यदा वै सुखं लभतेऽथ करोति नासुखं लब्ध्वा करोति सुखमेव लब्ध्वा करोति सुखं त्वेव विजिज्ञासितव्यमिति सुखं भगवो विजिज्ञास इति ॥ ७.२२.१ ॥
॥ इति द्वाविंशः खण्डः ॥yadā vai sukhaṃ labhate’tha karoti nāsukhaṃ labdhvā karoti sukhameva labdhvā karoti sukhaṃ tveva vijijñāsitavyamiti sukhaṃ bhagavo vijijñāsa iti || 7.22.1 ||
|| iti dvāviṃśaḥ khaṇḍaḥ ||1. Sanatkumāra said: ‘A person works when he gets happiness. He does not care to work if he does not get happiness. By getting happiness one does one’s duty. But one must try to understand the true nature of this happiness.’ Nārada replied, ‘Sir, I want to know well the true nature of happiness’.
Word-for-word explanation:
Kṛtiḥ means ‘application,’ or ‘repeated practice.’ How do we get niṣṭhā, or steadiness? Śaṅkara says it comes through repeated practice of self-restraint and self-discipline—that is, through the control of the organs and the mind.
Yadā vai sukham labhate, when a person gets happiness; atha karoti, he then works; asukham labdhvā, without getting happiness; na karoti, he does not do his duty; sukham eva labdhvā karoti, one works by getting happiness; sukham tu eva vijijñāsitavyam iti, but one should try to understand the nature of this happiness; bhagavaḥ sukham vijijñāse iti, sir, I want to understand the nature of this happiness. Iti dvādaśaḥ khaṇḍaḥ, here ends the twenty-second section.