18.38 Nectar first, poison after Krishna speaks
विषयेन्द्रियसंयोगाद्यत्तदग्रेऽमृतोपमम्
परिणामे विषमिव तत्सुखं राजसं स्मृतम्
viṣhayendriya-sanyogād yat tad agre ’mṛitopamam
pariṇāme viṣham iva tat sukhaṁ rājasaṁ smṛitam
That which arises from the meeting of the senses with their objects, like nectar at first and poison in the end, is happiness of restlessness.
Explanation
Nectar at first and poison in the end.
Arising from the meeting of the senses with their objects.
It is 5.22's wombs of pain restated as a timing problem. The Gita's objection to sense pleasure was never that it is false — it is that the accounting arrives late.
Word by word
- viṣhaya
- with the sense objects
- indriya
- the senses
- sanyogāt
- from the contact
- yat
- which
- tat
- that
- agre
- at first
- amṛita-upamam
- like nectar
- pariṇāme
- at the end
- viṣham iva
- like poison
- tat
- that
- sukham
- happiness
- rājasam
- in the mode of passion
- smṛitam
- is said to be
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