Verse 18.38

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 18.38:

विषयेन्द्रिय-संयोगाद् यत् तद् अग्रेऽमृतोपमम् ।
परिणामे विषम् इव तत् सुखं राजसं स्मृतम् ॥ ३८ ॥

viṣayendriya-saṃyogād yat tad agre'mṛtopamam |
pariṇāme viṣam iva tat sukhaṃ rājasaṃ smṛtam || 38 ||

viṣaya–with the sense objects; indriya–of the senses; saṃyogāt–from the contact; yat–which; tat–that; agre–in the beginning; amṛta-upamam–like nectar; pariṇāme–in the end; viṣam–poison; iva–like; tat–that; sukham–happiness; rājasam–governed by the quality of passion; smṛtam–considered.

Happiness in the mode of passion is known to be produced by the senses’ contact with their sense objects. It is like nectar in the beginning but like poison in the end.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

Yad amṛta-upamam refers to the happiness expe-rienced while enjoying with women other than one’s wife and so forth.