Chapter 5Verse 21 of 29

Bhagavad Gita 5.21

बाह्यस्पर्शेष्वसक्तात्मा विन्दत्यात्मनि यत्सुखम् । स ब्रह्मयोगयुक्तात्मा सुखमक्षयमश्नुते ॥

bāhya-sparśeṣv asaktātmā vindaty ātmani yat sukham | sa brahma-yoga-yuktātmā sukham akṣayam aśnute ||

Translation

He whose self is unattached to external contacts, finds the happiness which is in the self; with self joined to Brahman-yoga, he enjoys imperishable happiness.

Bāhya-sparśeṣu asakta-ātmā. Unclinging to outer contacts. The verse names the redirection: pleasure that arrives from outside touch is conditional; the self has its own happiness when unclung. Sukham akṣayam, imperishable happiness. The unusual word is akṣaya, undecaying, used here where most translations want eternal. The chapter is not promising endlessness so much as non-decay: the happiness that does not erode under use.

Reflection

What pleasure have you been returning to that decays a little more each visit?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Five

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