Devanagari
सुखं त्विदानीं त्रिविधं शृणु मे भरतर्षभ ।
अभ्यासाद्रमते यत्र दु:खान्तं च निगच्छति ॥ ३६ ॥
Verse text
sukhaṁ tv idānīṁ tri-vidhaṁ
śṛṇu me bharatarṣabha
abhyāsād ramate yatra
duḥkhāntaṁ ca nigacchati
Synonyms
sukham
—
happiness
;
tu
—
but
;
idānīm
—
now
;
tri-vidham
—
of three kinds
;
śṛṇu
—
hear
;
me
—
from Me
;
bharata-ṛṣabha
—
O best amongst the Bhāratas
;
abhyāsāt
—
by practice
;
ramate
—
one enjoys
;
yatra
—
where
;
duḥkha
—
of distress
;
antam
—
the end
;
ca
—
also
;
nigacchati
—
gains.
Translation
O best of the Bhāratas, now please hear from Me about the three kinds of happiness by which the conditioned soul enjoys, and by which he sometimes comes to the end of all distress.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
36-37. O best of Bharata’s lineage, hear from Me about the three types of happiness. That happiness which brings joy and destroys sorrow with practice, which appears to be poison in the beginning but becomes nectar, which arises from peace of mind concentrating on the self is in the mode of sattva.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
36-37. O best of Bharata, hear from Me the three types of happiness. That happiness which brings joy and destroys sorrow with practice, which appears to be poison in the beginning but becomes nectar, which arises from purity of intellect related to ātmā, is in the mode of sattva.
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.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Now sattvic happiness is described in one and a half verses. Only by constant practice (abhyāsāt) does such a person enjoy. This means that it is not like happiness derived from sense objects, which gives pleasure just on contact. Enjoying in that happiness, the person crosses over the suffering of saṁsāra (duḥkhāntaṁ nigacchati). In the beginning, sattvic happiness is like poison, since restraining the senses and mind causes suffering.
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
The Lord next promises to tell about the three types of happiness in the first half the verse. [Note: Happiness is the goal of actions.] He describes happiness in the mode of goodness in one and a half verses starting with abhyāsād ramate. That happiness in which there is satisfaction arising from repeated practice (abhyāsāt), not a sudden appearance of satisfaction as in contact with sense objects; enjoying which one crosses saṁsāra (duḥkhantam nigacchati); which in the beginning (agre) appears to be poison, filled with lots of suffering, because of the difficulty in controlling the mind because of ātmā separate from the body has not yet manifested itself; but which becomes sweet, like the falling of streams of nectar, with the attainment of samādhi (pariṇāme), from manifestation of the ātmā as separate from the body; which arises from purity of the intelligence related to ātmā—such happiness is in the mode of goodness. Purity here means complete extinction of the contamination arising from contact with material objects.