Sanskrit
विषया विनिवर्तन्ते निराहारस्य देहिनः । रसवर्जं रसोऽप्यस्य परं दृष्ट्वा निवर्तते ॥
viṣayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ rasavarjaṃ raso'py asya paraṃ dṛṣṭvā nivartate
Translation
The objects of sense, but not the relish for them, turn away from an abstemious dweller in the body; and even relish turneth away from him after the Supreme is seen.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
A honest qualification on the tortoise image: merely abstaining from sense-objects doesn’t remove the taste for them — the craving can outlast the behavior. Only direct realization (“seeing the Supreme”) removes the relish itself. It’s a useful warning against mistaking outward discipline for the inner state it’s supposed to produce, echoed again in verse 60. Rasa — the lingering “taste” for an object even when the object is gone — is what fasting alone can’t touch. The verse quietly makes realisation of the Supreme, not willpower, the thing that finally uproots craving.
Study deeper
Word by word
- viṣayā vinivartanteविषया विनिवर्तन्ते
- sense-objects turn away (viṣayāḥ + vinivartante)
- nirāhārasya dehinaḥनिराहारस्य देहिनः
- for the abstaining embodied one (nirāhārasya + dehinaḥ)
- rasavarjaṃरसवर्जं
- except for the relish (rasa-varjam)
- raso'py asyaरसोऽप्य् अस्य
- even that relish, for this one (rasaḥ + api + asya)
- paraṃपरं
- the Supreme
- dṛṣṭvā nivartateदृष्ट्वा निवर्तते
- turns away on seeing (param + dṛṣṭvā + nivartate)
Commentary
Site Commentary
This verse undercuts the confident tortoise image from the line before almost immediately: withdrawing behaviorally from sense-objects doesn’t remove the taste for them, only direct realization does. It’s a teaching correcting a likely misreading of its own prior verse in real time, refusing to let abstinence pass for the finished state.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Notice when you've merely stopped doing something but still crave it — that's real progress, but this verse is clear it isn't the same as being free of it, so don't claim the finished state early.
Professional
- Quitting a bad habit at work — obsessively checking a dashboard, chasing a metric — without the underlying craving fading is a fragile win; expect relapse under stress rather than assuming the behavior change alone is durable.
Family & Social
- If you've stopped a recurring argument pattern but still feel the old resentment underneath, be honest about the gap rather than declaring yourself over it — the behavior changed before the feeling did.
Ask yourself
A few ways to take this verse past reading. Ticks and the note stay in this browser.