Gita 02.14 – The material is peripheral, unavoidable and ephemeral – so tolerate it.
mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino ’nityās
tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata (Bg 2.14)
Word-for-word:
mātrā-sparśāḥ — sensory perception; tu — only; kaunteya — O son of Kuntī; śīta — winter; uṣṇa — summer; sukha — happiness; duḥkha — and pain; dāḥ — giving; āgama — appearing; apāyinaḥ — disappearing; anityāḥ — nonpermanent; tān — all of them; titikṣasva — just try to tolerate; bhārata — O descendant of the Bharata dynasty.
Translation:
O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.
Explanation:
This is also one of the oft-quoted verses from the Bhagavad-gītā, which follows immediately after the verse discussing our trans-bodily identity. Kṛṣṇa says:
mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya : O son of Kuntī, contact with the sense objects
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ : gives rise to cold and heat, happiness and distress.
āgamāpāyino ’nityās : Such things come and go and are temporary.
tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata : Therefore, just tolerate them, O descendant of the Bharata dynasty.
The point being made here is that bodily sensations may seem real, but they are actually temporary. Therefore, one should not let the temporary distract from the eternal.
The previous verse advised not to become bewildered by bodily change. However, Arjuna may naturally wonder: bodily change does cause pain—how can one simply neglect it? Even if I intellectually, logically, philosophically, and scripturally accept that I am not the body, bodily feelings still affect me.
For example, if Bhīṣma and Droṇa are killed, they will feel pain, and Arjuna will experience distress seeing them in agony. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna—tāṁs titikṣasva—one must learn to tolerate.
Tolerance is a critical value for those who seek to achieve a long-term, focused goal. Everyone in this world must tolerate something or the other, simply because none of us can have everything we desire. We all suffer from the problem of excess—particularly excess sensory stimulation. The advancement of technology often serves to increase or aggravate these sensory stimulations.
The most good-looking people with the best makeup are often shown in movies, intensifying sensory impressions. Similarly, sound is enhanced with Dolby effects, stereo effects, and other technologies designed to make it more appealing.
We continuously enhance sensory stimuli—making them more attractive, more stimulating, and more agitating—which in turn makes everything more challenging. In fact, some people equate increasing sensory stimulation with happiness. In such a situation, what can a person do? Actually, not much. A person simply becomes more stimulated and agitated. The more we are stimulated at the sensory level, the more we get distracted from the important things in life.
For instance, a student who is too excited about a cricket match will struggle to study. Similarly, a spiritualist who becomes too affected by bodily sensations cannot stay focused on long-term spiritual goals.
Tolerance means letting small things pass so that one can remain fixed on the bigger things. The issue is not merely about small things or big things—it is about achieving the right results. Success comes from knowing what to neglect and what to focus on, as we, being finite beings, cannot concentrate on everything we might wish to. We can’t make everything happen, and we must choose our battles wisely.
We must focus on certain things and neglect others. This is only possible when we clearly recognize what deserves our attention. That is exactly what Kṛṣṇa is teaching Arjuna here.
Hence, tolerance should be seen as a tool for focus, not as passive endurance. One of the keys to tolerance is recognizing that things are temporary—āgamāpāyinaḥ—they come and go.
The phrase ‘śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ’ can be translated in multiple ways. One way is: “Heat and cold, pleasure and pain are all temporary—tolerate them.”
Another way to understand this is by seeing heat and cold as standard examples and pleasure and pain as applied examples. When heat or cold comes, we can’t do much about it—we simply have to accept it. When it’s hot, it’s hot; we learn to live with it. When it’s cold, it’s cold; we learn to live with it. Of course, we may take practical measures, like using an air cooler or a room heater, but beyond a point, we recognize that this is something we cannot change. What can’t be cured must be endured.
All of us learn to accept this to some extent and move on with life. The same applies to happiness and distress. We understand that sensations of heat and cold arise due to the body’s contact with the external environment, stimuli, or atmosphere. They come and go. Similarly, sensations of pleasure and pain will also come and go. There is no need to become unduly excited or disturbed by them.
Instead, stay focused on what truly matters and let the temporary pass. By remembering that we are eternal while bodily sensations, experienced through the senses, are temporary, we can learn to tolerate. In translating knowledge into application, the first lesson Kṛṣṇa emphasizes is tolerance.
In Arjuna’s case, this means tolerating whatever inevitable bodily pains arise in the course of discharging his duty. Kṛṣṇa will elaborate on this point in a later verse in this section, but the key idea is that just as the changing of seasons is inevitable—and we learn to tolerate and live with it—similarly, the discharge of duty is inevitable. And in that discharge of duty, some pleasure and pain will inevitably arise. Only by tolerating can we move forward. Hence, tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata—tolerate it.
Just as a doctor may tell a child, “I’m going to give you an injection—it will hurt a little, but tolerate it,” the child may wince, grumble, or even cry. However, an adult will steel himself and take the injection without fuss. Similarly, this is what we all need to do—tolerate.
Kṛṣṇa will explain the benefit of tolerance in the next verse. However, in this verse, three significant points stand out:
1. mātrā-sparśās – How do we learn to tolerate? By remembering that these sensations are peripheral to our core being. They are related to the body, which in turn experiences them through the contact of the senses with sense objects. Since they are external to our true self, they are peripheral, unavoidable, and temporary—just like heat and cold.
2. āgamāpāyino ’nityās – These sensations are ephemeral—they will not last.
3. tāṁs titikṣasva – We cultivate tolerance by remembering that these experiences are not truly happening to us but to our body. Since they are both unavoidable and temporary, we simply endure them, knowing they will pass.
In this way, we apply the knowledge of the soul by learning to tolerate bodily stimuli and not letting them distract us from our spiritual duties.
Thank you.
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