Cluster 0045 — BG-2.14 — *mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ — āgamāpāyino 'nityās tāms titikṣasva bhārata*
BG-2.14
मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदा । आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥१४॥
"The contacts of the senses, O son of Kuntī, give cold and heat, pleasure and pain; they come and go, they are impermanent — bear them, O descendant of Bharata."
This is the iconic titikṣā verse of the Sānkhya teaching. Having established that the embodied self is imperishable (BG-2.11-13), Kṛṣṇa turns to the practical problem of being a self who still feels cold and heat, pleasure and pain. His answer is a diagnosis and a prescription: these dvandvas are only mātrā-sparśa — passing contacts of sense and object — āgama-apāyin, arriving and departing, anitya, impermanent. So the disciple's task is titikṣā: to bear them with an equanimity that neither grasps the pleasant nor flinches from the painful. Jñāneśvar's fourteen ovis build this in three movements — the witness that persists through change (2.109-2.110), the sense-by-sense anatomy of how we get bound (2.111-2.118), and the prescription to see the objects as unreal and let them go (2.119-2.122).
Ovi 2.109
Original (Marathi): एथ कौमारत्व दिसे । मग तारुण्यीं तें भ्रंशे । परी देहचि हा न नाशे । एकेकासवें ॥१०९॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (expository; carries the BG-2.13 age-succession example into the new verse)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| एथ कौमारत्व दिसे | here childhood (kaumāra) is seen |
| मग तारुण्यीं तें भ्रंशे | then in youth it is lost / falls away |
| परी देहचि हा न नाशे | but the body itself does not perish |
| एकेकासवें | with each one (each passing state) |
Literal translation
English: Here childhood is seen; then, in youth, it falls away — but the body itself does not perish with each passing state.
मराठी (आधुनिक): आधी बालपण दिसतं; मग तारुण्यात ते लोप पावतं — पण प्रत्येक अवस्थेबरोबर देह मात्र नष्ट होत नाही.
Sanskrit-root note
kaumāra (childhood) and tāruṇya (youth) are the very stages — kaumāram yauvanam jarā — that BG-2.13 names; Jñāneśvar reaches back one verse to pick up the same example.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. The age-states are an analytic example (carried over from BG-2.13), not a built-out image — the unfolding into the witness-ground happens in 2.110.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. This is Sānkhya body-state analysis; no cakra/suṣumnā frame is active.
Cross-references
- Internal: Sets up 2.110 (developed-further) — the example here becomes the witness-ground principle there.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 2.13 (echo) — dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāram yauvanam jarā; the childhood-into-youth succession is the bridge from the immortal-dehin verse into the sense-contact teaching of BG-2.14.
Modern application
- When you notice an old version of yourself has quietly vanished. The person you were at twelve is gone — not dead, just fallen away (भ्रंशे) — and yet you are continuous. The ovi asks you to feel that you have already survived the disappearance of several selves.
- When a life-phase ends and you grieve it as a death. Leaving a city, a job, a relationship-stage: childhood "is lost in youth," but something does not perish. The loss is real and the continuity is also real.
- When you over-identify with your current condition. Whatever state you are in — this mood, this role, this body's age — is one of the एकेक, the each-ones that pass. It is not the whole of you.
Sādhanā
Today, recall one clear memory of yourself from ten or more years ago — a self that has "fallen away." Say once, silently: that one is gone, and I am still here. Notice the thing that did not go.
Arc
2.109 gives the body-persists-through-age-states example; 2.110 lifts it into the principle — the witness-consciousness in which all body-states come and go.
Ovi 2.110
Original (Marathi): तैसीं चैतन्याच्या ठायीं । इयें शरीरांतरें होती जाती पाहीं । ऐसें जाणे तया नाहीं । व्यामोहदुःख ॥११०॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (expository; पाहीं "look" is the teacher's ostensive marker)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तैसीं चैतन्याच्या ठायीं | just so, in the ground of consciousness (caitanya) |
| इयें शरीरांतरें होती जाती पाहीं | these other-bodies / body-states come and go — look |
| ऐसें जाणे तया नाहीं | the one who knows this has no — |
| व्यामोहदुःख | delusion-grief (vyāmoha-duḥkha) |
Literal translation
English: Just so, in the ground of consciousness, these body-states come and go — look; and the one who knows this has no delusion-grief.
मराठी (आधुनिक): अगदी तसंच, चैतन्याच्या आधारभूमीत ही शरीरं येतात-जातात — बघ; आणि हे जो जाणतो त्याला व्यामोहाचं दुःख होत नाही.
Sanskrit-root note
vyāmoha = vi + ā + √muh (to be deluded) — total bewilderment; the duḥkha born of mistaking the changing for the abiding.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| बodies (शरीरांतरें) coming and going in the caitanya-ground | The succession of forms and states arising and passing within an unchanging witness-consciousness | The stable awareness in which your moods, roles, and even your ageing body appear and dissolve, like footage running on a screen that is itself untouched |
Metaphor-family: witness-ground (the unchanging consciousness in which change appears). A compact, single-move image rather than a sustained multi-line unfolding — but genuine: the ṭhāyīm (ground/locus) names the still container, the होती जाती (come-and-go) names the moving contents.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. Caitanya here is the Sānkhya/Vedānta witness-consciousness, not a Nātha kuṇḍalinī-referent; no cakra vocabulary supports an esoteric reading.
