Ye Hi Samsparsha-ja Bhogah

Krishna addresses Arjuna directly: O Kaunteya, pleasures born from the contact of senses with their objects are in fact sources of suffering. They have a beginning and they have an end. A wise person does not get absorbed in them.

The craving for sweets is a good example. The desire comes, the sweet is eaten, the taste is enjoyed — but within minutes the pleasure fades and hunger returns. The joy was fleeting. Whoever recognizes this does not get caught in that cycle.

This shloka presents the opposite side of 5.21. There, Krishna described the imperishable joy within. Here, he describes the perishable nature of external pleasures. Tradition sees this not as a command to give up enjoyment, but as a clear-eyed observation of reality — the basis for genuine vairagya (dispassion).