The eighty-seventh in a series of talks by Swami Nirmalananda Giri (Abbot George Burke) on the Bhagavad Gita, India's most famous scripture: the unforgettable dialog between Sri Krishna and Arjuna about the essence of spiritual life.In this talk, beginning with Chapter 18:36, Swamiji discusses three types of happiness according to the gunas: sattwa, rajas, and tamas.Context of the Verse: The talk focuses on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18, Verse 36, discussing the threefold nature of happiness (sukha) as understood through yogic practice. Sukha vs. Ananda: • Sukha = pleasure or ease experienced in the mind. • Ananda = bliss, the deeper, inherent nature of the Self. • The Gita takes a practical psychological approach, helping yogis discern real happiness from delusions. True Sukha Requires Practice (Abhyasa): • True happiness arises from long-term dharmic living and yogic discipline, not surface-level cheerfulness or forced positivity. • Practice includes the observance of Yama and Niyama, forming the foundation for deep sadhana. Metaphor of Churning the Ocean: • Symbolizes spiritual effort through sadhana. • Both Halahala (deadly poison) and Amrita (nectar of immortality) arise—representing inner negativity and divine bliss, respectively. • Yogic practice forces one to face the inner poison before attaining the nectar. Facing Inner Negativity: • Many seekers feel worse after beginning meditation because it reveals inner faults, not because something is going wrong. • Real yoga surfaces egoic darkness, unlike false systems that induce fake euphoria. • Spiritual effort leads to awakening, not immediate pleasure.Threefold Happiness Described: 1. Sattwic Happiness: • Like poison at first, but nectar in the end. • Requires spiritual effort, facing inner discomfort, and burning away ignorance. • Leads to clarity, peace, and liberating self-awareness. 2. Rajasic Happiness: • Like nectar at first, but poison in the end. • Comes from sense contact—pleasures that feel good initially but destroy spiritual sensitivity. • Chief example: indulgence in sex as delusive bliss. 3. Tamasic Happiness: • Delusive from the start, arising from sleep, indolence, and ignorance. • Leads to stagnation, unconsciousness, and decay of spiritual potential. • Illustrated through a cautionary tale of a man who avoided truth and died due to self-deception and resistance to spiritual wakefulness. Choice and Free Will: • The Gita emphasizes that each seeker must choose between the path of nectar and poison. • God doesn’t force—yogic evolution is self-driven, though it is empowered by divine origin. Spiritual Heat and Inner Fire: • Physical symptoms (e.g., heat, sweating) during intense practice are not uncommon. • They represent the burning away of impurities—a symbol of real transformation. Closing Insight: • “Do or die—but you won’t die.” The seeker must face the fear of ego-death to realize eternal life. • Bliss (Ananda) comes only when the seeker endures, purifies, and awakens fully.