Cross-references
- Internal: 2.109 → 2.110 (developed-further) — the example becomes the principle. 2.110's "the knower has no delusion-grief" is the goal whose obstacle 2.111 will diagnose.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 2.13 (echo) — the dehāntara-prāpti (passing into another body) of BG-2.13, here generalized into all body-states arising in the caitanya-witness.
Modern application
- When you catch yourself thinking "I have completely changed" — or "I will never change." Both are the delusion (व्यामोह) of identifying with the contents instead of the awareness. The screen is not the footage.
- When a strong emotion convinces you it is permanent. Grief, infatuation, rage each say "this is now who you are." The witness-knowing — this too is arising and passing in me — is what dissolves the व्यामोहदुःख.
- When ageing or illness feels like the loss of self. The body-state changes; the awareness in which you have always said "I" does not arrive or depart with it.
Sādhanā
Today, the next time a mood grips you, try one sentence: "This is appearing in me; I am the one it is appearing in." Hold the second clause for three breaths. You are practising the witness-stance the ovi names.
Arc
2.110 names the goal (the knower of the witness-ground is free of delusion-grief); 2.111 asks why most of us lack that knowing — because the inner-organ is gripped by the senses.
Ovi 2.111
Original (Marathi): एथ नेणावया हेंचि कारण । जें इंद्रियां आधीनपण । तिहीं आकळिजे अंतःकरण । म्हणऊनि भ्रमे ॥१११॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (expository; म्हणऊनि "therefore" is the explanatory connective)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| एथ नेणावया हेंचि कारण | the cause of not-knowing is just this |
| जें इंद्रियां आधीनपण | namely, subjection to the senses (indriyā-ādhīna-paṇa) |
| तिहीं आकळिजे अंतःकरण | by them the inner-organ is seized / encircled |
| म्हणऊनि भ्रमे | and therefore it strays / is deluded |
Literal translation
English: The reason for not-knowing is just this — subjection to the senses; by them the inner-organ (antaḥkaraṇa) is seized, and so it strays into delusion.
मराठी (आधुनिक): हे न जाणण्याचं कारणच हे आहे — इंद्रियांचं अधीनपण; त्यांच्याकडून अंतःकरण घेरलं जातं, आणि म्हणूनच ते भ्रमात पडतं.
Sanskrit-root note
antaḥkaraṇa = antaḥ (inner) + karaṇa (instrument) — the inner instrument (mind/intellect/ego-sense); ādhīna = "dependent on, under the control of."
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. आकळिजे ("is seized/encircled") is a single vivid verb of capture, not a built-out image; the diagnosis is stated analytically.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The indriyā-ādhīna diagnosis is Sānkhya sense-psychology; reading a kuṇḍalinī/suṣumnā frame into "the senses seize the inner-organ" would be fabrication.
Cross-references
- Internal: 2.111 ↔ 2.122 (parallel-image, inverse) — the disease named here (inner-organ seized by the senses) is exactly what 2.122's cure (spurn the objects, hold no attachment) reverses. 2.111 → 2.112 (developed-further) gives the mechanism.
- Tukaram parallel: Abhang 112 (same-indriya-jaya-diagnosis) — इंद्रियांचा जय वासनेचा क्षय ("victory over the senses, the wasting of vāsanā"), resolving into अंतरीं या थारा आनंदाचा ("in the inner, ananda dwells"). Where Jñāneśvar diagnoses bondage as the inner-organ seized by the senses, Tukārām prescribes its precise inverse — conquest of the senses — as the door to the ananda within. Same diagnosis, same cure. (Lines verified verbatim against corpus/0112.md.)
- Source citations:
- Bhagavad Gītā 2.14 (echo) — the mātrā-sparśa sense-contacts of the verse are binding precisely because of the indriyā-ādhīnatā this ovi names; Jñāneśvar makes explicit the diagnosis the verse leaves implicit.
- Bhagavad Gītā 3.34 (echo) — indriyasyendriyasyārthe rāga-dveṣau vyavasthitau — tayor na vaśam āgacchet (attachment-aversion are seated in each sense toward its object; let one not come under their sway). This ovi names the very vaśa/sway (ādhīnatā) that BG-3.34 warns against. (Verified via shlokam.org and holy-bhagavad-gita.org.)
Modern application
- When your attention is hijacked before you've chosen anything. The notification, the smell from the kitchen, the song — आकळिजे अंतःकरण, the inner-organ seized — and you are three actions deep before you notice. The bondage is precisely this: the senses captured the wheel.
- When you "can't think straight" around a craving. The straying (भ्रमे) is not a moral failure; it is the predictable result of the inner instrument being under sense-control. Naming the mechanism is the first loosening of it.
- When environment dictates your state. Put yourself among certain sights, sounds, and feeds, and your inner weather follows automatically. The ovi's claim: that automaticity is the un-freedom.
Sādhanā
Today, once, catch the exact moment a sense-input grabs you (a ping, a scent, an image) and pulls your inner state with it. Don't resist it — just name it: "seized." One clean noticing of the आकळिजे is the practice.
Arc
2.111 states the root-cause (the inner-organ seized by the senses); 2.112 shows the mechanism — sense-contact floods the inner with elation and grief.
