Verse 2.14

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.14:

मात्रा-स्पर्शास् तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्ण-सुख-दुःख-दाः ।
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास् तांस् तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥ १४ ॥

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ |
āgamāpāyino'nityās tāṃs titikṣasva bhārata || 14 ||

mātrā–of the senses with their objects; sparśāḥ–touching; tu–only; kaunteya–O Arjuna, son of Kuntī; śīta–cold; uṣṇa–heat; sukha–happiness;duḥkha–distress; dāḥ–they give; āgama-apāyinaḥ–come and go; anityāḥ–temporary; tān–them; titikṣasva–you must tolerate; bhārata–O Bhārata.

O son of Kuntī, when the senses come in contact with the sense objects, one experiences cold, heat, happiness and distress. Such experiences are flickering and temporary, and therefore, O Bhārata, you must tolerate them.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

Arjuna may tell Kṛṣṇa, “What You have said is true. Yet, the senseless mind of an indiscriminate person like me, which is covered by grief and lamentation, is merely a source of misery. And it is not only the mind that produces misery. The senses, such as touch, which experience their respective sense objects through the impressions of the mind, also become a cause of trouble.”

For this reason, Kṛṣṇa says mātrā, indicating the sense objects that are accepted by the senses. The experience of such sense objects is called sparśāḥ. Śrī Bhagavān explains śītoṣṇaḥ āgamāpāyinaḥ. “Although cool water gives pleasure in the summer, that same water causes distress in the winter. Therefore, knowing the experience of sense objects to be temporary and flickering, one should tolerate them.” To tolerate them is an obligation prescribed in the scriptures. Taking bath is troublesome in the month of Māgha (the winter month of January-February). In spite of this, one is not supposed to give up the obligatory routine of bathing as enjoined in the scripture. Similarly, those same persons (one’s brother, son, etc.) who give happiness both when they are born and when they earn wealth, give pain at the time of their death. “Knowing such happiness and distress to be temporary and flickering, you should tolerate them. You cannot give up your prescribed duty of fighting in the battle on the plea of having affection for such relatives. It is definitely a cause of great disturbance to give up one’s duty that has been recommended in the scriptures.”