Chapter 13Verse 8 of 34

Bhagavad Gita 13.8

इन्द्रियार्थेषु वैराग्यमनहंकार एव च। जन्ममृत्युजराव्याधिदुःखदोषानुदर्शनम्॥

indriyārtheṣu vairāgyam anahaṅkāra eva ca janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam

Translation

Dispassion toward objects of sense, absence of egoism, perception of the evil of birth, death, old age, disease, pain.

The list keeps adding. Vairagya from sense-objects, not as cold rejection but as the absence of the magnet's pull. Anahamkara, no I-maker thickening behind every action. Then a striking string: see clearly the suffering inherent in birth, death, old age, sickness, pain. Not morbid, not depressive. A refusal to pretend these can be edited out by enough comfort. The Buddha later builds an entire ethics on this exact looking. Here it shows up as one item among many. Anudarshanam means following the seeing, sustained looking, not a single moment of grim acknowledgment. The chapter is building a portrait: someone who can keep the body in view without lying to themselves about what bodies do.

Reflection

Look at one comfort and ask honestly what it cannot edit out.

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Thirteen

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