Srimad BhagavadGita

Kṛṣṇa discussed the following in the previous two ślokas.

1)The eternal nature of the soul which is to be realised.

2)The transient nature of the body which is a hindrance to the realisation of the soul.

Even before completing the topic on the eternal nature of the soul, Kṛṣṇa in this śloka and the next one, discusses a part of the means to realise the soul. HE does this in order to address Arjuna's concern which is that, 'I am not grieving about the eternal soul or the transient body. I am grieving about the painful experiences which me and my relatives will have to endure due to this battle'.

Kṛṣṇa said, “O Kuntiputrā ! The contact of the qualities of sound, touch, form, taste, smell carried by the respective sense objects with the sense organs keeps causing cold and heat, etc, resulting in the experiences of pleasure and pain. These experiences are not permanent in nature and have the natural tendency to come and go. They get completely destroyed in the state of liberation of the soul. O descendant of Bharata! Hence, endure these pleasures and pain caused due to contact with the objects of the senses.”  

mātrā sparśās tu

tu The term 'tu' is used by Kṛṣṇa after 'mātrā sparśāḥ' to tell Arjuna that his concern about bearing the

pain caused due to the war is being addressed.

mātrā sparśāḥ With these words Kṛṣṇa elaborates on how pain and pleasure are caused. sabdamātraṃ

tathākāsaṃ… sparśamātraṃ sasarja ha Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.2.38, Here and in many other scriptures it is

said that sound, touch, form, taste and smell are denoted by the word 'mātrā'. The process of creation

describes that from tanmātras (the causal subtle senses), the qualities of sound, touch, form, taste, smell

and their carrier substrāta ether, air, fire, water and earth (the panca mahābhutas or the 5 elements) are

created in a sequence. It is an agreed notation to use the same word referring to the causal object to refer

to its resultant object too. Going by the same, here the word 'mātrā' originally denoting the tanmātras which

are the cause, has been used to denote their resulting products namely the qualities of sound, touch, form,

taste, smell and their objects. Therefore mātrā sparśāḥ (contact with mātras) means that the sense organs

such as skin, mouth, eyes, nose and ears come in contact with sound, touch, form, taste and smell carried

to them by the sense objects (objects of the world made out of the 5 elements).

śītoṣṇa sukha-duḥkhadāḥ The kind of associations between the senses and their objects as described above, cause cold, heat, union, separation, etc, from which are born the experiences of pleasure and pain. The word śītoṣṇa is analogous to all such reactions that may be caused. In this context, it refers to getting hit by arrows, etc.

āgamāpāyinaḥ The words āgamāpāyinaḥ and anityāḥ describe the nature of these pleasures and pain. āgamāpāyinaḥ means that these pleasures and pain come and go, appear and then disappear.

anityāḥ Even the appearance and disappearance of these pleasures and pain is not of a permanent nature. When our karmas which are the cause of bondage with the world get over i.e when liberation is attained, the contact with the objects of the senses gets destroyed from its root, so also the resulting pleasures and pain. 

tān titikṣasva Since pleasure and pain are both āgamāpāyina and anitya, Kṛṣṇa instructs Arjuna to courageously endure them and continue to execute his duties prescribed by the scriptures like fighting a war, etc, until they are exhausted, with the understanding that they are his means to liberation. When penance is done or a yajña is performed, just as heat, cold, hunger, etc, are tolerated until its completion, Arjuna must also endure the pleasures and pain experienced due to the war, until his yuddha yajña is completed. Even if Arjuna would step back from war, contact with objects of senses and resulting pleasure and pain are inevitable for him until he is in this body. Hence, the best way out for Arjuna is to execute his prescribed duties and endure these pleasures and pain.

kaunteya, bhārata Kṛṣṇa’s sentiment behind addressing Arjuna as Kaunteya (Kunti Putra) and Bhārata (one belonging to the lineage of the great Bharata) was that, 'O Arjuna! Both your mother’s side and father’s side ancestry shows great warrior class lineage. Is it difficult for you, who belongs to such a glorious lineage, to endure the temporary pain due to the wounds caused by weapons in the war?

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Summary:

Though souls are eternal and changeless, due to the karmas(actions) performed by them from eternal time, they have to experience the resulting fruits. Based on the nature of the karmas, souls are given bodies (deva, manuṣya, tiryak, sthāvara) suitable for experiencing the resulting fruits. In this way, karmas and the resulting bodies are binding souls to this saṃsāra (repetitive cycle of birth and death). To break free from this bond with the saṃsāra, the jīva has to practise certain prescribed upāyas (means). Sarveśwara has made arrangements for the same bondage causing the body to assist in the practise of these means. The means are – śāstras mention the duties prescribed by Paramātma for jīvas in accordance with their varṇa or class ( brāhmaṇa- learned class, kṣatriya- warrior class, vaiśya- business class and śūdra- working class). Performing those duties without desiring the fruits of those duties alone will break the bondage of saṃsāra and result in liberation. Thus, Arjuna has no other choice but to perform his duty as a warrior and fight, in order to attain the rare purpose called mokṣa (liberation). He is not supposed to practise the duties of another class, for eg: begging for alms. While fighting the war, when the senses of ears, skin, mouth, eyes, nose associate with the respective objects namely sound, touch, taste, form, smell, the result is in the form of cold and heat, wounds by arrows, etc, due to which pleasure and pain are bound to occur. Until the means for liberation prescribed in the śāstras for his class like the fighting the war, etc, are accomplished, Arjuna will have to endure pleasure and pain. Otherwise, in addition to losing out on the rare fruit called liberation, punishment will also have to be endured for not following the instructions prescribed by Bhagawān in the śāstras.

Hence, in this śloka and the next one, Kṛṣṇa elaborates on the key point that at any cost, Arjuna must endure the pleasures and pain that arise during this battle.