Ovi 2.112
Original (Marathi): इंद्रियें विषय सेविती । तेथ हर्ष शोक उपजती । ते अंतर आप्लविती । संगें येणें ॥११२॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (expository)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| इंद्रियें विषय सेविती | the senses consume / partake of their objects (viṣaya) |
| तेथ हर्ष शोक उपजती | there elation (harṣa) and grief (śoka) arise |
| ते अंतर आप्लविती | these flood / inundate the inner |
| संगें येणें | through this contact (sanga) |
Literal translation
English: The senses consume their objects; there elation and grief arise; and through this contact, these flood the inner.
मराठी (आधुनिक): इंद्रियं विषयांचा उपभोग घेतात; तिथे हर्ष आणि शोक उपजतात; आणि या संगामुळे ते अंतःकरण व्यापून टाकतात.
Sanskrit-root note
āplaviti (floods over) from ā-√plu (to flood, inundate) — the same root as plava (a boat / a flood); the affect inundates the inner like rising water.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. आप्लविती ("floods the inner") is a single submerged-by-water verb — a live image, but a one-word one, not a developed three-column unfolding.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: 2.112 → 2.113 (developed-further) — the flooding here is sharpened into the inconstancy of the objects there.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 2.14 (echo) — renders mātrā-sparśāḥ … sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (sense-contacts that give pleasure-pain) as the harṣa-śoka generated by indriya-viṣaya-contact and flooding the antaḥkaraṇa.
Modern application
- When one piece of good or bad news swamps your whole day. The contact lands, हर्ष or शोक arises, and it floods — आप्लविती — coloring everything downstream. The ovi names the overflow precisely: it is the contact, magnified.
- When a small win leaves you oddly fragile. Elation and grief are paired here for a reason; the high from a sense-contact carries its own coming crash. Watching the flood is watching both halves.
- When you realize how porous you are to inputs. A scroll session, a compliment, a sharp word — each सेविती (consumed) and then inundating the inner. The diagnosis is not "feel less"; it is "see that the flood comes through contact."
Sādhanā
Today, after one emotional spike (up or down), trace it back to the single sense-contact that triggered it — the exact message, image, taste, or word. Name it: "that contact flooded me." See the inlet of the flood.
Arc
2.112 shows contact flooding the inner with elation-grief; 2.113 explains why the flood is never stable — the objects themselves have no constancy.
Ovi 2.113
Original (Marathi): जयां विषयांच्या ठायीं । एकनिष्ठता कहीं नाहीं । तेथ दुःख आणि कांहीं । सुखही दिसे ॥११३॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (expository)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| जयां विषयांच्या ठायीं | in which sense-objects |
| एकनिष्ठता कहीं नाहीं | there is never any single-faithfulness / steadiness |
| तेथ दुःख आणि कांहीं | there pain, and some |
| सुखही दिसे | pleasure too, appears |
Literal translation
English: In the sense-objects there is never any single-faithfulness; and so from them both pain and some flicker of pleasure appear.
मराठी (आधुनिक): ज्या विषयांच्या ठिकाणी कधीही एकनिष्ठता नसते — तिथून दुःख आणि थोडंसं सुखही दिसतं.
Sanskrit-root note
ekaniṣṭhatā = eka (one) + niṣṭhā (steadfastness, fidelity) — single-pointed constancy; its absence in the viṣayas is their unreliability.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. The "no single-faithfulness" is an analytic claim about the objects' inconstancy, imaged fully only later (the mirage and dream of 2.121).
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: 2.113 → 2.114 (developed-further) — the general inconstancy here opens the sense-by-sense enumeration that follows.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 2.14 (echo) — renders anityāḥ (impermanent) as the viṣayas' lack of ekaniṣṭhatā; their pleasure is a flicker (कांहीं सुखही), never steady, anticipating the unreality-similes of 2.121.
Modern application
- When the thing that thrilled you last week leaves you flat. The object did not betray you; it simply has no एकनिष्ठता — no constancy to give. The same food, song, or screen yields pleasure, then pain, then nothing.
- When you keep returning to a source that only sometimes satisfies. The intermittent reward — some pleasure appears (सुखही दिसे), unpredictably — is exactly the inconstancy that hooks. The ovi diagnoses the variable payoff before behavioral science named it.
- When you expect a pleasure to be reliable and feel cheated. The disappointment is built into the object's nature, not your bad luck. Knowing it has no fidelity is the beginning of not depending on it.
Sādhanā
Today, pick one reliable "pleasure" (coffee, a feed, a sweet) and notice honestly whether this instance actually delivered, or only sometimes does. Say: "no constant payoff lives here." Let the data, not the hope, register.
Arc
2.113 states the general inconstancy of all objects; 2.114 begins the anatomy — first the ear, where praise and blame breed aversion and its absence.
Ovi 2.114
Original (Marathi): देखें शब्दाचि व्याप्ति । निंदा आणि स्तुति । तेथ द्वेषाद्वेष उपजती । श्रवणद्वारें ॥११४॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (expository; देखें "see" is the teacher's ostensive marker)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| देखें शब्दाचि व्याप्ति | see the reach / pervasion (vyāpti) of the word (śabda) |
| निंदा आणि स्तुति | blame and praise |
| तेथ द्वेषाद्वेष उपजती | there aversion and non-aversion (dveṣa-adveṣa) arise |
| श्रवणद्वारें | through the ear-gate (śravaṇa-dvāra) |
Literal translation
English: See the reach of the word — blame and praise; there aversion and non-aversion arise, through the ear-gate.
