Sukham Tvidanim Trividham

Krishna opens a new topic: happiness, too, comes in three kinds. And there is one particular kind — the kind born from practice — in which a person finds increasing delight, and which eventually leads to the complete end of sorrow.

That phrase 'duhkhantam cha nigachchhati' carries the weight of a promise. Real happiness is not the kind that just feels good for a moment. It is the kind that actually brings suffering to an end. That is the test Krishna sets here: does this happiness reduce your sorrow, or does it quietly increase it?

This shloka serves as the doorway to the next three verses. The happiness that ends sorrow will be identified as sattvic. The happiness that starts sweet and turns bitter will be rajasic. And the happiness that dulls the mind from start to finish will be tamasic.

The phrase 'duhkhantam cha nigachchhati' is a defining formula for sattvic happiness. Any joy that reduces suffering over time — regardless of how difficult it was at the start — qualifies.

This is the introduction to shlokas 18.36-39, which describe the three types of happiness. It completes the guna analysis that has systematically covered every aspect of human action and inner life.