Three-fold of resolve and happiness

dhṛtyā yayā dhārayate manaḥprāṇendriyakriyāḥ |

yogenāvyabhicāriṇyā dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī ||18-33||

The unflinching resolve, with which one sustains, by practice, the activities of the mind, prāṇa, and organs of action and knowledge, (that resolve) is sāttvikī, Pārtha (Arjuna)!

With an unflinching resolve - vyabhicāriṇyā dhṛtyā, a person sustains - dhārayate, the activities of the mind, physiological functions, and organs of actions and knowledge - manaḥprāṇendriyakriyāḥ. Means this person is able to discipline their activities, keeping them within a certain boundary which is determined by the way of life enjoined in śāstra. For this, one requires resolve, because we have the tendency to do things which are convenient for us, but we also have a natural tendency to follow dharma. In all mythologies, the battle is always between gods (right) to destroy demons (wrong). This is because the whole life is meant to destroy things that are improper. Everyone faces the conflict of whether to stay within the boundary of dharma or to cross them, and it requires resolve, in the beginning. This resolve is born of one’s understanding or the value of what is proper and improper, and it becomes firm by practice - yogena, with the life of discipline, attitudes, etc. A person who is able to control the activities of the body-mind-sense complex by practice of discipline, etc. with a firm resolution, that is sāttvikī dhṛtiḥ.

yayā tu dharmakāmārthān dhṛtyā dhārayate' rjuna |

prasaṅgena phalākāṅkṣī dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha rājasī ||18-34|| Whereas, the resolve, with which the one who has a longing for result as the occasion arises, sustains (activities for) religious merit, pleasure, and security, (that resolve) is rājasī, Pārtha (Arjuna)!

dharmakāmārthān dhṛtyā - a person who has the resolve in engaging in a activities of the mind, sense and body that are meant for dharma - religious merit, artha - security, and kāma - sense pleasure. prasaṅgena phalākāṅkṣī - as the occasion arises, he tries to convert every opportunity into something beneficial to himself. This kind of resolve is called rājasī.

yayā svapnaṁ bhayaṁ śokaṁ viṣādaṁ madam eva ca |

na vimuñcati durmedhā dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī ||18-35|| That resolve, by which the one whose thinking is improper, doesn’t give up (excess) sleep, fear, sorrow, depression, and intoxication, is tāmasī, Pārtha (Arjuna)!

Here is another person who has a very committed resolve, but towards activities like svapnaṁ - sleep, bhayaṁ - fear, śokaṁ - sorrow, viṣādaṁ - depression, and madam - intoxication. Since his thinking is not proper - durmedhā, he doesn’t want to get out of these conditions. This resolve of a person whose thinking is distorted is called tāmasī dhṛtiḥ.

sukhaṁ tvidānīṁ trividhaṁ śṛṇu me bharatarṣabha | abhyāsādramate yatra duḥkhāntaṁ ca nigacchati ||18-36|| yattadagre viṣam iva pariṇāme 'mṛtopamam | tatsukhaṁ sāttvikaṁ proktam ātmabuddhiprasādajam ||18.37|| Listen to me now, Arjuna, the foremost in the clan of Bharata! About the three-fold happiness. That in which one discovers joy by repeated practice (of meditation) and gains the end of sorrow… …which in the beginning is like poison (and) when there is transformation, is like nectar, that happiness is called sāttvika, born of clarity of self-knowledge.

sāttvikaṁ sukhaṁ is that in which one revels in by practice - abhyāsādramate yatra. And it is the joy that one discovers by the repeated practice of śravana, manana, and nididhyāsana. In all these, certain repetition is involved, and that repetition brings not boredom, but happiness. It is not discovery of a joy which will be lost in time, but in which one gains resolution of sorrow that is centred on ātmā - duḥkhāntaṁ nigacchati.

yattadagre - the beginning of sāttvika sukha is said here to be equated to poison - viṣam iva. When a person begins this pursuit of self-knowledge, he finds it difficult because he is beginning to address himself. When I turn attention towards myself, the sorrows I’ve never given a thought to, the thoughts I never even thought I had, all come up because I am addressing them. It is like poison in the beginning because it requires maturity, dispassion, objectivity, etc. to see as it is, and dropping all of the past in handling all these that come up. All these are not ordinary, it is a painful process. Then again, we have to follow values, which are difficult initially, but slowly it becomes natural. When? pariṇāme - when there is change, where growing clarity is there about myself. There is a happiness which Śankarācārya says, is born of maturity in terms of understanding, dispassion, etc. This dispassion is not a will based denial but a natural objectivity born of clarity of self-knowledge - ātmabuddhiprasādajam. A mind with this kind of purity does not resist anything because of glad acceptance of whatever is. The happiness which is born of that maturity is like nectar - amṛtopamam.

viṣayendriyasaṁyogād yattad agre 'mṛtopamam | pariṇāme viṣam iva tat sukhaṁ rājasaṁ smṛtam ||18-38|| That happiness (arising) from the contact of a sense organ with its object, which in the beginning is like nectar and when it changes is like poison, is considered rājasa.

rājasaṁ sukhaṁ is the simple kick that we get because of the contact of the sense organs with their sense objects - viṣayendriyasaṁyogād. If those sense objects are desirable, sukha is born. In the beginning it is like nectar - agre 'mṛtopamam, in the sense that it is easy. After all, the contact of the sense organs with desirable objects doesn’t require any preparation of the buddhi. It is purely a perceptual sukha, which even an animal can pick up. Because it is very simple and very desirable, it is comparable to nectar. Even though sensory pleasures seem to be very simple to acquire, in the long run, they are not easy to get at all because the sense organs, on which they entirely depend, are not as powerful as they once were. And that sukha eventually will not exist at all because sense organs will finally depart altogether.

yadagre cānubandhe ca sukhaṁ mohanamātmanaḥ | nidrālasyapramādotthaṁ tattāmasam udāhṛtam ||18-39|| That happiness, which in the beginning and at the end, is self-deluding, (and) born of sleep, laziness, and indifference, is called tāmasa.

This is a happiness - sukhaṁ, which initially - yadagre, and later also - cānubandhe ca, involves delusion of the person - mohanamātmanaḥ. It is the happiness experience in sleep - nidrā. Though there is some happiness in sleep since there is no identification. Because it is completely overwhelmed by tamas, total ignorance, therefore there is no positive appreciation of happiness. Then there is another happiness stem from laziness - ālasya, when one exerts no effort in doing things. There is another similar kind of happiness born of indifference - pramāda towards things that are to be done.