Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 13, Verse 8
इन्द्रियार्थेषु वैराग्यमनहङ्कार एव च।जन्ममृत्युजराव्याधिदुःखदोषानुदर्शनम्।।
indriyārtheṣu vairāgyam anahankāra eva ca
janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam
also searched as "indriyartheshu vairagyam anahankara eva cha"
Translation
Absence of desire for sense-objects, and also absence of egotism, the recognition of evil in birth, death, old age, disease, and sorrow;
Vāṇi's rendering
Coolness toward the senses' objects, no self-importance; seeing clearly the pain woven into birth, death, age, disease.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| इन्द्रियार्थेषुindriya-artheṣu | toward the objects the senses reach for — sound, touch, taste, sight, smell |
| वैराग्यम्vairāgyam | a cooling of appetite; the colour drained out of craving |
| अनहङ्कारःanahankāraḥ | absence of self-importance, no 'I' pushed to the front |
| एवeva | indeed |
| चca | and |
| जन्मjanma | birth |
| मृत्युmṛtyu | death |
| जराjarā | old age |
| व्याधिvyādhi | disease |
| दुःखduḥkha | pain, sorrow |
| दोषdoṣa | the flaw, the defect in them (joins the next word by sandhi: doṣa + anudarśanam) |
| अनुदर्शनम्anudarśanam | steady looking, seeing it again and again without turning away |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13 Verse 8 mean?
It names three more marks of the one ripening toward knowledge: appetite gone quiet toward what the senses chase, no self-importance, and an unflinching look at the pain built into birth, death, age and disease. Krishna is not prescribing gloom. He is describing what clear sight does to craving — it thins it, without force.
What does indriyartheshu vairagyam anahankara eva cha teach?
That vairāgya is not renunciation staged for others to admire. It is what remains when the pull weakens on its own. And anahankāra is its companion — the moment you stop needing to be the important one in the room, you stop needing the room to feed you. The two loosen together.
Is it healthy to keep thinking about death and disease?
Krishna says anudarśanam — steady looking, not brooding. Brooding circles the fear; looking sees the fact and settles. You already know your body ages. Refusing to look does not slow it; it only makes every small loss arrive as a shock. Seen plainly, the same fact makes you gentler and far less grasping.
How is this verse connected to grief?
Grief often carries a second wound — the sense that this should not have happened to me. That wound is ahankāra speaking. When the pain woven into birth and death has been seen beforehand, loss still cuts, but it does not also astonish you. The grief stays; the protest quiets.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Coolness is not coldness. Krishna is not asking you to stop tasting food or hearing music; he is asking that the taste stop deciding your day. And then something harder — look at birth, death, age, disease, and see the pain woven in. Most of us look away. Arjuna looked away from the field until the chariot stopped in the middle of it. The seeing is not morbid; it is what dissolves self-importance faster than any discipline. A man who has truly watched his own body age does not need to be told he is small. Sit once with what you have been refusing to look at.