperishable nature.
Three gates to hell, destructive of the self: kāma, krodha, lobha. Therefore abandon this triad.
Sannyāsa = abandoning desire-motivated action; tyāga = abandoning fruits of ALL action — say the learned.
Greed, restless activity, and longing surge — know that rajas is predominant and karma-saṅga is binding.
Verse 59 of 72 · back to Chapter 2