Bhagavad Gita 2.8
Spoken by Arjuna · Verse 8 of 72 · Arjuna's Journey
न हि प्रपश्यामि ममापनुद्याद् यच्छोकमुच्छोषणमिन्द्रियाणाम्। अवाप्य भूमावसपत्नमृद्धं राज्यं सुराणामपि चाधिपत्यम्॥
na hi prapaśyāmi mamāpanudyād yac chokam ucchoṣaṇam indriyāṇām / avāpya bhūmāv asapatnam ṛddhaṃ rājyaṃ surāṇām api cādhipatyam
Not even the greatest kingdom imaginable can cure this grief — material solutions have reached their limit.
Word by word (5)
- na hi prapaśyāmi
- — I truly do not see / I cannot find
- mama apanudyāt
- — what would drive away for me
- yat śokam ucchoṣaṇam indriyāṇām
- — this grief that parches the senses · 'Ucchoṣaṇam indriyāṇām' — drying up the senses. Grief that is so total it desiccates the capacity for experience itself. Arjuna is describing a complete sensory and emotional desiccation.
- avāpya bhūmāu asapatnam ṛddham rājyam
- — even if I were to gain on earth an unrivalled, prosperous kingdom
- surāṇām api ca ādhipatyam
- — and even lordship over the gods themselves
'I cannot find anything that would drive away this grief that is drying up my very senses — not even if I were to gain an unrivalled, prosperous kingdom on earth, or even lordship over the gods.'
A modern analogy
The person who has tried money, success, distraction, and praise — and none of it reaches the grief. Some kinds of suffering are not solved by more of anything the world can offer. Arjuna has reached the limit of what material consolation can do. This is, paradoxically, the prerequisite for receiving a deeper teaching.
Take with you
- Arjuna has honestly identified that no external gain can address this internal crisis — this is self-knowledge.
- When material solutions have reached their limit, this is not despair — it is the beginning of the search for something deeper.
- The grief that 'parches the senses' (ucchoṣaṇam indriyāṇām) is a different kind of suffering — existential, not circumstantial.
Public-domain translations (3) compare all →
I do not see what shall drive away this grief that dries up my senses, even if I were to obtain a prosperous and unrivalled kingdom on earth, and even the sovereignty over the gods. [4]
Ah! I see no cure To drive this grief away! Though I should gain Unrivalled empire, rich, o'er all the earth, And lordship o'er the gods. [7]
I see nothing that would drive away the grief which parches up my senses, even after obtaining a prosperous kingdom on earth without a rival, and even the sovereignty of the gods. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
You grieve for those who should not be grieved for — and call it wisdom.
Royal knowledge, royal secret — supreme purifier, directly known, easy to practice, of imperishable nature.
Once that joy is found, no other gain seems greater — established in it, even the heaviest sorrow cannot shake you.
Brahman-become, serene, neither grieving nor desiring, equal to all beings — he attains supreme bhakti to Me.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
Steady wisdom begins here: when all desires fall away and the Self finds fullness in itself alone.
Verse 8 of 72 · back to Chapter 2