Verses 18.36–18.40
सुखं त्विदानीं त्रिविधं शृणु मे भरतर्षभ | अभ्यासाद्रमते यत्र दु:खान्तं च निगच्छति
sukhaṁ tvidānīṁ trividhaṁ śṛṇu me bharatarṣabha / abhyāsād ramate yatra duḥkhāntaṁ ca nigacchati / / 18.36
And now hear from Me, O Arjuna, about three kinds of pleasure. The pleasure that one enjoys from spiritual practice results in cessation of all sorrows. The pleasure that appears as poison in the beginning, but is like nectar in the end, comes by the grace of Self-knowledge and is in the mode of goodness.
यत्तदग्रे विषमिव परिणामेऽमृतोपमम् | तत्सुखं सात्विकं प्रोक्तमात्मबुद्धिप्रसादजम्
yat tad agre viṣaṁ iva pariṇāme ‘mṛtopamam / tat sukhaṁ sāttvikaṁ proktaṁ ātma-buddhi-prasādajam / / 18.37
And now hear from Me, O Arjuna, about three kinds of pleasure. The pleasure that one enjoys from spiritual practice results in cessation of all sorrows. The pleasure that appears as poison in the beginning, but is like nectar in the end, comes by the grace of Self-knowledge and is in the mode of goodness.
विषयेन्द्रियसंयोगाद्यत्तदग्रेऽमृतोपमम् | परिणामे विषमिव तत्सुखं राजसं स्मृतम्
viṣayendriya-saṁyogadyat tad agre ‘mṛtopamam / pariṇāme visam iva tat sukhaṁ rājasaṁ smṛtam / / 18.38
Sensual pleasures that appear as nectar in the beginning, but become poison in the end, are in the mode of passion.
यदग्रे चानुबन्धे च सुखं मोहनमात्मन: | निद्रालस्यप्रमादोत्थं तत्तामसमुदाहृतम्
yadagre cānubandhe ca sukhaṁ mohanamātmanaḥ / nidrālasyapramādotthaṁ tat tāmasamudāhṛtam / / 18.39
Pleasure that is delusion from beginning to end and born out of sleep, laziness and illusion is said to be of the nature of ignorance.
न तदस्ति पृथिव्यां वा दिवि देवेषु वा पुन: | सत्वं प्रकृतिजैर्मुक्तं यदेभि: स्यात्त्रिभिर्गुणै:
na tad asti pṛthivyāṁ vā divi deveṣu vā punaḥ / sattvaṁ prakṛti-jair-muktaṁ yad ebhiḥ syāt tribhirguṇaiḥ / / 18.40
No one, either here or among the celestials in the higher planetary systems, is free from these three states of material nature.
Earlier Kṛṣṇa spoke about the influence of guṇas (attributes) on the intellect, that in turn defines the way we act. Now He talks about how we respond as a result of our root patterns. Kṛṣṇa says that spiritual practice, that is the state of satva, is difficult in the beginning, and it is like poison; however, it becomes life-giving nectar in the end. Sensual pleasures born out of rajas, on the other hand, seem like nectar in the beginning but become poisonous. In the tamasic state, Kṛṣṇa says, one is deluded as if in sleep, laziness and illusion. Every human is in one state or another. Not merely humans, even the celestials who are supposedly more evolved are in the same mode.
No one can escape the effect of the guṇas, the attributes of Nature. Mokṣa Sannyāsa Yogaḥ Drop Everything And Surrender 1291 How beautifully the Master summarizes how we become deluded by our senses! It is not easy to begin spiritual practice. In the vedic tradition, in the Gurukul schools, from a young age children were brought up in an environment of spirituality. They learned to live in the pure space of completion and control their mind and senses at an early age and to focus upon Self-realization. They understood by the example of their Masters that there was something more pleasurable than sensory pleasures. This gave them courage. In today’s age, this education system is considered impractical.
Invading Moghuls and the colonizing British destroyed the Vedic culture, especially the Gurukul tradition. This was not accidental or incidental. It was a deliberate strategy. British rulers identified the educational system of Gurukul as the key to India’s tremendous intelligence and targeted its destruction so that they could rule. What we have today is a mass of literate Indians who are uneducated. The whole country, the whole civilization, the whole spiritual tradition is suffering now just because of not having completion with one another. They are totally unaware that the great tradition of our Vedic culture is established on completion. They think rituals are meaningless. We have lost the knowledge of the connection between these rituals and spirituality.
