Bhagavad Gita 5.22

ye hi saḿsparśa-jā bhogā
duḥkha-yonaya eva te
ādy-antavantaḥ kaunteya
na teṣu ramate budhaḥ

Translation of Bhagavad Gita 5.22

An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kunti, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them.

Commentary by Sri A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada of Gaudiya Sampradaya:

Material sense pleasures are due to the contact of the material senses, which are all temporary because the body itself is temporary. A liberated soul is not interested in anything which is temporary. Knowing well the joys of transcendental pleasures, how can a liberated soul agree to enjoy false pleasure? In the Padma Purana it is said:

ramante yogino ’nante
satyanande cid-atmani
iti rama-padenasau
param brahmabhidhiyate

“The mystics derive unlimited transcendental pleasures from the Absolute Truth, and therefore the Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is also known as Rama.”

In the Srimad-Bhagavatam also (5.5.1) it is said:

nayam deho deha-bhajam nr-loke
kastan kaman arhate vid-bhujam ye
tapo divyam putraka yena sattvam
suddhyed yasmad brahma-saukhyam tv anantam

“My dear sons, there is no reason to labor very hard for sense pleasure while in this human form of life; such pleasures are available to the stool-eaters [hogs]. Rather, you should undergo penances in this life by which your existence will be purified, and as a result you will be able to enjoy unlimited transcendental bliss.”

Therefore, those who are true yogis or learned transcendentalists are not attracted by sense pleasures, which are the causes of continuous material existence. The more one is addicted to material pleasures, the more he is entrapped by material miseries.

Commentary by Sri Vishvanatha Chakravarthi Thakur of Gaudiya Sampradaya:

An intelligent person (budhah) does not attach himself to material pleasure.

Commentary by Sri Ramanuja of Sri Sampradaya:

5.22 Those pleasures which result from the contact of sense objects with the senses, are the wombs of pain, i.e., have pain as their ultimate fruit ‘They have a beginning and an end,’ i.e., they are seen to remain only for a brief period and the reaction that follows their cessation is painful. He who knows what they themselves are, i.e., know themselves as Atman, will not find pleasure in them.

Commentary by Sri Sridhara Swami of Rudra Sampradaya:

The question may be raised that if moksa or liberation from material existence leads to the cessation of enjoyment of the senses how can it be considered as desirable for humans? Anticipating such a doubt Lord Krishna reiterates that pleasures which come from contact with the objects of the senses can be a source misery even at the time of enjoyment. These pleasures are difficult to gain because they are fleeting and fickle. They are difficult to maintain because they are wanton and frivolous and they are difficult to sustain due to competition, jealousy, reprisals, etc. Because all pleasure is temporary having a beginning and an end; the discriminating individual does not become attached and hanker for them.

Commentary by Sri Madhvacharya of Brahma Sampradaya:

For achieving renunciation, desire for enjoyment of the senses is detrimental and censured

Commentary by Sri Keshava Kashmiri of Kumara Sampradaya:

It can be understood how a person being free from desires is no longer attached to sensual pleasures and focusing within and realising the atma or eternal soul is able to experience unlimited bliss. But the question which may be raised is how can one become unattached to the desire for sensual pleasures from the very beginning? Lord Krishna explains that all pleasures in the material world have a beginning and an end. When pleasures are first enjoyed they give an acute illusion of happiness but due to indomitable time when such pleasures come to an end as they all must they are the cause of acute misery. For this reason the spiritually intelligent who are endowed with the faculty of discriminative knowledge do not indulge in sense pleasures knowing them to be temporary and binding.

Commentary by Sri Adi Shankaracharya of Advaita Sampradaya:

5.22 Hi, since; bhogah, enjoyments; ye samsparsajah, that result from contact with objects, that arise from contact between the objects and the organs; are eva, verily; duhkha-yonayah, sources of sorrow, because they are creations of ignorance. It is certainly a matter of experience that physical and other sorrows are created by that itself. By the use of the word eva (verily), it is understood that, as it happens here in this world, so does it even in the other world. Realizing that there is not the least trace of happiness in the world, one should withdraw the organs from the objects which are comparable to a mirage. Not only are they sources of sorrow, they also adi-antavantah, have a beginning and an end. Adi (beginning) of enjoyments consists in the contact between objects and senses, and their end (anta), indeed, is the loss of that contact. Hence, they have a beginning and an end, they are impermanent, being present in the intervening moment. This is the meaning. (Therefore) O son of Kunti, budhah, the wise one, the discriminating person who has realized the Reality which is the supreme Goal; na ramate, does not delight; tesu, in them, in enjoyments. For delight in objects is seen only in very foolish beings, as for instance in animals etc. This extremely painful evil, which is opposed to the path of Bliss and is the source of getting all miseries, is difficult to resist. Therefore one must make the utmost effort to avoid it. Hence the Lord says:;

Commentary by Sri Abhinavagupta of Kaula Tantra Sampradaya:

5.22 Ye hi etc. He considers indeed as follows : ‘All enjoyments born of the external objects are in the form of causes of misery; and even otherwise , they are impermanent’.

Sanskrit Shloka Without Transliteration Marks:

ye hi samsparsa-ja bhoga
duhkha-yonaya eva te
ady-antavantah kaunteya
na tesu ramate budhah

Sanskrit to English Word for Word Meanings:

ye — those; hi — certainly; saḿsparśa-jāḥ — by contact with the material senses; bhogāḥ — enjoyments; duḥkha — distress; yonayaḥ — sources of; eva — certainly; te — they are; ādi — beginning; anta — end; vantaḥ — subject to; kaunteya — O son of Kuntī; na — never; teṣu — in those; ramate — takes delight; budhaḥ — the intelligent person.