Sanskrit
आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत् । तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी ॥
āpūryamāṇam acalapratiṣṭhaṃ samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat tadvat kāmā yaṃ praviśanti sarve sa śāntim āpnoti na kāmakāmī
Translation
He attaineth Peace, into whom all desires flow as rivers flow into the ocean, which is filled with water, but remaineth unmoved—not he who desireth desires.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Chapter 2’s most famous image: not a person with no desires reaching them, but a person desires reach without disturbing — the way rivers pour ceaselessly into an ocean that stays exactly as full and as still as before. The closing phrase draws the real contrast sharply: the difference isn’t between desire and no desire, it’s between being moved by desire and actively chasing after wanting itself. Kāma-kāmī — “one who desires desires,” who wants the wanting — is the precise thing being ruled out; the ocean still receives every river. This is the most generous statement in the chapter of what the goal actually asks: not emptiness, but immovability.
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Word by word
- āpūryamāṇamआपूर्यमाणं
- being filled
- acalapratiṣṭhaṃअचलप्रतिष्ठं
- yet unmoving and fixed (acala-pratiṣṭham)
- samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvatसमुद्रं आपः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत्
- as waters enter the ocean (samudram + āpaḥ + praviśanti + yadvat)
- tadvat kāmā yaṃ praviśanti sarveतद्वत् कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे
- so too, one whom all desires enter (tadvat + kāmāḥ + yam + praviśanti + sarve)
- sa śāntim āpnotiस शान्तिं आप्नोति
- he attains peace (saḥ + śāntim + āpnoti)
- na kāmakāmīन कामकामी
- not the desirer of desires (na + kāma-kāmī)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The closing phrase targets something more specific than desire itself: not the difference between wanting and not wanting, but between a desire arising and passing, and actively chasing the state of wanting itself — kāmakāmī, one who desires desires. Most teachings on craving target the object; this one targets the habit of seeking out something to crave.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- Notice the difference between a desire simply arising and passing, versus actively hunting for new things to want because wanting itself has become the habit — endless scrolling or novelty shopping for its own sake is the sharper problem this verse names, not desire itself.
Professional
- Notice when a team keeps launching new initiatives because momentum and novelty have become the actual addiction, not because the current work has genuinely run its course — that's the same pattern this verse names, in a professional register.
Family & Social
- Notice when restlessness in a relationship is less about any specific unmet want and more a habit of wanting something new — naming that pattern directly is more useful than chasing down whatever the current complaint happens to be.
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