BG 18.37

That which in the beginning may be just like poison but at the end is just like nectar and which awakens one to self-realization is said to be happiness in the mode of goodness.

18.37. [The happiness] which is like poison at its time but is like nectar at the time of its result-that happiness, born of serenity of the Soul and intellect, you must know to be of the Sattva (Strand).

18.37 Which at first seems like poison but afterwards acts like nectar - that pleasure is Pure, for it is born of Wisdom.

18.37 See Comment under 18.39

18.37 That pleasure, which 'at the beginning,' i.e., at the time of beginning of Yoga, is 'like poison,' i.e., is painful because it reires strenuous efforts and because the distinct nature of the self is not yet experienced, but which after long practice fructifies in the blissful experience of the self - that joy born of a serene state of mind 'focusing on the self' is Sattvika. The Buddhi concerning the self is 'Atama-buddhi.' When all objects are withdrawn from that Buddhi it becomes serene (Prasanna). The joy born of the experience of the self in its distinct nature, when all objects are withdrawn from the Buddhi, becomes 'like elixir'. That joy is said to be Sattvika.

18.37 Yat, that joy which is; iva, like; visam, poison, a source of pain; agre, in the beginning-when it first comes in the early stages of (acisition) of knowledge, detachment, meditation and absorption, since they involve great struggle; but amrtopamam, comparable to nectar; pariname, in the end, when it arises from the maturity of knowledge, detachment, etc.; and which atma-buddhi-prasadajam, arises from the purity (prasada), trasparence like water, of one's intellect (atma-buddhi); tat, that; sukham, joy; is proktam, spoken of, by the learned ones ;as sattvikam, born of sattva. Or, the phrase atma-buddhi-prasadajam may mean 'arising from the high degree of clearness of that atma-buddhi (knowledge of or connected with the Self)'; therefore it is born of sattva.

18.37 That which is like a poison at first but becomes like elixir in the end, born from the serene state of mind focusing on the self - such pleasure is said to be Sattvika.

18.37 That which is like poison in the beginning, but comparable to nectar in the end, and which, arises from the purity of one's intellect-that joy is spoken of as born of sattva.