Divine bliss. The Self is unalloyed, eternal bliss. Pleasures are but its faint and impermament shadows. (SSS Vol.1, p. Glossary)
God is described as Sat-cit-ananda. Sat is truth. Cit is Paripurna Jnana (supreme knowledge). When Sat and Cit come together, there is ananda, Divine Bliss. If you separate Truth and Knowledge, you cannot experience Bliss. Truth may be compared to sugar, Cit (Jnana) may be compared to water. As long as sugar remains sugar and water as water, you don’t experience anything special. But when the two are brought together you have a syrup, an enjoyable paanakam (sweet drink). Likewise, only when Sat and Cit come together ananda (bliss) is experienced. Sat (Truth) can be attained only through Truth. Cit (Knowledge) can only be acquired through knowledge. Bliss can be experienced only through bliss. The Divine as the embodiment of knowledge can only be realised. (SSS Vol.24, p. 4)
Man is of the nature of ananda; he cannot survive without ananda. (SSS Vol.2, p. 218)
The Taittiriya Upanishad has declared, ‘Through ananda, all this is born; through ananda all this is living; in ananda alone all this is merged, in ananda all this rests’. (JV, p. 22)
Since the Atma pervades all, equally and steadily, the Jiva also loses the ‘I-ness’ and gets immersed in its Divine status. Such a person is the real Mahatma; he is the Jivanmukta. Fullness is ananda; ananda is Shanti. (DhyV, p. 17)
Ananda is the result of Action only. (Prema Vahini, 1975, p. 53)
‘Sarvam paravasam dukham’ (From all outside you, grief); ‘Sarvam Atmavasam sukham’ (From all within you, happy). According to this axiom when man feels that his ananda is dependent on external objects, he is moving beyond himself and courting grief. He plunges into needless grief by the enslavement to objects, which, according to his fancy, can make him happy. He becomes the target for anxiety and worry. The attempt to derive ananda through external objects and external activities is, therefore, not commendable at all. Those who long for genuine ananda have to turn their attempts inward, bound to the Atma. When ananda is sought from external objects, one has to suffer much, just as a person afflicted with thirst runs towards mirage. He gets nothing to quench his thirst and he has a miserable end. (Sutra Vahini, p. 60)
The Upanishad speak of seven degrees of ananda (Divine Bliss). The first is the happiness derived from enjoyment of worldly goods, from good health and bodily comforts. This is called Manushya ananda (human bliss). The Pitru-Deva ananda (the bliss enjoyed by the Manes) is hundred times Manushya ananda. Deva ananda (the bliss enjoyed by the Devas) is hundred times that of the Pitru-Deva. Hundred times this ananda is the Prajapati ananda. Hundred times this bliss is Virat-Purusha ananda. Hundred times the previous one is Hiranyagarbha-ananda. Hundred times this is Brahmananda. You can reckon how much greater is Brahmananda than Manushya ananda.
The word Brahmananda is now-a-days branded about to describe any and every kind of pleasure. ‘I am filled with Brahmananda because a son was born toady.’ ‘I got first marks in my class. I feel supremely happy.’
Such expressions of happiness are far remote from Brahmananda. This experience is tantamount to Moksha (Liberation). The Brahman experience is not to be got by the mastery of various sadhanas. It is only when the heart is purified that divinity can be realised. There is no room for divinity in a heart filled with egoism, pride and hatred. (SSS Vol.16, pp. 93-94)
Man prides himself that he has earned ananda himself by his effort. It is sugar that makes the bland globules of flour into sweet Laddu. The grace of the God on all Beings can alone confer sweetness or ananda. The stars are proud that they shed light on a darkened world but the bright moonlight renders starlight too faint to be noticed. The moon’s pride, too, is humbled when the sun illumines the sky. Brahmananda is the Sun. This does not mean that one should ignore starlight and moonlight or Vishaya ananda and Vidya ananda that is ananda derived from Nature and from spiritual experiential knowledge. They are steps, stages, samples. While valuing them as such, the goal of Brahmananda has to be relentlessly pursued. (SSS Vol.16, p. 105)
The expression of the urge of ananda is as Love and Delight. Delight is the product and projection of Love. The expression of Cit is awareness. The expression of Sat is Becoming. Divinity is the Unity that manifests in Diversity, the One as the Many. The One is the efficient cause as well as the material cause of the Many. The One is inherent in the Many and shines in the Many, which It has become. The ONE is the source of the highest and the most lasting ananda.
