Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 2, Verse 14
मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः।
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत।।
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत।।
mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino ’nityās tans-titikṣasva bhārata
also searched as "matra-sparshas tu kaunteya shitoshna-sukha-duhkha-dah"
Translation
The contact of the senses with their objects, O Arjuna, gives rise to feelings of cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and go, never lasting long. Endure them, O Arjuna.
Vāṇi's rendering
This feeling arrived, and it will leave. Nothing that comes stays. Bear it.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| मात्रास्पर्शाःmātrā-sparśāḥ | the touches — the senses meeting their objects |
| तुtu | but, however |
| कौन्तेयkaunteya | son of Kunti — Arjuna |
| शीतśīta | cold (joins with uṣṇa as śītoṣṇa) |
| उष्णuṣṇa | heat |
| सुखsukha | pleasure |
| दुःखduḥkha | pain |
| दाःdāḥ | giving, bringing on |
| आगमāgama | coming, arrival |
| अपायिनःapāyinaḥ | going away, departing (āgama + apāyinaḥ joins as āgamāpāyinaḥ) |
| अनित्याःanityāḥ | not lasting (initial a elided after the preceding o) |
| तान्tān | them |
| तितिक्षस्वtitikṣasva | bear them, stand through them |
| भारतbhārata | descendant of Bharata — Arjuna |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 14 mean?
Krishna tells Arjuna that cold and heat, pleasure and pain arise where the senses touch the world. Such contacts have an arrival and a departure; nothing about them is permanent. So the instruction is not to defeat them or deny them, but to bear them — to remain standing while they pass.
What does matra-sparshas tu kaunteya mean?
Mātrā-sparśāḥ means the touches — the meeting of your senses with their objects. Kaunteya is Arjuna, son of Kunti. Krishna is saying: what you are suffering comes from contact, and contact is an event, not a residence. It began. That is the proof it can end.
How do I endure grief without simply suppressing it?
Titikṣā is not clenching. Suppression insists the feeling is not here; bearing admits it fully and refuses to be governed by it. You let the heat be hot. You stop asking it to leave before its time. Grief passing through a steady person is different from grief housed in a frightened one.
Why does Krishna call Arjuna Kaunteya and Bharata here?
Two names in one short verse, both of them lineage. Son of Kunti, descendant of Bharata. Krishna is not flattering him; he is reminding Arjuna that endurance runs in his blood, that others before him met what could not be fixed and stood. You are also standing in someone's line.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Kaunteya, Krishna calls him — son of Kunti, a woman who bore much. Then bhārata, heir of a long line. He names Arjuna twice in one verse, as if to remind him he comes from people who withstood things. What arrives arrives through touch: the senses meet the world and cold happens, heat happens, sweetness and ache. None of it is manufactured by you, and none of it stays. Krishna does not say the ache is small. He says it is passing, and he asks for titikṣā — the strength to stay standing while it moves through. You do not have to end the feeling. You have to outlast it.