Chapter 2 · Knowledge of the Self
Bhagavad Gita 2.14
They come and go; bear them.
Shri Bhagavan
मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः ।
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥
mātrāsparśāstu kaunteya śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkhadāḥ / āgamāpāyino’nityāstāṁstitikṣasva bhārata
Kaunteya, contact with things brings cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and they go. They do not last. Bear them, Bharata.
हिंदी · हे कौंतेय, विषयों का स्पर्श ही सर्दी-गर्मी और सुख-दुःख देता है। वे आते हैं और चले जाते हैं, टिकते नहीं। हे भारत, उन्हें सह लो।
What it means
They come and go; bear them.
Contact with the world brings cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They arrive and they pass; they are not permanent. Endure them, Arjuna.
This is the Trust’s own reading, written for this site. The verse above it is the text.
Where this verse stands
The Self and the changing body
Chapter 22.11–30
Krishna establishes the enduring Self and challenges grief grounded in mistaking the perishable for the whole person.
This verse belongs to the middle development of the movement.
Verses that share its vocabulary
Near it in the text’s own words.
- 2.15Best of men, the one whom these do not trouble — steady, the same in pain and in pleasure — he is fit for what does not die.
- 2.38Treat pleasure and pain alike, gain and loss alike, victory and defeat alike, and then prepare for the fight. That way you take on no wrong.
- 2.56Untroubled in sorrow, without craving in happiness, free of longing, fear and anger — such a person is called a sage of steady understanding.
- 6.7In one who has mastered himself and is at peace, the highest self stays settled — through cold and heat, pleasure and pain, honour and dishonour alike.
- 6.32The one who measures everything by himself, Arjuna, and sees the pleasure and pain of others as he sees his own, is held to be the highest yogi.
- 10.4Intelligence, knowledge, clarity free of delusion, forbearance, truth, restraint of the senses, calm of mind, pleasure and pain, coming to be and ceasing to be, fear and also fearlessness —
Chosen by shared uncommon vocabulary, weighted so that a rare word counts for far more than a common one. A reading aid, not a claim that these verses mean the same thing.
Common questions
What does Bhagavad Gita 2.14 mean?
They come and go; bear them. Contact with the world brings cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They arrive and they pass; they are not permanent. Endure them, Arjuna.
Who speaks Bhagavad Gita 2.14?
Shri Bhagavan. The speaker is taken from the text’s own उवाच line as transcribed, not inferred from the verse number.