The ananda we get when hunger is appeased by a meal is short-lived. Hunger afflicts us again before long. However sweet and tasty the food may be, it causes nausea when consumed in quantity. The mythological bird Chakora is said to feed on moonlight only but we can be sure a surfeit of that will certainly be unwelcome to it. Even nectar will cloy when one continues to eat it endlessly.
Brahmananda, however, is different. For, it is native to man, his very source and sustenance. The purpose of human striving, through stage after stage of spiritual progress, is to attain that. A fish placed in an artistic golden gem-studded bowl is miserable. It has no ananda, for it has no water. Water is its home, its real source and sustenance. Man too must reach his original home, however far he may wander. Tyagaraja sang: ‘Birds, big and small, before nightfall seek the tree where they can rest. I hold Your Feet in my grasp; save me, O Rama.’ The Bhagavatam makes it more explicit, ‘For every living being, the best course is to attain the source from which it originated.’ There exist many flooded streams on the globe. Where has the water come from? The ocean, of course. Consider the impediments the streams have to overcome before they attain the source! The flooded stream of human life has originated from Brahmananda and it has to attain the source from which it has come away. In order to succeed, man must recollect the ecstasy of Brahmananda every moment, in every activity.
Tyagaraja revelled in the ananda that poetry, music and scholarship can confer but since the ananda that learning can confer (Vidya ananda) was liable to weaken, he considered it only as a particle or foretaste of the Brahmananda he sought most the ananda derivable from the Universal Eternal Delight, the Nirguna Ananda Brahman. That ananda is man’s reality, for, man is God.
God is neither distant, nor distinct from you. You are God. You are Sat-Cit-Ananda (Being, Awareness and Bliss Absolute). You are Asti (being), Bhati (awareness), Priyam (bliss). You are all. When do you cognise this Truth? When you shake off the delusions, which hide the Truth. If your yearning to experience Brahmananda, the Sat-cit-ananda is sincere and pure, from this day, keep ever in your memory what I am about to tell you:
‘I am God; I am not different from God.’ Be conscious of this always. Keep it ever in mind. ‘I am God; I am God. I am not different from God.’ Be reminding yourself of this. Pray that you may not fail in this sadhana (spiritual exercise). ‘I am the Akhanda Para Brahman (Indivisible Supreme Absolute).’ This is the second Truth to be established in the consciousness by unremitting repetition and prayer. I am Sat-cit-ananda (Being, Awareness, Bliss).
‘Grief and anxiety can never affect me.’ Develop this Faith and convince yourselves of this Truth by repeated assurance and prayer. ‘I am ever content; fear can never enter me.’ Feel thus forever. Pray that this conviction grows stronger and stronger. Exhort yourself, ‘O self! Utter ‘Om Tat Sat’, ‘Om Tat Sat’, the threefold symbol of Brahman. As the physical body is maintained healthy and strong by the five pranas (vital airs), these five prayers will endow you with the ‘awareness of Brahman,’ which is the same as ‘the status of Brahman Itself.’
Do not demean or condemn yourself as low or, small or weak. The body is but a vehicle for the journey through life. Do not mistake it as your self and impose on yourself its ups and downs. You purchase a car and possess it for the sake of its usefulness, not for keeping it under lock and key in the garage. The body-car should be put to the best use, for attaining Brahmananda. The four goals of human life - Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha (right living, right earning, right desiring and release from worldly bondage) are the wheels of the vehicle; the wheel inside that steers these four is the mind. The Buddhi (intellect) is the switch. The air, which fills the tubes in the tyres, is Faith and the destination is ananda.