मराठी (आधुनिक): बघ, शब्दाची व्याप्ती — निंदा आणि स्तुती; तिथे श्रवणाच्या द्वारातून द्वेष आणि अद्वेष उपजतात.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi on its own — but it opens the cluster's structured five-sense-gate catalog (2.114-2.118). Each ovi follows one template: one sense + its dual object + the affect-pair it breeds. Here: ear (श्रवण) + blame/praise (निंदा/स्तुति) + aversion/non-aversion (द्वेषाद्वेष). The "gate" (द्वार) framing is the recurring image; it is treated as a parallel-image series, not five separate metaphors.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The dvāra (gate) here is the ordinary sense-aperture of Sānkhya psychology, not a Nātha esoteric gate (e.g., brahmadvāra); no cakra context supports the esoteric reading.
Cross-references
- Internal: 2.114 → 2.115 (parallel-image) — first of five gate-ovis; the structure repeats through 2.118.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 3.34 (echo) — enacts the per-sense rāga-dveṣau vyavasthitau of BG-3.34 for the auditory sense: śravaṇa meeting śabda breeds dveṣādveṣa. (Verified via shlokam.org and holy-bhagavad-gita.org.)
Modern application
- When one offhand criticism ruins your afternoon. A word — निंदा — comes through the ear-gate and द्वेष (aversion) arises, hijacking hours. The ovi locates the whole disturbance in a single auditory contact.
- When praise makes you suddenly buoyant — and dependent. स्तुति produces the pleasant pole; notice how quickly the self leans toward the source of praise. The same gate that delivers the sting delivers the flattery.
- When you replay a comment for days. The "reach of the word" (शब्दाची व्याप्ति) is exactly this: a brief sound that pervades far beyond its moment. Seeing it as just a sound-contact shrinks it back to size.
Sādhanā
Today, when a piece of praise or criticism lands, pause and label it once: "a śabda-contact through the ear; aversion (or liking) is arising." Watch the affect appear without immediately becoming it.
Arc
2.114 gives the ear (blame/praise → aversion); 2.115 gives touch — the soft/hard pair breeding contentment and distress.
Ovi 2.115
Original (Marathi): मृदु आणि कठीण । हे स्पर्शाचे दोन्ही गुण । जे वपूचेनि संगें कारण । संतोषखेदां ॥११५॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (expository)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| मृदु आणि कठीण | soft and hard |
| हे स्पर्शाचे दोन्ही गुण | these two qualities of touch (sparśa) |
| जे वपूचेनि संगें कारण | which, through contact with the body (vapu), are the cause |
| संतोषखेदां | of contentment and distress (santoṣa-kheda) |
Literal translation
English: Soft and hard — these two qualities of touch, which through contact with the body are the cause of contentment and distress.
मराठी (आधुनिक): मृदू आणि कठीण — स्पर्शाचे हे दोन गुण, जे देहाच्या संगामुळे संतोष आणि खेद यांचं कारण होतात.
Sanskrit-root note
vapu (body, form) — the bodily surface through which touch makes contact; santoṣa (contentment) and kheda (weariness/distress) are the tactile affect-pair.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi — it is the second member of the 2.114-2.118 five-gate parallel series: touch (स्पर्श) + soft/hard (मृदु/कठीण) + contentment/distress (संतोष-खेद).
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: 2.115 → 2.116 (parallel-image) — the series continues to sight.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 3.34 (echo) — the per-sense rāga-dveṣa structure for the tactile sense: sparśa's soft/hard seated as santoṣa-kheda. (Verified via shlokam.org and holy-bhagavad-gita.org.)
Modern application
- When physical comfort silently runs your decisions. The soft chair, the warm room — मृदु — produces संतोष, and you arrange a surprising amount of life around chasing it and avoiding कठीण discomfort.
- When bodily distress sours your mood for no "reason." A hard seat, an ache, cold hands — खेद arises through vapu-sanga, body-contact, and you attribute the mood to your circumstances rather than to a touch-contact.
- When touch-hunger or touch-aversion drives a relationship. The soft/hard pair is not trivial; comfort and its lack steer intimacy. Seeing it as a sense-gate gives you a hand on the wheel.
Sādhanā
Today, notice one moment of physical comfort or discomfort and name it: "touch-contact — contentment (or distress) is arising." Let one mild discomfort simply be present for thirty seconds without adjusting it.
Arc
2.115 gives touch (soft/hard → contentment-distress); 2.116 gives sight — the fearsome/fair pair breeding the very pleasure-pain the verse names.
Ovi 2.116
Original (Marathi): भ्यासुर आणि सुरेख । हें रूपाचें स्वरूप देख । जें उपजवी सुखदुःख । नेत्रद्वारें ॥११६॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (expository; देख "see" is the ostensive marker)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| भ्यासुर आणि सुरेख | fearsome and fair / beautiful |
| हें रूपाचें स्वरूप देख | see — this is the very nature of form (rūpa) |
| जें उपजवी सुखदुःख | which begets pleasure and pain |
| नेत्रद्वारें | through the eye-gate (netra-dvāra) |
Literal translation
English: Fearsome and fair — see, this is the very nature of form, which begets pleasure and pain through the eye-gate.
