Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 14

मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः । आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत

mātrāsparśāstu kaunteya śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkhadāḥ | āgamāpāyino'nityāstāṃstitikṣasva bhārata

Translation

The sense-contacts it is, O son of Kuntī, which cause heat and cold, pleasure and pain; they come and go, they are impermanent. Them endure bravely, O descendant of Bharata.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

mātrāsparśāḥ

of the matter, the touches

tu

indeed

kaunteya

O Kaunteya

śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkhadāḥ

cold, and, heat, and, pleasure, and, pain, and, give, thus

āgamāpāyinaḥ

coming, and, going, and, whose, they

anityāḥ

transitory

tān

these

titikṣasva

bear (thou)

bhārata

O Bhārata

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

The senses are those of hearing and the rest, by which sound and other things are perceived. It is the contacts of the senses with their objects — sound and the rest — or, on another reading, the senses and the sense-objects together, which produce heat and cold, pleasure and pain. Cold is pleasant at one time and painful at another; heat is likewise of an inconstant nature. But pleasure and pain in their own natures as pleasure and pain are constant. Wherefore heat and cold are mentioned separately. Because these sense-contacts have by nature a beginning and an end, they are not permanent. Endure them bravely, heat and cold and the rest; give not thyself up to joy or grief on their account. Arjuna is addressed here both as "son of Kuntī" and as "descendant of Bharata" to show that he alone is fit to receive the teaching who is well-descended on both the father's and the mother's side.