Chapter 13, Verse 9
इन्द्रियार्थेषु वैराग्यमनहंकार एव च | जन्ममृत्युजराव्याधिदुःखदोषानुदर्शनम् ||१३-९||
indriyārtheṣu vairāgyamanahaṃkāra eva ca . janmamṛtyujarāvyādhiduḥkhadoṣānudarśanam ||13-9||
Meaning
13.9 Indifference to the objects of the senses and also absence of egoism; perception of (or reflection on) the evil in birth, death, old age, sickness and pain.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna continues the portrait of wisdom-in-action with dispassion (vairagya) toward sense-objects and the dissolving of egoism (anahankara). This is not cold rejection of the world but a quiet loosening of our compulsive craving for pleasant sensations, which frees attention for deeper realities. As the ego's demands soften, clarity grows.
He then commends honest reflection on the inescapable sorrows of embodied life — birth, death, old age, sickness, and the pain woven through them. Far from morbid, this contemplation (anudarshana) is sobering and clarifying. By steadily acknowledging that no bodily comfort lasts, we stop staking our happiness on what must decay and turn instead toward the deathless knower. Seeing life's fragility clearly is, paradoxically, the doorway to peace, because it redirects our longing from the perishable field to the imperishable self.
💡 Key Takeaway
Honestly facing life's impermanence loosens craving and turns the heart toward what cannot decay.
Related Verses
ऋषिभिर्बहुधा गीतं छन्दोभिर्विविधैः पृथक् | ब्रह्मसूत्रपदैश्चैव हेतुमद्भिर्विनिश्चितैः ||१३-५||
ṛṣibhirbahudhā gītaṃ chandobhirvividhaiḥ pṛthak . brahmasūtrapadaiścaiva hetumadbhirviniścitaiḥ ||13-5||
13.5 Sages have sung in many ways, in various distinctive chants and also in the suggestive words indicative of the Absolute, full of reasoning and decisive.
महाभूतान्यहंकारो बुद्धिरव्यक्तमेव च | इन्द्रियाणि दशैकं च पञ्च चेन्द्रियगोचराः ||१३-६||
mahābhūtānyahaṃkāro buddhiravyaktameva ca . indriyāṇi daśaikaṃ ca pañca cendriyagocarāḥ ||13-6||
13.6 The great elements, egoism, intellect, and also the Unmanifested Nature, the ten senses and one (mind), and the five objects of the senses.
अध्यात्मज्ञाननित्यत्वं तत्त्वज्ञानार्थदर्शनम् | एतज्ज्ञानमिति प्रोक्तमज्ञानं यदतोऽन्यथा ||१३-१२||
adhyātmajñānanityatvaṃ tattvajñānārthadarśanam . etajjñānamiti proktamajñānaṃ yadato.anyathā ||13-12||
13.12 Constancy in Self-knowledge, perception of the end of true knowledge this is declared to be knowledge, and what is opposed to it is ignorance.