Chapter 2Verse 59 of 72

Bhagavad Gita 2.59

विषया विनिवर्तन्ते निराहारस्य देहिनः । रसवर्जं रसोऽप्यस्य परं दृष्ट्वा निवर्तते ॥

viṣayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ | rasa-varjaṃ raso 'pyasya paraṃ dṛṣṭvā nivartate ||

Translation

The objects of the senses turn away from the abstinent one, but the taste for them remains. The taste, too, of such a one turns away upon seeing the supreme.

A careful, almost clinical note. Rasa. Taste. The lingering relish for the thing you have stopped having. Krishna names what every honest practitioner discovers: avoiding the object is easier than removing the want. The deeper work is what releases the rasa: not abstinence but paraṃ dṛṣṭvā, seeing the supreme. The taste turns away on its own when something larger has been seen. The verse names a fact most reformist programs never reach. The food gets put down. The hunger stays in the room. Until.

Reflection

What have you given up whose taste is still in the room?

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