View source for The nonpermanent appearance of happiness & distress, & their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance & disappearance of winter & summer seasons. They arise from sense perception & one must learn to tolerate them (BG 2.14)

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{{terms|"the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed"|"the nonpermanent appearance of heat and cold, happiness and distress"}}
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{{compiler|Visnu Murti}}
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[[Category:Nonpermanent]]
[[Category:Appearance]]
[[Category:Happiness and Distress]]
[[Category:Their]]
[[Category:Disappearance]]
[[Category:Due Course of Time]]
[[Category:Winter]]
[[Category:Summer]]
[[Category:Season]]
[[Category:they]]
[[Category:Arise]]
[[Category:Sense Perception]]
[[Category:One Must]]
[[Category:Learn How To]]
[[Category:Tolerance]]
[[Category:Them]]
[[Category:Referenced Verses from Bhagavad-gita]]
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<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is" class="section" sec_index="0" parent="compilation" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is"><h2>Bhagavad-gita As It Is</h2>
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<div id="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is" text="BG Chapters 1 - 6"><h3>BG Chapters 1 - 6</h3>
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<div id="BG214_0" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="53" link="BG 2.14" link_text="BG 2.14">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.14|BG 2.14, Translation and Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.</p>
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<div class="purport text"><p>In the proper discharge of duty, one has to learn to tolerate nonpermanent appearances and disappearances of happiness and distress. According to Vedic injunction, one has to take his bath early in the morning even during the month of Māgha (January-February). It is very cold at that time, but in spite of that a man who abides by the religious principles does not hesitate to take his bath. Similarly, a woman does not hesitate to cook in the kitchen in the months of May and June, the hottest part of the summer season. One has to execute his duty in spite of climatic inconveniences. Similarly, to fight is the religious principle of the kṣatriyas, and although one has to fight with some friend or relative, one should not deviate from his prescribed duty. One has to follow the prescribed rules and regulations of religious principles in order to rise up to the platform of knowledge, because by knowledge and devotion only can one liberate himself from the clutches of māyā (illusion).</p>
<p>The two different names of address given to Arjuna are also significant. To address him as Kaunteya signifies his great blood relations from his mother's side; and to address him as Bhārata signifies his greatness from his father's side. From both sides he is supposed to have a great heritage. A great heritage brings responsibility in the matter of proper discharge of duties; therefore, he cannot avoid fighting.</p>
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<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam" class="section" sec_index="1" parent="compilation" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam"><h2>Srimad-Bhagavatam</h2>
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<div id="SB_Canto_4" class="sub_section" sec_index="4" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 4"><h3>SB Canto 4</h3>
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<div id="SB42935_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_4" book="SB" index="1262" link="SB 4.29.35" link_text="SB 4.29.35">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 4.29.35|SB 4.29.35, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">As stated in the Vedas, the living entity is always separate from two kinds of material bodies—the subtle and the gross. All our sufferings are due to these material bodies. This is explained in Bhagavad-gītā (2.14):</p>
:mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
:śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
:āgamāpāyino 'nityās
:tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata
<p>"O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed." Lord Kṛṣṇa thus informed Arjuna that all the distresses brought about by the body come and go. One has to learn how to tolerate them. Material existence is the cause of all our sufferings, for we do not suffer once we are out of the material condition.</p>
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<div id="SB_Canto_5" class="sub_section" sec_index="5" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 5"><h3>SB Canto 5</h3>
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<div id="SB5530_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_5" book="SB" index="132" link="SB 5.5.30" link_text="SB 5.5.30">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 5.5.30|SB 5.5.30, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says: deha-smṛti nāhi yāra, saṁsāra bandhana kāhāṅ tāra. When a person fully realizes that the material body and world are temporary, he is not concerned with pain and pleasures of the body. As Śrī Kṛṣṇa advises in Bhagavad-gītā (2.14):</p>
:mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
:śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
:āgamāpāyino 'nityās
:tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata
<p>"O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed."</p>
<p>As far as Ṛṣabhadeva is concerned, it has already been explained: idaṁ śarīraṁ mama durvibhāvyam. He did not at all possess a material body; and therefore He was tolerant of all the trouble offered to Him by the bad elements in society. Consequently He could tolerate people's throwing stool and dust upon Him and beating Him. His body was transcendental and consequently did not at all suffer pain. He was always situated in His spiritual bliss.</p>
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<div id="SB_Canto_6" class="sub_section" sec_index="6" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 6"><h3>SB Canto 6</h3>
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<div id="SB611314_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_6" book="SB" index="13" link="SB 6.1.13-14" link_text="SB 6.1.13-14">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 6.1.13-14|SB 6.1.13-14, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">In text 14 the word dhīrāḥ, meaning "those who are undisturbed under all circumstances," is very significant. Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna in Bhagavad-gītā (2.14):</p>
:mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
:śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
:āgamāpāyino 'nityās
:tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata
<p>"O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed." In material life there are many disturbances (adhyātmika, adhidaivika and adhibhautika). One who has learned to tolerate these disturbances under all circumstances is called dhīra.</p>
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<div id="SB6161819_1" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_6" book="SB" index="597" link="SB 6.16.18-19" link_text="SB 6.16.18-19">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 6.16.18-19|SB 6.16.18-19, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The word mātrā is explained in the Medinī dictionary as follows: mātrā karṇa-vibhūṣāyāṁ vitte māne paricchade. The word mātrā, in its different imports, is used to indicate the decoration of the ear, possession, respect, and the possession of a covering. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (2.14):</p>
:mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
:śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
:āgamāpāyino 'nityās
:tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata
<p>"O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed." In the conditioned state of life, the body is used as our dress, and as one needs different dresses during the summer and winter, we conditioned souls are changing bodies according to our desires. However, because the body of the Supreme Lord is full of knowledge, it needs no covering. The idea that Kṛṣṇa's body is like ours—in other words, that His body and soul are different—is a misunderstanding.</p>
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<div id="SB_Canto_9" class="sub_section" sec_index="9" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 9"><h3>SB Canto 9</h3>
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<div id="SB91327_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_9" book="SB" index="471" link="SB 9.13.27" link_text="SB 9.13.27">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 9.13.27|SB 9.13.27, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">In the world of duality—that is to say, in the material world—so-called goodness and badness are both the same. Therefore, in this world, to distinguish between good and bad, happiness and distress, is meaningless because they are both mental concoctions (manodharma). Because everything here is miserable and troublesome, to create an artificial situation and pretend it to be full of happiness is simply illusion. The liberated person, being above the influence of the three modes of material nature, is unaffected by such dualities in all circumstances. He remains Kṛṣṇa conscious by tolerating so-called happiness and distress. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (2.14):</p>
:mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
:śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkhadāḥ
:āgamāpāyino 'nityās
:tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata
<p>"O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed." Those who are liberated, being on the transcendental platform of rendering service to the Lord, do not care about so-called happiness and distress. They know that these are like changing seasons, which are perceivable by contact with the material body. Happiness and distress come and go. Therefore a paṇḍita, a learned man, is not concerned with them. As it is said, gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 2.11|BG 2.11]]). The body is dead from the very beginning because it is a lump of matter. It has no feelings of happiness and distress.</p>
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<div id="SB_Canto_101_to_1013" class="sub_section" sec_index="10" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13"><h3>SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13</h3>
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<div id="SB10159_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_10.1_to_10.13" book="SB" index="56" link="SB 10.1.59" link_text="SB 10.1.59">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 10.1.59|SB 10.1.59, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The word samatvam is very significant in this verse. Samatvam refers to one who is always equipoised, unaffected by either happiness or distress. Vasudeva was so steadily equipoised that he did not seem in the least agitated when delivering his first-born child into the hands of Kaṁsa to be killed. In Bhagavad-gītā (2.56) it is said, duḥkheṣv anudvigna-manāḥ sukheṣu vigata-spṛhaḥ. In the material world, one should not be very eager to be happy, nor should one be very much disturbed by material distress. Lord Kṛṣṇa advised Arjuna:</p>
:mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
:śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
:āgamāpāyino 'nityās
:tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata
<p>"O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed." ([[Vanisource:BG 2.14|BG 2.14]]) The self-realized soul is never disturbed by so-called distress or happiness, and this is especially true of an exalted devotee like Vasudeva, who showed this by his practical example. Vasudeva was not at all disturbed when delivering his first child to Kaṁsa to be killed.</p>
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Lectures" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures"><h3>Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonBG21317LosAngelesNovember291968_0" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="67" link="Lecture on BG 2.13-17 -- Los Angeles, November 29, 1968" link_text="Lecture on BG 2.13-17 -- Los Angeles, November 29, 1968">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 2.13-17 -- Los Angeles, November 29, 1968|Lecture on BG 2.13-17 -- Los Angeles, November 29, 1968]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Yes. A man is crying, "Oh, my father is dead," or "My friend is dead, my..." so on, so on, crying. But one who is dhīra he knows, "What is this death? He has changed his body, so there is no question of lamentation." So how much spiritual education required to come to this point? Yes, go on.</p>
