18.37: The Secret of Enlightened Enjoyment

The essential principle of spiritual advancement is an internal redirection of our thoughts from the material to the spiritual, from worldly objects to the source of all those objects: Krishna

Because our mind is habituated, even addicted, to contemplating on worldly objects in the hope of getting some pleasure thereof, the prospect of giving up that worldly contemplation and enjoyment seems like poison. However, if we can just tolerate the poison by gently but firmly fixing our mind on Krishna, who is the reservoir of all happiness, then that mental connection with the divine will soon become the channel that gradually fills and eventually floods our consciousness with uninterrupted, unending pleasure. The Bhagavad-gita (18.37) explains this secret of enlightened enjoyment poetically: that which tastes like poison in the beginning will taste like nectar in the end.