2.70 As rivers enter the ocean Krishna speaks
आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत्
तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी
āpūryamāṇam achala-pratiṣhṭhaṁ
samudram āpaḥ praviśhanti yadvat
tadvat kāmā yaṁ praviśhanti sarve
sa śhāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī
As rivers enter the ocean, which is filled and yet unmoved at its foundation, so all desires enter the one who is at peace.
Explanation
As rivers enter the ocean.
The chapter that opened with a man shaking on a battlefield closes with the sea.
Rivers pour in constantly and the ocean is filled and yet unmoved at its foundation. Desires are not stopped from arriving. There is simply somewhere large enough for them to arrive into.
Going further
Word by word
- āpūryamāṇam
- filled from all sides
- achala-pratiṣhṭham
- undisturbed
- samudram
- ocean
- āpaḥ
- waters
- praviśhanti
- enter
- yadvat
- as
- tadvat
- likewise
- kāmāḥ
- desires
- yam
- whom
- praviśhanti
- enter
- sarve
- all
- saḥ
- that person
- śhāntim
- peace
- āpnoti
- attains
- na
- not
- kāma-kāmī
- one who strives to satisfy desires
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The chapter that opened with a man shaking on a battlefield closes with the sea.
Rivers pour in constantly and the ocean does not rise. Krishna is not describing someone who has stopped wanting things — desires still arrive, endlessly, exactly as the rivers do. He is describing someone in whom their arrival no longer causes a flood.
Read it as an answer to 1.29, where Arjuna's bow slipped from his hand. This is what the other end of that looks like.