ये हि संस्पर्शजा भोगा दुःखयोनय एव ते | आद्यन्तवन्तः कौन्तेय न तेषु रमते बुधः || २२ ||
ye hi saṃsparśajā bhogā duḥkha-yonaya eva te ādy-antavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ
ye—those; hi—certainly; saṃsparśa-jāḥ—born from contact; bhogāḥ—enjoyments; duḥkha—misery; yonayaḥ—sources of; eva—certainly; te—they are; ādi—beginning; anta—end; vantaḥ—having; kaunteya—O son of Kunti; na—never; teṣu—in them; ramate—delights; budhaḥ—the intelligent one.
“The enjoyments that arise from sense contact are, in truth, sources of suffering — they have a beginning and an end, O son of Kunti. The wise person does not delight in them.”
This is not a call to asceticism or world-denial. Krishna is pointing to the structural limitation of sense-pleasure: by its very nature it is impermanent. A pleasure that ends causes the pain of loss or the pain of craving for more. The wise person (budha) does not deny this pleasure, but he is not enslaved by it, because he recognises this structural limitation clearly. He enjoys life, but does not depend on it for his happiness.
Notice the pattern in your own experience: after the pleasure fades, what remains? Often it is a subtle dissatisfaction and a new craving. Simply observing this cycle — without judgment — gradually reduces the compulsive pull of sense pleasures and opens the door to the deeper satisfaction described in 5.21.