Sanskrit
सुखं त्विदानीं त्रिविधं शृणु मे भरतर्षभ । अभ्यासाद्रमते यत्र दुःखान्तं च निगच्छति ॥ ३६ ॥
sukhaṃ tv idānīṃ trividhaṃ śṛṇu me bharatarṣabha abhyāsād ramate yatra duḥkhāntaṃ ca nigacchati
Translation
And now the threefold kinds of pleasure hear thou from Me, O bull of the Bharatas. That in which one by practice rejoiceth, and which putteth an end to pain;
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The final triad, happiness, opens with a promise: sattvic pleasure is the kind one comes to enjoy only through sustained practice (abhyasa), and that eventually ends suffering — an investment structure, not an instant payoff. This directly parallels chapter 14’s account of the sattva-guna destiny, rising toward the pure worlds of the knowers, as something cultivated over time rather than granted on demand. The last triad: sukha, happiness itself, sorted by guṇa. The sāttvic kind requires abhyāsa — it is an acquired taste, “poison at first” (BG 18.37).
Study deeper
Word by word
- sukhaṃ tv idānīṃ trividhaṃसुखं त्व् इदानीं त्रिविधं
- now hear from Me the threefold happiness (sukham + tu + idānīm + trividham)
- śṛṇu me bharatarṣabhaशृणु मे भरतर्षभ
- O bull of the Bharatas (śṛṇu + me + bharata-ṛṣabha)
- abhyāsād ramate yatraअभ्यासाद् रमते यत्र
- in which, by practice, one delights (abhyāsāt + ramate + yatra)
- duḥkhāntaṃ ca nigacchatiदुःखान्तं च निगच्छति
- and comes to the end of sorrow (duḥkha-antam + ca + nigacchati)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The word doing the load-bearing work here is abhyasat, through practice, the identical term chapter 6 used for training a wandering mind back again and again. Reusing it for happiness rather than introducing separate vocabulary makes a strong claim: contentment isn’t a different kind of achievement from meditative steadiness, it’s produced by the same repeated-return method aimed at a different target.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- If a source of happiness doesn't feel rewarding the first several times you try it, don't take that as proof it isn't for you — this verse defines sattvic pleasure as something built through the same repeat-and-return practice you'd use to train focus.
Professional
- Treat engagement with genuinely valuable but initially unrewarding work, a new skill, a hard project, as a practice to build toward through repetition, not a preference to wait around for; satisfaction here is described as built, not found.
Family & Social
- A relationship habit that doesn't yet feel joyful, a nightly check-in, a shared chore done together, may still be the sattvic kind of happiness in progress; give it the same repeated practice you'd give any skill before judging whether it works.
Ask yourself
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