Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 5, Verse 22

ये हि संस्पर्शजा भोगा दुःखयोनय एव ते । आद्यन्तवन्तः कौन्तेय न तेषु रमते बुधः

ye hi saṃsparśajā bhogā duḥkhayonaya eva te | ādyantavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ

Translation

For, those delights which are born of contacts are only generators of pain, having a beginning and an end, O son of Kuntī; a wise man rejoices not in them.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

ye

(those) which

hi

indeed

saṃsparśajāḥ

contact-born

bhogāḥ

enjoyments

duḥkhayonayaḥ

of sorrow, wombs

eva

only

te

those

ādyantavantaḥ

having beginning and end

kaunteya

O Kaunteya

na

not

teṣu

in those

ramate

rejoices

budhaḥ

the wise

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

The pleasures that are caused by contacts of the senses with sense-objects are only generators of pain, since those delights are caused by nescience (avidyā). All troubles arising in the body (ādhyātmika), etc., are traceable to them only. As in this world, so in the other. Seeing that there is no trace of joy in the saṃsāra, the devotee should withdraw the senses from the mirage of sense-objects. The delights also have a beginning and an end. The contact of a sense with its object marks the beginning of a pleasure, and their separation its end. Delights are temporary, occurring in the moment of interval between the origin and the end. A man who possesses discrimination and who has realised the Supreme Reality does not rejoice in them.