This is Swami Lakshmanjoo’s translation of chapter 6, verses 21 to 24, of Abhinavagupta’s commentary of the Bhagavad Gita explaining the stages of mind and the joy of an appeased mind in Kashmir Shaivism. In the summer of 1987 Swami Lakshmanjoo began compiling important verses from the various scriptures he had studied throughout his life….
There are three types of spiritual joy (sukha) in Kashmir Shaivism: sāttvic sukha, rājas sukha, and tāmas sukha. In this excerpt from the Bhagavad Gita, In the Light of Kashmir Shaivism, by Swami Lakshmanjoo, chapter 18, verse 36-37, Swami Lakshmanjoo explains sukha of sāttvic [kind] and how this joy seems poisonous in the beginning. Chapter 18 Part 2 SWAMIJI: DVD…