A core teaching · reflective in mood · a little context helps
“Freedom begins when desire stops dressing suffering as reward.”
Dispassion toward sense objects, absence of ego, and constant seeing of the fault in birth, death, old age, and disease.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallyin sense objects · dispassion · ego · indeed · and · birth · death · old age · disease · suffering · seeing the fault repeatedly
Let go of craving for sensory pleasures, drop ego, and keep seeing how birth, death, old age, and illness bring suffering.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga" (Field and Knower of the Field).
Verse 9 sits in Chapter 13 of the Bhagavad Gita — Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga, "Field and Knower of the Field". The chapter has 35 verses in total.
Visiting a grandfather in a care home, you see what age does to a strong body. Krishna counts that clear look at birth, death, old age and illness as part of knowledge, along with less ego and craving.
Did you like this verse?
Krishna asks for dispassion toward sense objects, no ego, and a steady look at birth, death, old age, disease.
What this verse means
Let go of craving for sensory pleasures, drop ego, and keep seeing how birth, death, old age, and illness bring suffering.
Context & commentary
Krishna continues listing the qualities that reveal true understanding. Here, he points to dispassion, humility, and clear sight of life's unavoidable suffering.
What it looks like today
Visiting a grandfather in a care home, you see what age does to a strong body. Krishna counts that clear look at birth, death, old age and illness as part of knowledge, along with less ego and craving.
“Clinging loosens when you stop romanticizing what inevitably breaks.”
Explore related themes: vairagya (51 verses)