Word meanings
- viṣaya
- with the sense objects
- indriya
- the senses
- sanyogāt
- from the contact
- yat
- which
- tat
- that
- agre
- at first
- amṛta-upamam
- like nectar
- pariṇāme
- at the end
- viṣam iva
- like poison
- tat
- that
- sukham
- happiness
- rājasam
- in the mode of passion
- smṛtam
- is said to be
Translations
That happiness which arises from the contact of the senses with the objects, which is initially like nectar but eventually like poison, is said to be Rajasic.
That which, at first, is like nectar, as the senses revel in their objects, but in the end acts like poison—that pleasure arises from Passion.
That joy is referred to as born of rajas, which, arising from the contact of the organs and their objects, is like nectar in the beginning but like poison in the end.
जो सुख इन्द्रियों और विषयोंके संयोगसे आरम्भमें अमृतकी तरह और परिणाममें विषकी तरह होता है, वह सुख राजस कहा गया है।Commentary
Sensual pleasure is mixed with pain, fear and sin. A small grain of sensual pleasure is mixed with a mountain of pain. He who indulges in sensual pleasures will have to experience pain also, side by side. He is afraid of losing the objects that give him pleasure. He is attached to them. Attachment is death. It brings him again and again to this world of death. Fear and attachment coexist with sensual pleasure. He has to exert a lot to get money. He can obtain the objects through money.
During exertion he commits many sinful acts and he will have to suffer in hell. The next birth will be of a very low nature. He tells lies and cheats people to obtain money. The senses also lose their vigour through indulgence in sensual pleasure. He loses his strength, vigour, wealth and energy. His intellect becomes dull, weak, impure, turbid and perverted. He loses his money and proper understanding. (Cf.V.22)