18.37 Poison first, nectar after Krishna speaks
यत्तदग्रे विषमिव परिणामेऽमृतोपमम्
तत्सुखं सात्त्विकं प्रोक्तमात्मबुद्धिप्रसादजम्
yat tad agre viṣam iva pariṇāme 'mṛtopamam tat sukhaṁ sāttvikaṁ proktam ātma-buddhi-prasāda-jam
That which is like poison at first and like nectar in the end, born of the clarity of self-knowledge, is happiness of clarity.
Explanation
Poison at first and nectar in the end.
Born of the clarity of self-knowledge. And against it, 18.38: nectar first and poison after.
The two verses together are a test, not a doctrine. They say nothing about what the pleasure is, only about which end of it the sweetness sits at.
Going further
Word by word
- yat
- that which
- tat
- that
- agre
- in the beginning
- viṣam iva
- like poison
- pariṇāme
- at the end
- amṛta
- nectar
- upamam
- compared to
- tat
- that
- sukham
- happiness
- sāttvikam
- in the mode of goodness
- proktam
- is said
- ātma
- self
- buddhi
- intelligence
- prasāda-jam
- satisfactory.
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Like poison at first and nectar in the end — against 18.38, which is nectar at first and poison in the end.
The two verses are the most practically useful pair in the chapter, and they say nothing about what the pleasures are. Only about the shape of their arrival. Anyone deciding between two courses of action has this test available.