FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Bhagavad-gītā 18.36

सुखं त्विदानीं त्रिविधं श‍ृणु मे भरतर्षभ । अभ्यासाद्रमते यत्र दु:खान्तं च निगच्छति ॥ ३६ ॥
sukhaṁ tv idānīṁ tri-vidhaṁ
[sukham tv idaaneem tri-vidham]
śṛṇu me bharatarṣabha
[shrinu me bharatarshabha]
abhyāsād ramate yatra
[abhyaasaad ramate yatra]
duḥkhāntaṁ ca nigacchati
[duhkhaantam cha nigachchati]
Word-for-word
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 .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
sukhaṁ tv idānīṁ tri-vidhaṁ
sukham
happiness
tu
but
idānīm
now
tri - vidham
of three kinds
śṛṇu me bharatarṣabha
śṛṇu
hear
me
from Me
bharata - ṛṣabha
O best amongst the Bhāratas
abhyāsāt
by practice
abhyāsād ramate yatra
ramate
one enjoys
yatra
where
duḥkhāntaṁ ca nigacchati
duḥkha
of distress
antam
the end
ca
also
nigacchati
gains .
Important Words
  • sukham — happiness
    The category about to be triaged. The Gītā does not deny that happiness exists in all three modes — only that they are radically different in their long-term trajectory.
  • tri-vidham — of three kinds
    The refrain. Even happiness — that most-treasured human pursuit — is subject to the guṇa analysis. Nothing escapes the threefold cut.
  • abhyāsāt — by practice
    Ablative. Crucially, the sāttvika happiness about to be described requires *practice* to even be tasted. Pleasure is found; bliss is practiced into.
  • antam — the end
    With duḥkha: the *terminus* of suffering. Sāttvika sukha is the only kind that actually ends duḥkha. The other two interrupt it briefly and then return it.
  • nigacchati — arrives at, reaches
    From ni-gam, to reach decisively. The verb suggests arrival, not approximation. Real spiritual happiness *reaches* the end of distress; it does not merely approach.
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.
Classical Sanskrit analysis शास्त्रीय विश्लेषण
How Sanskrit scholars read this verse — split, rearranged, grammar-tagged. For the plain English distilled meaning, jump to Plain meaning below.
Auto-generated study layers — original analysis of the public-domain śloka. Review against a published edition for academic work.
Plain meaning (तात्पर्य · Tātparya)
The chapter's final guṇa-trio opens: three kinds of happiness. The first is introduced — happiness that requires practice to be enjoyed and that leads to the end of all suffering. The definition is itself given in v. 37.
Further notes (विवरण · Vivaraṇa)
Sukha is treated last in the guṇa-anatomy because it is the most subjective — and the most easily confused. Verse 36 is syntactically incomplete; the subject sukham continues into v. 37, which names the sāttvika variety. Note the criterion: ability to bring duḥkhānta — termination of distress — is the telltale of true happiness, not mere pleasure-intensity.
Prose order (अन्वय · Anvaya)
हे भरत-ऋषभ! इदानीं त्रि-विधं सुखं मे शृणु । यत्र अभ्यासात् रमते दुःख-अन्तं च निगच्छति, ...
he bharata-ṛṣabha! idānīṃ tri-vidhaṃ sukhaṃ me śṛṇu | yatra abhyāsāt ramate duḥkha-antaṃ ca nigacchati, ...
O bull of the Bharatas, now hear from Me the threefold happiness — that in which one delights through practice and reaches the end of suffering, ...
Word split (पदच्छेद · Padaccheda)
सुखं तु इदानीं त्रि-विधं शृणु मे भरत-ऋषभ । अभ्यासात् रमते यत्र दुःख-अन्तं च निगच्छति ॥
sukhaṃ tu idānīṃ tri-vidhaṃ śṛṇu me bharata-ṛṣabha | abhyāsāt ramate yatra duḥkha-antaṃ ca nigacchati ||
Grammar (व्याकरण · Vyākaraṇa)
SanskritIASTGrammarMeaning
सुखम् sukham सुख (n.) acc.sg. (accusative singular) happiness
तु tu ind. (indeclinable) now
इदानीम् idānīm ind. (indeclinable) now
त्रि-विधम् tri-vidham dvigu cpd. (compound) acc.sg. (accusative singular)n. threefold
शृणु śṛṇu √श्रु impv. 2sg.par. (parasmaipada / active voice) hear!
मे me अस्मद् (pron. (pronoun)) gen.sg. (genitive singular) from Me
भरत-ऋषभ bharata-ṛṣabha tatpuruṣa cpd. (compound) voc.sg. (vocative singular)m. O bull of the Bharatas
अभ्यासात् abhyāsāt अभ्यास (m.) abl.sg. (ablative singular) from practice
रमते ramate √रम् pres. (present) 3sg.ātm. (ātmanepada / middle voice) delights
यत्र yatra ind. (indeclinable) where
दुःख-अन्तम् duḥkha-antam tatpuruṣa cpd. (compound) acc.sg. (accusative singular)m. end of suffering
च ca ind. (indeclinable) and
निगच्छति nigacchati नि + √गम् pres. (present) 3sg.par. (parasmaipada / active voice) reaches
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.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
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.
Commentary

