5.22 Wombs of pain Krishna speaks
ये हि संस्पर्शजा भोगा दुःखयोनय एव ते
आद्यन्तवन्तः कौन्तेय न तेषु रमते बुधः
ye hi sansparśha-jā bhogā duḥkha-yonaya eva te
ādyantavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣhu ramate budhaḥ
The pleasures born of contact are wombs of pain. They begin and they end, son of Kunti; the wise do not delight in them.
Explanation
Wombs of pain.
duḥkha-yonayaḥ — the pleasures born of contact are where suffering gets born. Not pleasures are bad: the claim is structural.
The reason follows immediately, and it is the same one 5.21 implied — they begin and they end. Anything with edges produces the ache of its own edges, and that is the whole indictment.
Going further
Word by word
- ye
- which
- hi
- verily
- sansparśha-jāḥ
- born of contact with the sense objects
- bhogāḥ
- pleasures
- duḥkha
- misery
- yonayaḥ
- source of
- eva
- verily
- te
- they are
- ādya-antavantaḥ
- having beginning and end
- kaunteya
- Arjun, the son of Kunti
- na
- never
- teṣhu
- in those
- ramate
- takes delight
- budhaḥ
- the wise
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Duḥkha-yonayaḥ — wombs of pain. The pleasures born of contact are where suffering gets born.
Not pleasures are bad. The claim is structural: anything with a beginning and an end produces the ache of its ending as a matter of course. The wise are described as not delighting in them, which is different from not having them.