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Chapter 18 · Verse 37
🪈 Krishna speaks
Illustration for Chapter 18, Verse 37

यत्तदग्रे विषमिव परिणामेऽमृतोपमम्। तत्सुखं सात्त्विकं प्रोक्तमात्मबुद्धिप्रसादजम्॥

yattadagre viṣamiva pariṇāme'mṛtopamam | tatsukhaṁ sāttvikaṁ proktamātmabuddhiprasādajam ||

Word by Word 12 words
यत्
yad which, that which

which, that which

तत्
tad that

that

अग्रे
agra front, beginning

at the beginning, at first

विषम्
viṣ to be active, to pervade

poison

इव
iva like, as if

like, as if

परिणामे
pari around nam to bend, to turn

in the end, when it ripens, in its result

अमृतोपमम्
a not mṛta dead upama likeness, comparable

like nectar, like the drink of deathlessness

तत्
tad that

that

सुखम्
su good kha space

happiness

सात्त्विकम्
sattva goodness, clarity, light

of the nature of sattva — pure, clear, calm

प्रोक्तम्
pra forth vac to speak

is declared, is called

आत्मबुद्धिप्रसादजम्
ātman self buddhi intellect, understanding pra forth sad to settle, to grow clear ja born of

born of the clear, settled calm of one's own mind

describes the first kind — the sattvic happiness. "It is like poison at the very start, but in the end it turns out to be like nectar, the drink of deathlessness. This happiness is called sattvic, and it is born of the calm, settled clearness of one's own mind." In other words, the best joys often feel hard or even unpleasant when you begin — practising, studying, waiting — but if you keep going, they ripen into a deep, lasting gladness that no quick treat can match.

कथा

Aarav Learns to Float

From the modern

Aarav did not want to learn to swim.

The sea at Puri was too big, the waves too loud, and the first morning Dadu walked him into the shallows, the cold water grabbed his legs and the salt stung his eyes and a wave knocked him flat onto the sand. He came up spluttering and furious.

"This is horrible," he announced. "I hate it. Swimming is poison."

Dadu, standing waist-deep with the calm of a man who had spent fifty years on the water, only nodded. "Yes," he agreed cheerfully. "At the start, it is. Almost everything worth knowing tastes like poison at the start."

Aarav glared at him. "Then why would anyone do it?"

"Because of how it ends," said Dadu. "Come. One more time."

So Aarav came back, and the next day, and the day after that. Each morning began with the same cold, the same swallowed mouthful of seawater, the same burning eyes. He thrashed. He sank. He grew tired and cross. But Dadu was patient, and Aarav was stubborn, and slowly his arms learned the rhythm and his breath learned to wait.

Then came the morning it changed.

He pushed off from Dadu's hands, expecting to sink — and he did not sink. The water held him up. He lay on his back with the sky enormous and blue above him, the waves rocking him like a cradle, and a feeling spread through his whole body that was quieter and bigger than any sweet had ever given him. He was floating. The thing that had felt like poison had turned, somewhere along the way, into something like nectar.

"Dadu!" he shouted, laughing, water in his ears. "I'm doing it! It feels — it feels wonderful!"

Dadu waded over, grinning. "Now you know the best kind of happiness," he said. "It is bitter at the door and sweet in the room. It is born not from a quick taste, but from a mind that grew quiet and steady through practice. called such joy the highest of the three — the one that begins like poison and ends like nectar."

Aarav floated, and the sea held him, and he understood.

चिन्तनम्

Think of something you found hard at first but now love doing. How did the 'poison' at the start turn into 'nectar' in the end? What helped you keep going?