Bhakti Shastri (143) – Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 Text 36 to 42

Podcast

Thank you. Gita Mrityaduhai Namaha Hare Krishna Welcome back to the Bhagavad Gita Bhakti Shastri course. We are now in the 18th chapter.
We will look at the happiness in the three boards and then we will go on to talk about how the Vedic program of Karma Yoga and then Bhagavata Arpita Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga through Gyan Yoga helps one to transcend from the arena of the modes to beyond the modes. So, let’s look at happiness in the three modes. So, to go back the analysis till now we talked about Gyan, Karma and Karta in two classes earlier and then Buddhi and Hrithi we talked about in our previous class.
So, now we come to Sukha. So, the connection is that ultimately all action that we do we are aiming for the fruit of the action is happiness. So, happiness itself can be in different modes.
And let us look at the happiness in different modes. So, 36th verse Sukham Tvaidanim Trividham Shrunumai Bharatar Shabha Abhyasa Dharmate Yatra Dukkhaantam Janigachyate Sukham Tvaidanim Trividham So, Trividham of three kinds, Sukha happiness, Shrunumai Bharatar Shabha O Bharatar Shabha O son of Bharata there are these three kinds of happiness Abhyasa Dharmate Yatra that by practice sometimes one engages in this happiness and Dukkhaantam Janigachyate Dukkhaantam Janigachyate means that sometimes one comes out of misery Dukkhaantam that means the end of misery the end of misery So, Krishna is saying in the first part of the verse Sukham Tvaidanim Trividham Shrunumai Bharatar Shabha Here Arjuna brought three kinds of happiness and he gives a generic overview of the three kinds of happiness by telling that sometimes Abhyasa Dharmate Yatra that sometimes the living entity enjoys this happiness and sometimes Dukkhaantam Janigachyate that the living entity comes out of all misery, attains the end of all sorrow, Dukkha Anta So, earlier Krishna has talked about Antavat Imed that the body is temporary and then he has talked about how So, he has talked about Antavat Imed he talks about 2.18 and then 5.22 he talks about how material pleasure has a beginning and an end and then he has talked further about in the 7th chapter how the fruits of demigod worship are also temporary Antavat Tufalam Desham Tad Bhavaty Alpamedhasam So, Antavat, temporary or ending, that which has an end that which is temporary So, Krishna has talked about various things that are temporary but here he is talking about not just temporariness, he is talking about termination, complete ending the termination of what? the termination of misery So, how will this misery become terminated? By the practice of Dukkhaantam Chani Gacchati So, Vishwanath Chakrathakur gives an alternative explanation of this. He says that so, basically he connects the second part of this verse.
The verse has 4 parts A, B, C, D. The second part means C and D. Abhyasa Dharmateyatra Dukkhaantam Chani Gacchati So, he connects this with the next part Next verse, 37th verse talks about happiness in the mode of goodness So, he says that happiness in the mode of goodness has to be cultivated Abhyasa Dharmateyatra that actually this happiness doesn’t come automatically It has to be cultivated. One has to practice it. Abhyasa Dharmateyatra that by Abhyasa, by practice one will start delighting in the happiness and then Dukkhaantam Chani Gacchati So, it is not that any and every happiness can bring the end of misery There may be some temporary relief You know, sometimes when people feel there are too many problems they drink a bottle of liquor They think, they may not think literally but their idea is that the solution to the problem is found at the bottom of a liquor bottle No, at the bottom of a liquor bottle there is no solution to a problem Actually, there is only worsening of the problem So, there may seem to be like a Dukkhaantam, drown away all your misery in liquor But no, liquor makes things worse.
It makes a person suffer more than what the person was suffering earlier. So, it’s not a solution It’s aggravation So, therefore, Dukkhaantam Chani Gacchati If one truly wants the Anta of Dukkha, the only way to do that is by going beyond the material modes Because as long as one is in the realm of matter, one will be encountering temporary things and that is going to cause suffering Dukkhaantam Chani Gacchati Dukkhaanta will come when one goes beyond the arena of matter And to go beyond the arena of matter, one has to practice So, one cultivates happiness and goodness and after a goodness, one goes towards transcendence Now, in some ways the happiness and goodness and its transcendence is similar In some ways, it is different