Speaker: Śrī Kṛṣṇa
Verses 36 to 37 are read together as one text.
सुखं त्विदानीं त्रिविधं शृणु मे भरतर्षभ ।
अभ्यासाद्रमते यत्र दुःखान्तं च निगच्छति ॥३६॥
यत्तदग्रे विषमिव परिणामेऽमृतोपमम् ।
तत्सुखं सात्त्विकं प्रोक्तमात्मबुद्धिप्रसादजम् ॥३७॥
sukhaṁ tv idānīṁ tri-vidhaṁ
śṛṇu me bharatarṣabha
abhyāsād ramate yatra
duḥkhāntaṁ ca nigacchati
yat tad agre viṣam iva
pariṇāme 'mṛtopamam
tat sukhaṁ sāttvikaṁ proktam
ātma-buddhi-prasāda-jam
Word for word (synonyms)
- sukham
- happiness
- tu
- but
- idānīm
- now
- tri-vidham
- three kinds
- śṛṇu
- hear
- me
- from Me
- bharatarṣabha
- O best amongst the Bhāratas
- abhyāsāt
- by practice
- ramate
- enjoyer
- yatra
- where
- duḥkha
- distress
- antam
- end
- ca
- also
- nigacchati
- gains
- yat
- that which
- tat
- that
- agre
- in the beginning
- viṣam iva
- like poison
- pariṇāme
- at the end
- amṛta
- nectar
- upamam
- compared to
- tat
- that
- sukham
- happiness
- sāttvikam
- in the mode of goodness
- proktam
- is said
- ātma
- self
- buddhi
- intelligence
- prasāda-jam
- satisfactory
Translation
O best of the Bhāratas, now please hear from Me about the three kinds of happiness which the conditioned soul enjoys, and by which he sometimes comes to the end of all distress. That which in the beginning may be just like poison but at the end is just like nectar and which awakens one to self-realization is said to be happiness in the mode of goodness.
Defined in the Gītā
Happiness
Purport
A conditioned soul tries to enjoy material happiness again and again. Thus he chews the chewed, but, sometimes, in the course of such enjoyment, he becomes relieved from material entanglement by association with a great soul. In other words, a conditioned soul is always engaged in some type of sense gratification, but when he understands by good association that it is only a repetition of the same thing, and he is awakened to his real Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is sometimes relieved from such repetitive so-called happiness.
In the pursuit of self-realization, one has to follow many rules and regulations to control the mind and the senses and to concentrate the mind on the Self. All these procedures are very difficult, bitter like poison, but if one is successful in following the regulations and comes to the transcendental position, he begins to drink real nectar, and he enjoys life.
What this verse teaches
Happiness (sukhaṁ) in three modes
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.