मराठी (आधुनिक): भीतिदायक आणि सुंदर — बघ, हेच रूपाचं स्वरूप, जे नेत्रांच्या द्वारातून सुख आणि दुःख निर्माण करतं.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi — third member of the five-gate series: sight (नेत्र) + fearsome/fair (भ्यासुर/सुरेख) + pleasure/pain (सुख-दुःख). Note this ovi names the sukha-duḥkha pair directly from BG-2.14.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: 2.116 → 2.117 (parallel-image) — the series continues to smell.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 3.34 (echo) — the per-sense rāga-dveṣa structure for the visual sense, here generating the sukha-duḥkha that BG-2.14 itself names. (Verified via shlokam.org and holy-bhagavad-gita.org.)
Modern application
- When a beautiful image makes you want, and an ugly one makes you flinch. सुरेख and भ्यासुर come through the eye-gate; the wanting and flinching feel like facts about the world, but the ovi locates them in rūpa meeting the eye.
- When scrolling leaves you craving or anxious without a single event. A stream of forms (रूप) — fair and fearsome — begets (उपजवी) pleasure-pain directly through the eyes. The agitation is manufactured at the netra-dvāra.
- When appearances drive judgment of people. भ्यासुर/सुरेख — we sort by fearsome and fair before we think. Naming this as a sense-gate reaction is the first crack in its automatic authority.
Sādhanā
Today, while looking at a screen or a face, catch one pull (toward the fair) or push (from the fearsome) and label it: "form through the eye — pleasure (or pain) arising." One conscious un-merging from a visual reaction.
Arc
2.116 gives sight (fearsome/fair → pleasure-pain); 2.117 gives smell — the fragrant/foul pair breeding revulsion and gratification.
Ovi 2.117
Original (Marathi): सुगंधु आणि दुर्गंधु । हा परिमळाचा भेदु । जो घ्राणसंगें विषादु । तोषु देता ॥११७॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (expository)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| सुगंधु आणि दुर्गंधु | fragrant and foul |
| हा परिमळाचा भेदु | this is the difference / division of scent (parimaḷa) |
| जो घ्राणसंगें विषादु | which, through contact with the nose (ghrāṇa), revulsion (viṣāda) |
| तोषु देता | and gratification (toṣa) — gives |
Literal translation
English: Fragrant and foul — this is the division of scent, which through contact with the nose gives revulsion and gratification.
मराठी (आधुनिक): सुगंध आणि दुर्गंध — हाच परिमळाचा भेद, जो घ्राणाच्या संगामुळे विषाद आणि तोष देतो.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi — fourth member of the five-gate series: smell (घ्राण) + fragrant/foul (सुगंध/दुर्गंध) + revulsion/gratification (विषाद-तोष).
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: 2.117 → 2.118 (parallel-image) — the series reaches its fifth member and the closing verdict.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 3.34 (echo) — the per-sense rāga-dveṣa structure for the olfactory sense: ghrāṇa meeting gandha breeds viṣāda-toṣa. (Verified via shlokam.org and holy-bhagavad-gita.org.)
Modern application
- When a smell instantly lifts or sinks you. सुगंध gives तोष, दुर्गंध gives विषाद — through घ्राण, before any thought. Smell is the bluntest demonstration of the ovi's claim: contact, then affect, no deliberation.
- When scent-marketing works on you. The baked-bread smell, the lobby fragrance — the भेद (the fragrant/foul split) is engineered to give तोष and steer you. Naming the gate is the defense.
- When a foul smell makes you irritable with people. The विषाद from a bad odor bleeds into your treatment of whoever is near. The ovi separates the scent-contact from the self that then acts on it.
Sādhanā
Today, when a strong smell (pleasant or foul) hits you, name it once: "scent through the nose — gratification (or revulsion) arising." Notice the affect is the nose's, not yet yours.
Arc
2.117 gives smell (fragrant/foul → revulsion-gratification); 2.118 closes the enumeration with taste — and pronounces the verdict on the whole of sense-contact.
Ovi 2.118
Original (Marathi): तैसाचि द्विविध रसु । उपजवी प्रीति त्रासु । म्हणौनि हा अपभ्रंशु । विषयसंगु ॥११८॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (expository; म्हणौनि "therefore" delivers the verdict)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तैसाचि द्विविध रसु | likewise the twofold (dvividha) taste (rasa) |
| उपजवी प्रीति त्रासु | begets liking (prīti) and revulsion (trāsa) |
| म्हणौनि हा अपभ्रंशु | therefore this is a downfall / degradation (apabhramśa) |
| विषयसंगु | contact with sense-objects (viṣaya-sanga) |
Literal translation
English: Likewise the twofold taste begets liking and revulsion; therefore this — contact with sense-objects — is a downfall.
मराठी (आधुनिक): त्याचप्रमाणे दुहेरी रस प्रीती आणि त्रास उपजवतो; म्हणूनच हा विषयसंग म्हणजे अपभ्रंश — अधःपात आहे.