Ananda is the breath that sustains life. That is the goal, which has to be ever in view, while navigating the ocean of one’s life. Even the least trace of ananda that one derives is but a reflection of Brahmananda. One has to keep this in mind. Anything done or said or seen is but the prompting of the Brahman that is one’s reality. Have faith in this fact.
In order to develop and deepen this faith, certain spiritual practices can be undertaken. Do not feel separate from God and consider Him as the Giver and yourself as the Recipient. This smacks of commerce. It is wrong to plan for getting some wish granted in return for what you offer. God will not pay any attention to your material greed; He watches the heart and its contents. Believers in God have not understood God if they bargain with Him and clamour for worldly goods. Hence, from ages past, they have suffered misery. The Divine seeks and rewards only Divine qualities, virtues and conduct.
The body is transient and the joy it seeks and gets is equally transient. The ananda one gets through meditation on the Atma is as lasting as the Atma. When Godhead assumes a body, It too is unaffected as the Atma. Nothing can confer as much ananda as virtue, neither wealth, nor material power, nor fame, nor scholarship. The highest virtue is humility, surrender to God. People speak of those who have no one to look after them as ‘orphans’ but God looks after everyone. So, no one can be an orphan. God alone is the Anatha (orphan), for who can claim that he is God’s guardian? Dedicate thought, word and deed to God. Do not treat some of your activities as done for God and others as done for yourself. They are both like the two halves of a pulse grain. The plant sprouts from the middle of the grain, drawings sustenance equally from both halves. The alert and the inert, the living and the non-living, the moving and the non-moving are all God. Strengthen this faith, live in this faith. This is the prescription for perpetual Brahmananda. (SSS Vol.16, pp. 169-173)
Man starts life as a creature of Anna (food), but he has to march on to the goal of an embodiment of ananda. Not man alone, but every living being starts on food and yearns to reach the peak of ananda. All efforts, all undertakings are directed to the acquisition of ananda. All are born in ananda will live in ananda, all die in order to attain ananda. The Taittiriya Upanishad elucidates that ananda is the urge for birth growth decay and death. However, how can Brahman be ananda? It is said, Om Iti etad aksharam Brahma, the Pranava sound Om, the one imperishable letter, is Brahman; the Cosmos is composed fully of the Pranava. It is also said Ayam Atma Brahma - this Atma is Brahman’. Therefore, Atma, Brahma also Pranava -all are indistinguishably the same. Brahma Vidya teaches that self in each living being the Atma is Brahman itself, no less. (Su V.P. 34)
‘I am ever in full ananda, I am always with a smile on My face, why? Because what happens must happen. Pleasure is an interval between two pains. Joy can never be derived from joy and it can come only from pain and sorrow. If a person is always in an air-conditioned room he can never know what coolness means. He has to go, at least once, into the hot sun, to realize the value of air-conditioning. No lamp can shine fully in bright daylight. Night alone can reveal its value. I never had the experience of either grief or anxiety. I know that these are but dream experiences. They are not in fact real. Some persons may praise you, others may blame you; both are really unreal!’ (Uniq, p. 72)
Beyond the intellect, we have in us the subtlest sheath of ananda or Bliss. When man delves into the ananda region of himself, he can experience the Reality, the Brahman, the One. This awareness is indeed the most desirable. (LA, p. 200)
In the Ananda Valli portion of the Taittiriya Upanishad, there is a beautiful poetic reference to Brahmananda or Supreme Bliss. Brahmananda refers to Bliss that is limitless and beyond description by words; it is also something that cannot be comprehended by the ordinary mind. Unless one leads a calm, pure, noble, virtuous, peaceful, and unsullied life, one can neither understand nor experience this Brahmananda. Supreme Bliss is beyond the physical, mundane, and transient world.
