Verse 5.23

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 5.23:

शक्नोतीहैव यः सोढुं प्राक् शरीर-विमोक्षणात् ।
काम-क्रोधोद्भवं वेगं स युक्तः स सुखी नरः ॥ २३ ॥

śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṃ prāk śarīra-vimokṣaṇāt |
kāma-krodhodbhavaṃ vegaṃ sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ || 23 ||

śaknoti–is able; iha eva–in this very life; yaḥ–who; soḍhum–to tolerate; prāk–before; śarīra–the body; vimokṣaṇāt–giving up; kāma-krodha–of lust and anger; udbhavam–born; vegam–the urges; saḥ–he; yuktaḥ–is a yogī; saḥ–he; sukhī–is a happy; naraḥ–man.

Before giving up the body, he who in this very life can tolerate the urges born of lust and anger is a yogī and is indeed happy.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

Despite having fallen into the ocean of material existence, the persons described in this verse are yogīs and are happy. To explain this, Śrī Bhagavān is speaking this verse beginning with śaknoti.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

The intense desire, or hank-ering, to attain sense objects that are favourable for sense pleasure is referred to here as lust (kāma), or greed. The deepest meaning of the word kāma, which in this context indicates all types of desires, is the desire to derive pleasure from union with the opposite gender. The mind’s excessive repulsion towards that which is unfavourable to sense enjoyment is called anger, or krodha. Those who can tolerate the urges of lust and anger until the time of death are known as yogīs, and they are happy.