Shloka

विषया विनिवर्तन्ते निराहारस्य देहिनः |
रसवर्जं रसोऽप्यस्य परं दृष्ट्वा निवर्तते ||२-५९||

Transliteration

viṣayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ .
rasavarjaṃ raso.apyasya paraṃ dṛṣṭvā nivartate ||2-59||

Translations

Dr.S.Sankaranarayan

2.59. Leaving their taste [behind], the sense-objects retreat from the embodied who abstain from food; his taste too disappears when he sees the Supreme.

Shri Purohit Swami

2.59 The objects of sense turn from him who is abstemious. Even the relish for them is lost in him who has seen the Truth.

Sri Abhinav Gupta

2.59 Visayah etc. Of course, in his (ascetic’s) case there is no contact with sense-objects, colour and the rest that are enjoyable. Yet, the sense-obects retreat [from him] leaving a taste in the form of longing that exists in his internal organ. Hence he is not a man-of-stabilized-intellect. Some (commentators) say that ’taste’ denotes the sweetness etc., of the objects of experience. But, in the case of a man of Yoga there exists no longing as he has seen the Supreme Lord. On the other hand, in the case of the other, i.e. an ascetic, this does not retreat (disappear).

Sri Ramanuja

2.59 The sense objects are the food of the senses. From the abstinent embodied being, i.e., from one who has withdrawn his senses from objects, these sense-objects, being rejected by him, turn away, but not the relish for them. Relish means hankering. The meaning is that the hankering for the sense-objects does not go away by abstinence alone. But even this hankering will go away, when one sees that the essential nature of the self is superior to the sense-objects and that the realisation of this self gives greater happiness than the enjoyment of sense-objects.

Sri Shankaracharya

2.59 Although visayah, the objects, (i.e.) the organs, figuratively implied and expressed by the word ‘objects’, or, the objects themselves; vinivartante, recede; niraharasya dehinah, from an abstinent man, from an embodied being, even from a fool who engages in painful austerity and abstains from objects; (still, they do so) rasavarjam, with the exception of the taste (for them), with the exception of the hankering that one has for objects. The word rasa is well known as referring to the sense of taste (hankering), as in such expressions as, ‘sva-rasena pravrttah, induced by his own taste (i.e. willingly)’, ‘rasikah, a man of tastes’, ‘rasajnah, a connoisseur (of tastes)’, etc. Api, even that; rasah, taste of the nature of subtle attachment; asya, of this person, of the sannyasin; nivartate, falls away, i.e. his objective perception becomes seedless; when drstva, after attaining; param, the Absolute, the Reality which is the supreme Goal, Brahman, he continues in life with the realization, ‘I verily am That (Brahman).’ In the absence of full realization there can be no eradication of the ‘hankering’. The idea conveyed is that, one should therefore stabilize one’s wisdom which is characterized by full realization. [If it be held that attachment cannot be eliminated without the knowledge of Brahman, and at the same time that the knowledge of Brahman cannot arise until attachment is eradicated, then we get involved in a vicious circle. In answer it is said that gross attachments are eliminated through discrimination which restrains the senses from being overpowered by objects. And the full Knowledge arising thereof eliminates the subtle inclinations as well. Hence there is no vicious circle involved.] Since the organs have to be first brought under his own control by one who desires to establish firmly the wisdom which is characterized by full realization, therefore the Lord speaks of the evil that arises from not keeping them under control:

Swami Adidevananda

2.59 The objects of senses, excepting relish for the objects, turn away from the abstinent dweller in the body. Even the relish turns aswy from him when what is supreme over the senses i.e., the self, is seen.

Swami Gambirananda

2.59 The objects recede from an abstinent man, with the exception of the taste (for them). Even the taste of this person falls away after realization the Absolute.

Swami Sivananda

2.59 The objects of the senses turn away from the abstinent man leaving the longing (behind); but his longing also turns away on seeing the Supreme.

Commentaries

Swami Sivananda

2.59 विषयाः the objects of senses? विनिवर्तन्ते turn away? निराहारस्य abstinent? देहिनः of the man? रसवर्जम् leaving the longing? रसः loving (taste)? अपि even? अस्य of his? परम् the Supreme? दृष्ट्वा having seen? निवर्तते turns away.Commentary Knowledge of the Self alone can destroy in toto the subtle Vasanas (latent tendencies) and all the subtle desires? all subtle attachments and even the longing for objects. By practising severe austerities? by abandoning the sensual objects? the objects of the senses may turn away from the ascetic but the relish or taste or longing for the objects will still remain.