Our ancients have categorised the various types of joy and happiness that can be experienced. The lowest type is Manava ananda, that refers to the pleasure that humans experience in the course of their normal life, and which is connected with worldly objects, entities, and matters. Thousand times greater is Gandharva ananda or the happiness experienced by celestial beings. Daiva ananda is the next higher level of happiness, and is a thousand times greater than Gandharva ananda. It refers to the joy experienced by the devas or the demi-gods. Far greater than daiva ananda is Brihaspati ananda, or the bliss experienced by Brihaspati, the preceptor of the devas. A thousand times greater is Prajapati ananda or the joy experienced by Prajapati (in ancient Indian scriptures, Prajapati is the one associated with the practical aspects of Creation). Brahmananda is a thousand times greater than Prajapati ananda, the highest joy that can be measured on a finite scale. You can see what an immense gulf separates Manava ananda that man hungers and normally settles for and Brahmananda that he really ought to seek.
People use the word Brahmananda quite casually, without the faintest idea of what it actually means. Thus, every petty pleasure is glibly described as Brahmananda. For example, if a person has a nice meal, he describes the experience as Brahmanandam. Man does not understand what an infinite gulf separates Manava ananda and Brahmananda. The pleasures that man normally enjoys is not even a tiny spec of Brahmananda. He does not realise that while worldly pleasures can be described in words, Brahmananda is indescribable.
Ananda is Ananda at all times and under all circumstances. Since Brahman and Atma are synonymous, Brahmananda can also be referred to as Atmananda. Supreme bliss is verily the same as the bliss of the Self. In fact, Ananda is just another name for Brahman or God. Worldly happiness that man is so crazy about is insignificant compared to the vastness that is Brahmananda or Atmananda.
You are aware that air is present everywhere and that it has no specific form. Yet, when this formless air that is present everywhere fills a balloon, it acquires a form – that of the (inflated) balloon. If you go on inflating the balloon, a stage would come when the balloon would burst. The air inside the balloon then merges with the air outside to become formless and vast once again. What a great difference there is between the trapped limited air and the vast free air! Similar is the comparison between the tiny spec called Manava ananda and to the infinity that is Brahmananda.
Our ability to experience happiness is one of the many gifts of God. However, owing to his limited vision, man makes only a minimal use of his capacity to enjoy happiness. He is ever ready to settle for just Manava ananda; this will not do. Like the exploding balloon and the merger of the air inside with the air outside, man must break out of human bondage, soaring to the level of Brahmananda.
Brahmananda is one of the Names of God. It conveys the idea that God is ever in a state of Supreme Bliss. Bliss is thus the Form of God, and therefore it is that God who is called Brahmananda.
There are many other such names, and these were mentioned in the beginning. The next in the list is Parama sukhadam, meaning real ecstasy. What is this sukham (happiness or ecstasy)? Is it connected with the body? Is it physical, sensual, or intellectual? It is beyond all these. Our ancients said, ‘Tasmai Namaha.’ It means, ‘I offer my salutations to the Embodiment of Happiness’. Our ancients did not try to describe this supreme ecstasy but knew that God is its very Embodiment. So, they hailed God as Parama Sukhadam. God is the personification of Happiness that is beyond the constraints of space and time, and also human reasoning. If one is to describe this Parama Sukhadam or Transcendental Bliss, all one can say is that it is neither physical nor has it a form that can be comprehended. Nectar has an appearance, and its taste could possibly be described; but Parama Sukhadam is beyond both form and words. God is Eternal Bliss – what else can one say? He is totally unaffected by all pairs of opposites like praise and blame, (worldly) joys and sorrows, etc. He is ever supremely happy.
Kevalam Jnanamurtim: Kevalam means that which transcend space, time, and circumstances. Jnana means wisdom. Thus, jnana moorthim means Embodiment of wisdom. What sort of wisdom is this? Can it be acquired from books? Is it connected with the physical world? Can it be acquired by yogic practices? Jnana is not of this type. It is supreme, transcendental wisdom, which is beyond this world, beyond space, time, and beyond circumstances as well. This jnana is also known as Brahmajnana (Knowledge of the Brahman) or Atma jnana (Knowledge of the Atma). It is eternal. Whereas worldly knowledge can be acquired from books and one can compare scholars saying he is better and so and so is less learned etc., Brahmajnana is total, and beyond textual and academic knowledge.
