Verse 18.38
विषयेन्द्रियसंयोगाद्यत्तदग्रेऽमृतोपमम् ।
परिणामे विषमिव तत्सुखं राजसं स्मृतम् ॥
Transliteration
viṣayendriyasaṃyogādyattadagre'mṛtopamam |
pariṇāme viṣamiva tatsukhaṃ rājasaṃ smṛtam ||
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3
Translation
That happiness 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.
From the owner's sheet · +1 more
The happiness that arises from the contact of the senses with their objects, which is like nectar at first but like poison in the end, is held to be rajasic.
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08 · +1 more
Word by word
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08
Explanation
Rajasic happiness arises from the contact of the senses with their objects. It is like nectar at first but like poison in the end. The verse reverses the image of the previous one. Sense pleasures are sweet in the moment, but when pursued for their own sake they often leave behind exhaustion, craving or regret. Krishna does not deny that such pleasures are real; he points to their cost when they become the aim of life.
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08