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.

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Gauḍīya
Translation
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.
Commentary

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.

Study Notes — Gauranga Priya Dāsa
Gauranga Priya Dāsa Study
Bhakti-śāstrī Notes, ISKCON Chowpatty (2009)
Theme

Happiness in three modes is described in the next 3 verses

Conditioned soul is trying to enjoy material happiness again and again
Analogy: Chewing the chewed
How to get relief from such entanglement (repetitive so-called happiness)
Only by association of great souls
When awakened to real Krishna consciousness
Classical Ācāryas
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya Classical
Translation
18.36 Idanim, now; srnu, hear; me, from Me i.e. be attentive to what I say; tu, as regards; the trividham, three kinds of; sukham, joy, O scion of the Bharata dynasty. Yatra, that in which; ramate, one delights, derives pleasure; abhyasat, owing to habit, due to freent repetition; and in the experinece of which joy one nigacchati, certainly attains; duhkhantam, the cessation of sorrow-.
Śrī Rāmānujācārya Classical
Translation
18.36 Now, hear about the pleasure to which the knowledge, action, agent etc., already mentioned are all subservient and which is threefold according to the Gunas. ৷৷. That pleasure in which a person, through long practice extending over a long time, gradually attains to incomparable joy and never again is engulfed by the pain of life in Samsara. Sri Krsna explains the same:
Śrī Abhinavagupta Classical
Translation
18.36 See Comment under 18.39
Swami Sivananda Classical
Translation
18.36 And now hear from Me, O Arjuna, of the threefold pleasure, in which one rejoices by practice and surely comes to the end of pain.
Commentary

18.36 सुखम् pleasure? तु indeed? इदानीम् now? त्रिविधम् threefold? श्रृणु hear? मे of Me? भरतर्षभ O lord of the Bharatas? अभ्यासात् from practice? रमते rejoices? यत्र in which? दुःखान्तम् the end of pain? च and? निगच्छति (he) attains to.Commentary A little of this pleasure experienced by the Self must result in the cessation of pain. This pleasure is threefold in its nature and I will describe its aspects in turn? O Arjuna. (Cf.VI.20?30).

Swami Gambhīrānanda Classical
Translation
18.36 Now hear from Me, O scion of the Bharata dynasty, as regards the three kinds of joy: That in which one delights owing to habit, and certainly attains the cessation of sorrows; [S. and S.S. take the second line of this verse along with the next verse referring to sattvika happiness.-Tr.]
Shri Purohit Swami Classical
Translation
18.36 Hear further the three kinds of pleasure. That which increases day after day delivers one from misery,
Related values & verses
Related values
Tyaga (Renunciation / Letting Go)Karuna (Kindness / Compassion)Ahimsa (Non-violence / Compassion)Tapas (Austerity / Discipline)Atma Nigraha (Self-control)Daksya (Resourcefulness / Skill)Abhaya (Fearlessness)
Related verses
BG 2.14 BG 6.21 BG 5.21 SB 11.14.11 SB 1.2.18 SB 10.14.8 CC Antya 6.326 CC Madhya 8.70 CC Madhya 19.178 Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.4Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2.7.1
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Analogy

A teacher about to describe three doors. Two open onto bright rooms that turn into dungeons; one opens onto a difficult corridor that leads into permanent light. Before pointing to any door, he announces that he is about to name them — and the student leans in.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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