Verse 18.37

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 18.37:

यत् तद् अग्रे विषम् इव परिणामेऽमृतोपमम् ।
तत् सुखं सात्त्विकं प्रोक्तम् आत्म-बुद्धि-प्रसाद-जम् ॥ ३७ ॥

yat tad agre viṣam iva pariṇāme'mṛtopamam |
tat sukhaṃ sāttvikaṃ proktam ātma-buddhi-prasāda-jam || 37 ||

yat–which; tat–that; agre–in the beginning; viṣam–poison; iva–like; pariṇāme–in the end; amṛta-upamam–like nectar; tat–that; sukham–happiness; sāttvikam–governed by the quality of goodness; proktam–declared; ātma–directed to the self; buddhi–intelligence; prasāda–from pure; jam–which is generated.

That happiness which in the beginning is like poison but in the end is like nectar, and which is generated from pure intelligence related to the transcendental self, is declared to be governed by the quality of goodness.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

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

Viṣam iva (like poison) indicates that in the beginning, it is quite troublesome to control the senses and the mind.