Sanskrit-root note
apabhramśa = apa (down/away) + bhramśa (falling) — a falling-away, degradation; the verdict the whole enumeration was building toward.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi — fifth and final member of the five-gate series (taste / रस + liking/revulsion / प्रीति-त्रास) plus the summary-verdict that binds the whole block: viṣaya-sanga is apabhramśa, a downfall.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: 2.118 → 2.114 (parallel-image) closes the five-gate bracket (ear, touch, sight, smell, taste); 2.118 → 2.119 (developed-further) turns from verdict to consequence.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 3.34 (echo) — completes the five-sense rāga-dveṣa enumeration of BG-3.34 and delivers the verdict that viṣaya-sanga is degradation — the bondage-pole against which BG-2.14's titikṣā is the remedy. (Verified via shlokam.org and holy-bhagavad-gita.org.)
Modern application
- When you chase a taste and feel diminished after. द्विविध रस — the twofold taste — gives प्रीति then त्रास, and the ovi names the net result bluntly: अपभ्रंश, a falling. The morning-after of overindulgence is the verdict made flesh.
- When the whole machinery of consumption is "just a little pleasure." Jñāneśvar refuses to call sense-contact neutral; he calls it a downfall when one is subject to it. Not the senses' fault — the sanga, the being-attached, is the fall.
- When you've enumerated all the ways you're hooked and feel defeated. The five-gate list is meant to be totalizing — every sense an inlet — precisely so that the next move (detachment, not gate-by-gate war) becomes obvious.
Sādhanā
Today, after one act of consuming for pleasure (a taste, a scroll, a buy), check honestly whether प्रीति or त्रास is the residue. Say once: "this sanga was a small falling." No guilt — just an accurate ledger entry.
Arc
2.118 verdicts sense-contact as a downfall; 2.119 names the precise consequence — being subject to the senses is to be handed over to cold-heat and bound in pleasure-pain.
Ovi 2.119
Original (Marathi): देखें इंद्रियां आधीन होईजे । तैं शीतोष्णांतें पाविजे । आणि सुखदुःखीं आकळिजे । आपणपें ॥११९॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (expository; देखें "see" is the ostensive marker)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| देखें इंद्रियां आधीन होईजे | see — when one becomes subject to the senses |
| तैं शीतोष्णांतें पाविजे | then one is delivered to cold-and-heat (śītoṣṇa) |
| आणि सुखदुःखीं आकळिजे | and is bound up in pleasure-and-pain (sukha-duḥkha) |
| आपणपें | one's own self |
Literal translation
English: See — when one becomes subject to the senses, then one is delivered to cold and heat, and one's very self is bound up in pleasure and pain.
मराठी (आधुनिक): बघ — जेव्हा माणूस इंद्रियांच्या अधीन होतो, तेव्हा त्याला शीत-उष्ण भोगावं लागतं, आणि त्याचा स्वतःचा 'मी' सुख-दुःखात अडकतो.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. This is the cluster's most direct restatement of BG-2.14's literal terms (śītoṣṇa, sukha-duḥkha) — a doctrinal hinge, not an image.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: 2.119 → 2.120 (developed-further) — from the consequence to why the senses keep one bound (their nature).
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 2.14 (paraphrase) — the most direct rendering in the cluster of śīta-uṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ: cold-heat (शीतोष्ण) and pleasure-pain (सुख-दुःख) named explicitly as the fate of the sense-subjected self (आपणपें).
Modern application
- When small physical extremes dominate you. Too cold, too hot — शीतोष्ण — and the day is about that. The ovi says: this domination is the price of being आधीन, subject to the senses, not an external imposition.
- When your sense of "I" rises and falls with every pleasure and pain. सुखदुःखीं आकळिजे आपणपें — the self itself gets bound in the pleasure-pain. Notice how "I" inflates with the good and shrinks with the bad; that binding is the un-freedom.
- When you outsource your wellbeing to conditions. The more the senses run the show, the more your state is hostage to temperature, comfort, and circumstance. The diagnosis points straight at the remedy: loosen the subjection.
Sādhanā
Today, when you meet a minor temperature discomfort (cold hands, a hot room), let it be for one full minute before fixing it, watching the urge to escape. You are testing, in the smallest way, the आधीनता — your subjection to a sense.
Arc
2.119 names the consequence (cold-heat, pleasure-pain seize the sense-subjected self); 2.120 explains the persistence — it is the senses' very nature to find only their objects delightful.
Ovi 2.120
Original (Marathi): या विषयांवांचूनि कांहीं । आणीक सर्वथा रम्य नाहीं । ऐसा स्वभावोचि पाहीं । इंद्रियांचा ॥१२०॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (expository; पाहीं "look" is the ostensive marker)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| या विषयांवांचूनि कांहीं | apart from these sense-objects, anything |
| आणीक सर्वथा रम्य नाहीं | nothing else at all is delightful (ramya) |
| ऐसा स्वभावोचि पाहीं | look — this is simply the nature (svabhāva) |
| इंद्रियांचा | of the senses |
Literal translation
English: Apart from these sense-objects, nothing else at all seems delightful — look, this is simply the very nature of the senses.
मराठी (आधुनिक): या विषयांशिवाय दुसरं काहीही मुळी रम्य वाटत नाही — बघ, हाच तर इंद्रियांचा स्वभाव आहे.
Sanskrit-root note
svabhāva = sva (own) + bhāva (being/nature) — innate constitution; the senses' bondage to objects is constitutional, not incidental.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. The claim is a flat statement of the senses' svabhāva; the imaging of why the objects are not worth this fixation comes in 2.121.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: 2.120 → 2.121 (developed-further) — the senses find only objects delightful; 2.121 punctures the delight by showing the objects unreal.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 2.14 (echo) — grounds the verse's diagnosis: the bondage to the mātrā-sparśas is constitutional to the senses, which sets up the prescription to withdraw from what is merely anitya.
