“Desires, though constantly indulged, never reach satisfaction.”
The verse: Bhartrihari Vairagya Shataka 5
The quote above is our paraphrase. This is the verse as it reads in the B. Hale Wortham translation (1886):
“I have wandered over lands crossed with difficulty, but I have gained no fruit; I have put away from me my pride of family; I have performed services that have profited me nothing; I have cast off my self-respect, and have eaten like a crow in a stranger's house. But yet, desire! thou dost still increase, ever given to evil, and art never satisfied.”
About the poet: Bhartrihari
Bhartrihari is the Sanskrit poet to whom the Shatakatraya is attributed: three collections of about 100 verses each, usually dated to around the 5th century CE. They cover worldly conduct (Niti), love (Shringara) and renunciation (Vairagya), often in a wry, sceptical voice.
More from Bhartrihari
- “Ignorance is the greatest enemy of spiritual growth.”
- “The wise learn from the impermanence of all things.”
- “Renunciation is not loss, but the gain of eternal peace.”
- “Simplicity and humility are virtues of the enlightened.”
- “Compassion and humility align the soul with the divine.”
- “Spiritual awakening transcends worldly attachments.”