Rituals, when carried out meaningfully, are the basis of spirituality. Please understand, the biggest asset a man can acquire is the space of completion. I am so happy I am getting that wealth for my Gurukul kids. The biggest asset for any man, the best thing a human being can have in his life is completion, the space of completion. We are behind our sensory pleasures now. When we are in the rājasic mode, only sensory pleasures of the body matter. In the tamasic mode, we don’t even know we are in deep ignorance. The sensory organs are powerful. They are our windows to the external world. They are trained to run away from pain and chase pleasure.
Bodily pleasure gives mental pleasure and therefore emotional satisfaction. Once we experience the mental pleasure, we constantly rewind and replay that pleasure. Our past drives our future. Attachments and expectations drive our actions. We try to keep on experiencing pain and pleasure alternately. Either way it is only an illusion. If you lead your life with completion, you won’t get caught in the illusions of attachment and expectations driving your actions. Kaṭhopaniṣad says, ‘The good and the pleasant approach man. The wise examines both and discriminates between them. The wise prefers the good to the pleasant. But the foolish man chooses the pleasant through love of bodily pleasure.’ ‘If you are given the option of ‘right or pleasant’, ‘right thing, good thing or very pleasant, convenient and happy thing’, always choose the ‘right thing’, not the ‘pleasant’ one, not the convenient one.’
Understand, when you choose the pleasant, your destruction is inevitable. Your Space of Completion is KṚṢṆa Look for the right, not for light. Your whole life is nothing but Mahābhārat. I tell you, the Kauravas’ birth, what is it? One child, Duryodhana is born who is unconscious, dead, aborted. So, that was broken into hundred pieces. This means what? When you are born, you are unconscious and you are broken into hundreds of root-patterns, and all hundred grow as demons. It means that all your root-patterns are growing as demons! When you are tired of being a demon, you also encourage some good qualities in you just for a change.
Please understand, there is nobody who is hundred percent demon, because being hundred percent demon makes you feel bored. Otherwise, why should Rāvaṇa do Śiva Puja? You cannot be hundred percent demon or hundred percent saint till you become enlightened. Till you become an enlightened soul, both sides will be there because you need choice. Life is all about just jumping from one side to another. Mokṣa Sannyāsa Yogaḥ Drop Everything And Surrender 1293 Choice! Choice! Choice! Listen. A few good patterns which you develop in you just as a choice, as an alternative, those few good patterns are the Pānḍavas. The space of completion which you have inside you, which cannot be destroyed by any root pattern is Kṛṣṇa.
Once in a while, Kṛṣṇa comes out and says, ‘Hey! All you root patterns, you guys are doing wrong things! Don’t do it!’ Then, all hundreds of your patterns stand and laugh at Kṛṣṇa, ‘Ha, Ha! Can you can stop us? Do what you want!’ Every time, every day, every moment, the struggle between the Pānḍavas and the Kauravas goes on. Kṛṣṇa also comes to the scene once in a while. But He comes for such a short time that you forget His Existence. He goes back to Dwārika (the capital city that Kṛṣṇa ruled), He goes back to His space, the space where you push your completion. All of us have the space of completion, but we push it under the ocean like Dwārika.
We don’t want to interact with that space every day, because that takes away many of our vested interests. Many things which we forcibly imagine as joyful and pleasurable do not look good with the space of completion. Understand, your whole life is a Mahābhārat. Then, when your weight becomes too much for your own body, when Bhū Devī, the Earth Goddess, is unable to hold the weight, Kṛṣṇa comes and reduces the bhū bhāra, the weight of the Earth. It means that when your incompletions become too much even for yourself, Kṛṣṇa comes and destroys all your incompletions. Kṛṣṇa describes the tāmasic person with great insight. He does not use the word poison in describing the state of such a person.
A tāmasic person is like a drug addict, He says. At least a rājasic person enjoys the experience now and suffers later. A tāmasic person has no enjoyment. He suffers without knowing that he is suffering. His delusion is so deep. That is why he passes his suffering on to others. That is how ignorant people who rise to become leaders act. Rightful Conduct, Not To Perfection