Modern application
- When you can't imagine joy that isn't a sense-pleasure. "Nothing else is delightful" — आणीक सर्वथा रम्य नाहीं — is exactly the felt horizon of a sense-run life: rest, food, screen, comfort exhaust the menu. The ovi names this not as truth but as the senses' bias.
- When "I just want to relax" always means a consumption. The svabhāva of the senses narrows "delight" to their objects. Noticing the narrowing is the first sight of a wider possibility (the ananda 2.111's parallel-abhang locates within).
- When boredom feels unbearable without input. The intolerance of object-less stillness is the इंद्रियांचा स्वभाव at work. The ovi reframes your restlessness as the senses' nature, not your verdict on reality.
Sādhanā
Today, sit for three minutes with no input — no phone, no food, no music — and watch the mind insist that nothing here is "delightful." Don't argue with it; just see the svabhāva declaring itself. That seeing is the practice.
Arc
2.120 says the senses find only their objects delightful; 2.121 dismantles the objects — they are unreal, like mirage-water and a dream-elephant.
Ovi 2.121
Original (Marathi): हे विषय तरी कैसे । रोहिणीचें जळ जैसें । कां स्वप्नींचा आभासे । भद्रजाति ॥१२१॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (expository; the rhetorical question कैसे frames the similes)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| हे विषय तरी कैसे | how, then, are these sense-objects? |
| रोहिणीचें जळ जैसें | like the water of a mirage (rohiṇī) |
| कां स्वप्नींचा आभासे | or like the appearance in a dream |
| भद्रजाति | a noble elephant (bhadra-jāti) |
Literal translation
English: And how are these sense-objects? Like the water of a mirage — or like a noble elephant appearing in a dream.
मराठी (आधुनिक): हे विषय तरी कसे आहेत? — मृगजळासारखे; किंवा स्वप्नात दिसणाऱ्या ऐटदार हत्तीसारखे.
Sanskrit-root note
rohiṇī — the shimmering false-water of a desert mirage (mṛga-tṛṣṇā); bhadra-jāti — the "noble breed" elephant, here one seen in a dream (svapna), present to perception and void in fact.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| रोहिणीचें जळ — mirage-water shimmering on the sand | The viṣayas as āgama-apāyin, anitya: vividly present to perception, yielding nothing when reached | The craving that looks like it will finally satisfy you — and evaporates the instant you act on it, leaving the same thirst |
| स्वप्नींचा भद्रजाति — a magnificent elephant seen in a dream | The objects as experientially convincing yet ontologically empty: real as experience, unreal as substance | The vivid pull of a thing you wanted in the night / in the scroll, fully felt, gone on waking, never having held anything |
Metaphor-family: mirage-water / dream-object (the anitya-unreality family). This is the cluster's central extended image, twinned (mirage + dream) for force. The jaisē (जैसें / कां) simile-frame is explicit. The mirage-water image for the impermanent recurs across Vedānta and devotional Marathi poetry.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. Mirage and dream are classical anitya/māyā illustrations, not Nātha cakra-esoterica.
Cross-references
- Internal: 2.121 → 2.122 (developed-further) — the unreality here yields the practical command there.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi — the substantive resolution-parallel arrives at 2.122)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 2.14 (paraphrase) — images āgama-apāyinaḥ anityāḥ (coming-and-going, impermanent) as the mirage-water and dream-elephant: perceptually present, ontologically void.
Modern application
- When a craving promises everything and delivers nothing. The wanting shimmers like रोहिणीचें जळ; you walk toward it and the water is not there — the same hunger remains. Recognizing the mirage before you chase it is the ovi's gift.
- When you "needed" something intensely and, having it, feel nothing. The acquired object was a स्वप्नींचा भद्रजाति — a dream-elephant, magnificent until you woke holding it. The let-down is not a failure; it is the object's nature showing.
- When you replay a fantasy as if it were real-in-waiting. The mind dwells in the dream-image as though it were substance. Naming it आभास — mere appearance — dissolves a surprising amount of its grip.
Sādhanā
Today, name one current craving and ask: "if I reach this, will the wanting end — or relocate?" Then recall one past "must-have" you got and how briefly it satisfied. Label the present craving: mirage-water. Watch its pull loosen by a degree.
Arc
2.121 establishes the objects' unreality (mirage, dream); 2.122 draws the conclusion the whole cluster was built for — seeing them so, spurn them and hold no attachment, O bowman.
Ovi 2.122
Original (Marathi): देखैं अनित्य तियापरी । म्हणौनि तूं अव्हेरीं । हा सर्वथा संगु न धरीं । धनुर्धरा ॥१२२॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (expository, voicing Kṛṣṇa's command; the vocative धनुर्धरा "O bowman" and imperatives अव्हेरीं / न धरीं render BG-2.14's titikṣasva + bhārata to the listener through Arjuna's address)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| देखैं अनित्य तियापरी | see them, impermanent (anitya), in that way |
| म्हणौनि तूं अव्हेरीं | therefore you spurn / reject them |
| हा सर्वथा संगु न धरीं | hold this contact (sanga) not at all |
| धनुर्धरा | O bowman (dhanurdhara — Arjuna) |
Literal translation
English: See them as impermanent in that way; therefore you — spurn them; hold this contact not at all, O bowman.
