Bhagwad Gita - Post 233

Verse 37

That which is like poison at first but in the end like nectar—that pleasure is declared to be Sattwic, born of the purity of one’s own mind due to Self-realisation.

True happiness comes through serenity, equipoise and equanimity which is the treasure of Sattvic persons.

The Sattvic path, however, is not an easy one to follow and the difficulties are many, especially in the early stages. 

The experience is bitter in the beginning but in the end, it is nectarine.

Why the Lord says so??

When a human being moves from Rajasic to Sattvic tendencies and takes up sadhana for attaining Self Realization, it calls for a total shift in his priorities, total shift in approach to life, renunciation of desires and comforts and a life of a Sadhu with nothing to be thought as his own (Internal state is described here, though externally things may or may not change at all for him).

This paradigm shift in approach to life seems to be so difficult that the Lord describes the same to be as though one has to take poison.

But what is the ultimate end to the intense sadhana that a sattvic person takes up??

Having  renounced the entire world, when one attains Self- realization, he experiences the entire creation to be his own, he attains perfect union with SELF and experiences the entire creation as nothing but the same SELF.

This is the nectarine experience that the Lord indicates in this verse. 

Verse 38

That pleasure which arises from the contact of the sense-organs with the objects, which is at first like nectar and in the end like poison—that is declared to be Rajasic.

If the previous verse’s exposition is understood clearly, then it is easy to understand the purport of this verse.

All material pleasures arising out of contact of our sense organs with the object which we perceive to be having the propensity to fill us with pleasure and happiness, does give us a good experience at sense level  in the beginning, but the continuous search, continuous pursuit of such pleasure pushes a rajasic person to samsara and he gets bound by samsara. 

His condition is like a man who is supposed to be free but is bound by chain (of samsara).

Thus, what seemed to be pleasure in the beginning, ends up like the experience of consuming poison at the end.

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, when Yagnavalkya decides to relinquish his wealth by distributing the same amongst his wives, one of the wives asks a question to him, “if the wealth that he is giving to her would get her eternal freedom?”, the answer she gets is NO.

Yagnavalikya explains,

“The love that you feel in respect of an object is in fact the

love that you feel towards that which is called perfection and completeness. It is not really a love for the object. You have thoroughly misunderstood the whole point, even when you are clinging to a particular object as if it is the source of satisfaction. The mind does not want an object; it wants completeness of being. That is what it is searching for. 

Thus, when there is a promise of the fulfillment that it seeks, through the perception of an object that appears to be its counterpart, there is a sudden feeling that fullness is going to come, and there is a satisfaction even on the perception of that object; and there is an apparent satisfaction, just by the imagined possession of it together with the yearning for actual possession. So, what is it that you are asking for? You are not asking for any object or thing; you are asking for a condition of completeness in your being. 

"So, my dear friend," says Yajnavalkya, "nobody is dear. No object can be regarded as lovable or desirable. It is something else that you love and are asking for, but by a notion that is completely misconstrued, you believe that the object is loved."

And, since any such object pursued is by its very nature temporary, a Rajasic person runs from pillar to post for getting pleasures from such objects and in the process, ends up with only pain and misery, as the permanent happiness sought by him has ended leaving him high and dry.

Verse 39

That pleasure which at first and in the sequel is delusive of the self, arising from sleep, indolence and heedlessness—such a pleasure is declared to be Tamasic.

Swami Krishnananda writes,

“For instance, the happiness that one gets by drinking alcohol is tamasic happiness. It will completely delude our brain and put us into a state of stupor, giving us the false impression that we are in a state of joy. It appears to bring some kind of satisfaction to a person, but it is a deluded mind that thinks in this fashion. 

The person is happy in the beginning, in the middle and in the end—because he is drunk. In a person who is drunk, the nerves are stimulated and appear to be always in a state of happiness, but they are going to collapse completely after some time. 

Such happiness which is totally undesirable is tamasic happiness. It will lead to sorrow and sleep. A drunken man sleeps, and when he wakes up he again drinks, and after drinking again sleeps, and after sleeping again drinks on waking up. What kind of happiness is this? This is the kind of life that some people live in the world—tamasic.

Love.