<p>Madhudviṣa: "O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of heat and cold, happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course are like the appearance of winter and summer season. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed."</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Now the question is, "Yes, I understand that my grandfather is spirit soul and this body is material. Still, by nature I'll be unhappy if my grandfather is killed and my teacher is killed. I'll be unhappy." So Kṛṣṇa is instructing Arjuna that this kind of unhappiness, distress, is this world. You cannot avoid it. These are necessary distresses. The example He's giving that severe cold. In the winter season, in the month of January or some month, the winter is very severe, intolerable. Sometimes somewhere it is below 30 degrees zero. But what is to be done? The people in such part of the world who live... Just like in Canada it goes sometimes 30 degrees below zero. Does it mean that they'll close their offices and work and everything? No. Everything is going on as usual. One has to tolerate. That's all. In India also, in India and other parts of the eastern countries. Just like Arabia, Iraq or... During summertime, the temperature is 135. You cannot imagine 135. In India we have experienced temperature, I have experienced up to 118 degrees. Not always, unusually. But 110 degree is usual during summertime, 110 degree. Usual temperature. So does it mean... The scorching heat, you cannot get out on the street. But still, one has to go to office, one has to go to work. There are some cases of heat stroke. Still, nobody can stop his duty. "Similarly, even if you think that by discharging your duty as a warrior, as a kṣatriya, your grandfather will be killed or... Of course, there is no cause of lamentation. He'll get another new body. But even if you think, if your bodily concept is so strong, if you are sorry, so you have to, I mean to say, tolerate. Just one has to tolerate extreme heat and extreme cold." There is no cause of crying, "Oh, there is extreme heat, extreme heat." What you'll do? That is nature's law. Extreme heat—everyone is cooking. Nobody says, "Oh, today is extreme heat. I cannot cook." No. Everybody is cooking, although there is suffering. Similarly, there is extreme cold, but everyone is taking bath in the Ganges. Nobody says, "Oh, I'll not take bath. So duty has to be done. There may be some suffering, temporary. Even though... Kṛṣṇa never says, "Oh, my dear Arjuna, you are My friend. All right, you are feeling so much sorry. All right, I shall do it for you. You sit down, silent." No. Kṛṣṇa never says that. "You have to do it." Although He says that "This battle is arranged by Me. They're already killed. Nobody is going back. Still, you have to do it."</p>
<p>So our duty, persons who are Kṛṣṇa consciousness, engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they should always know that everything is to be done by Kṛṣṇa. We cannot do anything without Kṛṣṇa's sanction. But still, we have to do our own duty. Not that, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa will do everything. Therefore we shall not try for a storefront or we shall not go to see this man or... Kṛṣṇa..." No! That is lethargy. You have to do your own duty. But result, depend on Kṛṣṇa.</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG214LondonAugust201973_1" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="68" link="Lecture on BG 2.14 -- London, August 20, 1973" link_text="Lecture on BG 2.14 -- London, August 20, 1973">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 2.14 -- London, August 20, 1973|Lecture on BG 2.14 -- London, August 20, 1973]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Pradyumna: Translation: "O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed ([[Vanisource:BG 2.14|BG 2.14]])."</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: This is very important verse. In the previous verse it has been described, dehino 'smin yathā dehe ([[Vanisource:BG 2.13|BG 2.13]]). Actually we living entities, we are within the body. The bodily pains and pleasure are not the pains and pleasure of the soul within. It is simply abhiniveśa. It is called abhiniveśa, absorption or misidentify. The example I have given many times. Just like you are sitting in a nice motorcar; another man is sitting on a rickshaw. I have seen in India. So the rickshaw has come in front of the nice motorcar, and the driver is asking that man who is drawing the rickshaw, "You rickshaw!" Means he is thinking, he is sitting in a nice motorcar, so he has become a motor, and the man who is drawing the rickshaw, he has become rickshaw. This is the position. Actually the man who is drawing the rickshaw, he is also human being. And the man who is sitting in a nice Rolls Royce car, he is also human being. But the rascal, because he is sitting on a Rolls Royce car, he is thinking, "I am a Rolls Royce, and he is rickshaw." This is material conception of life, that according to the body, we are becoming designated, not as the soul. Just try to understand this very good example. Because that poor fellow is drawing rickshaw, he has been taken as rickshaw. And because I am sitting in a Rolls Royce car, I am thinking, "I am Rolls Royce."</p>
<p>So this bodily conception of life, when we get out of it, that is real knowledge, paṇḍita. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ.</p>
:vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
:brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
:śuni caiva śva-pāke ca
:paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ
:([[Vanisource:BG 5.18|BG 5.18]])
<p>Paṇḍita means those who are learned. Learned means brāhmaṇa, not śūdra. Śūdras, they are not learned. Mlecchas, yavanas, śūdras, kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra ([[Vanisource:SB 2.4.18|SB 2.4.18]]), so many. Learned means brāhmaṇa. Learned means that one who knows that Brahman. Brahman, the spirit soul, is part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman. So one who has come to that knowledge, that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul; ahaṁ brahmāsmi," that is knowledge. Knowledge begins from there. If one does not reach to that point, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, then he is animal. The animal thinking like that, "I am rickshaw," "I am motorcar," "I am cat," "I am dog," "I am this," "I am that." That is animal thinking. But a person... Learned thinking is that "I am not this body; I am part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman, ahaṁ brahmāsmi." And when you are farther advanced from Brahman knowledge... The knowledge begins from there. When you make further advancement, then you can understand that "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa." This is perfect knowledge. First of all knowledge begins that "I am not this body."</p>
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