मराठी (आधुनिक): त्यांना तसं अनित्य बघ; म्हणून तू त्यांचा अव्हेर कर; हा संग मुळीच धरू नकोस, हे धनुर्धरा.
Sanskrit-root note
The Sanskrit titikṣasva (√tij desiderative — "bear with disciplined forbearance") is rendered by Jñāneśvar as a double command: अव्हेरीं (spurn) + संगु न धरीं (hold no attachment). His gloss makes titikṣā active non-clinging, not passive suffering.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. It is the prescription, stated as a direct double imperative; the image-work was done in 2.121.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. Dhanurdhara ("bowman") is the epic Arjuna-vocative, not an esoteric referent.
Cross-references
- Internal: 2.122 ↔ 2.111 (parallel-image, inverse) — the cure (spurn the objects, hold no sanga) exactly reverses the disease (the inner-organ seized by the senses) that opened the diagnostic block. The cluster is framed by this disease/cure inversion.
- Tukaram parallel: Abhang 4021 (same-no-viṣaya-stain-via-samatā) — समता त्यागुनियां क्रोधु ("through equanimity, anger renounced") and कदापि न घडे विषयाचा बाधु ("the affliction of sense-objects never happens"). This is the same resolution Jñāneśvar prescribes: meet the transient dvandvas with samatā and refuse to be stained or bound by viṣaya. Where BG-2.14/Jñāneśvar prescribe titikṣā toward the cold-heat-pleasure-pain pairs (अव्हेरीं + संगु न धरीं), Tukārām states the achieved state — for the Name-bearer the viṣaya-bādha simply never lands. (Both lines verified verbatim against corpus/4021.md.)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 2.14 (paraphrase) — renders anityāḥ … tāms titikṣasva: the anitya-qualifier (अनित्य तियापरी) and the imperative (titikṣasva → अव्हेरीं + संगु न धरीं), with धनुर्धरा rendering the closing bhārata Arjuna-address.
Modern application
- When you finally see a craving as a mirage — and now have to actually let it go. The seeing (2.121) is not enough; 2.122 adds the act: अव्हेरीं, spurn it. The decisive turning-away that follows the clear seeing.
- When you want to endure a hard feeling without either suppressing or indulging it. Jñāneśvar's titikṣā — neither grasp nor recoil, hold no sanga — is the exact middle the prescription names. Bearing is not gritting teeth; it is non-clinging.
- When equanimity is the only sane response to what you can't control. Cold and heat, praise and blame, gain and loss will keep coming. The command is not to fix them but to not hold the contact — to let them pass through without taking a stain (Tukārām's विषयाचा बाधु that never lands).
Sādhanā
Today, choose one minor pleasant-or-unpleasant sensation when it arises — a craving, an itch of irritation, a flush of wanting — and deliberately let it pass without acting on it, saying once: "impermanent; I hold no contact." One clean act of अव्हेर. Time it: just let it crest and fall, perhaps sixty seconds.
Arc
2.122 closes the cluster with the prescription (see them impermanent, spurn them, hold no attachment); the next śloka, BG-2.15, names the reward — the steadfast one whom these dvandvas do not disturb, equal in pleasure and pain, becomes fit for immortality.
Cluster summary
Core teaching: Cold-heat and pleasure-pain are only mātrā-sparśa — passing contacts of the senses with their objects — āgama-apāyin, coming and going, anitya, impermanent. They bind us only because the inner-organ is subject to the senses (indriyā-ādhīna-paṇa, 2.111), a subjection Jñāneśvar anatomizes gate by gate: the ear breeds aversion from blame and praise (2.114), touch breeds contentment-distress (2.115), sight pleasure-pain (2.116), smell revulsion-gratification (2.117), taste liking-revulsion (2.118), so that all sense-contact, when one is its subject, is a downfall (apabhramśa). The cure is to see the objects for what they are — mirage-water and a dream-elephant (2.121), present to perception and void in substance — and so to bear the dvandvas with equanimity: spurn them, hold no attachment (अव्हेरीं + संगु न धरीं, 2.122), Jñāneśvar's active rendering of the Sanskrit titikṣasva.
Chapter arc position: BG-2.14 sits in the Sānkhya-teaching block of adhyāya 2 (BG-2.11-30), as the practical corollary to the immortal-ātman teaching of BG-2.11-13. Having shown the embodied self imperishable through the body's age-succession (the very example Jñāneśvar reaches back to in 2.109-2.110), Kṛṣṇa now shows that what feels like the self's wounding — cold, heat, pleasure, pain — is only transient sense-contact to be endured with titikṣā. The cluster is the experiential bridge from metaphysics (the deathless witness) to ethics-of-practice (equanimity), the ground on which BG-2.48's definition of yoga as samatva will later stand.
Connects to BG-2.15: yam hi na vyathayanty ete puruṣam puruṣarṣabha — sama-duḥkha-sukham dhīram so 'mṛtatvāya kalpate. The next verse names the reward of this titikṣā: the steadfast one (dhīra) whom these dvandvas do not disturb, equal in pain and pleasure, becomes fit for immortality. BG-2.14's prescription to bear the sense-contacts flows directly into BG-2.15's promise that the one who bears them — equal-minded — is the one fit for the deathless.