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← Chapter 13: The Yoga of the Field and the Knower of the Field

Verse 13.9

Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit

इन्द्रियार्थेषु वैराग्यमनहङ्कार एव च | जन्ममृत्युजराव्याधिदुःखदोषानुदर्शनम् ||९||

Transliteration (IAST)

indriyārtheṣu vairāgyam anahaṅkāra eva ca | janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam ||9||

Word-by-Word Meanings

indriya-artheṣu-in sense objects
vairāgyam-dispassion/detachment
anahaṅkāraḥ-absence of egoism
janma-birth
mṛtyu-death
jarā-old age
vyādhi-disease
duḥkha-doṣa-anudarśanam-perception of evil in suffering

Translation

Detachment from sense objects, absence of egoism, and perception of the evil inherent in birth, death, old age, disease, and suffering -

Commentary

The list of knowledge-qualities continues with vairāgya (dispassion) and the contemplation of worldly suffering. Ramanuja emphasizes that seeing the defects in saṁsāra is not pessimism but clear-sightedness that motivates liberation. The absence of ego (anahaṅkāra) is the direct antidote to the fundamental misidentification with the body.

Themes

jnanamoksha