God alone is the Embodiment of jnana – in fact, He is Jnana itself. Brahmajnana is Eternal, Total, and Omnipresent. It is the knowledge of the Self. Since the Self is in you, this knowledge also is in you. The moment you realise your True Self, you acquire this knowledge. Acquisition of this knowledge confers supreme wisdom. Since this knowledge also confers supreme bliss, acquisition of Brahmajnana, automatically elevates you to the state of Brahmananda and Parama Sukhadam.
Dvandvatitam: The state represented by Brahmananda has another name : dvandvateetham. It is a state that transcends all dualities like pain and pleasure, good and bad, praise and blame, merit and sin. It is a unique state of Total Oneness. The Vedas say:
Ekam sat viprah bahudha vadanti.
Truth is only One though scholars describe it in various ways. Truth is One, not two – that is what dvandvateetham implies. It means that Brahman or God is infinitely beyond duality in which man is imprisoned.
Next is Gaganasadrisam. This means that like space, Supreme Bliss is both ethereal and all-pervasive. Who is it that is called by the name Gagana Sadrisam? God of course! In fact, all the words Swami has mentioned so far – Brahmanandam, Parama sukhadam,Kevalam Jnana murtim, Dvandvatitam and now Gagana Sadrisam – all these are Names of Almighty God.
Tatvamasyadilaksyam: The four Vedas proclaim four Mahavakyas or fundamental truths. These basic statements are: (1) Prajnanam Brahma or God is Pure Consciousness. (2) Ayam Atma Brahma, meaning that Atma (the Self) and Brahman (God) are one. (3) Aham Brahmasmi, meaning I am God. (4) Tat Tvam Asi, meaning That thou art! All these four statements imply the same, namely, there is only God and that, therefore, man also is divine. They underscore the Unity of Divinity. Thus God is also described as Tatwamasyadhi Lakshyam or the Ultimate Goal (which represents Total Unity).
After this is Ókam, Nityam, Vimalam, Acalam. These four words also are Names of God. Ekam means One. Everything in this vast Universe is just God (though, may be, in ‘disguise). However, man is carried away by physical appearances. Thus, he perceives and experiences only diversity, totally missing the underlying divine Unity. The diversity that man sees is purely physical and superficial. He sees only diversity because his vision as well as outlook are both entirely worldly and external.
Let us say you have the numeral one (1) You next add a zero adjacent to it. This gives you a number that you call ten. You then add another zero and get hundred. Go on adding more and more zeroes, and you progressively get larger and larger numbers. You get hundred, thousand, ten thousand etc. In this way, with a mere string of zeroes, you can increase the number to million, trillion and so on. You can get astronomical numbers by just adding zeroes to 1. Remove this 1, and you are left with a mere string of zeroes! You may have a large number of zeroes but they carry no value. But place the number one before this string of zeroes, and you get numbers that carry value – that one makes all the difference! In the Universe, That One is God, one of whose Names is Ekam. God is just One, no matter by what Name you choose to call Him or what Form you wish to ascribe to Him.
Next we have Nityam, which means Eternal. God is not only Eternal but also Changeless. He remains so in all the three periods of time – past, present, and future – in all the three worlds, and in the presence of the three gunas (sattva, rajas and Tamas gunas) too. This divine constancy is described in the scriptures by saying that He is beyond trikalam (three periods of time), trilokam (three worlds), and trigunam (three gunas). Thus, God is Nityam, Nityam, Nityam!
After this, we have Vimalam – Pure. Today, contamination and pollution are everywhere. Air and water are polluted. Food too is contaminated and polluted. What is even more serious, man’s mind is polluted. God, on the other hand, is the personification of Total Purity. He is absolutely unsullied, crystal clear, and pristine pure.
Achalam: This means steady and not wavering. All objects and entities made up of the five elements are subject to changes with time; in fact, change is an inherent part of their nature. The Sun changes with time, and so does the Moon. The stars also change with time. The Earth is always in motion. You know that in a movie, sixteen frames change per second. So it is in Creation – changes all the time, everywhere, and in everything. But God is Achalam or steady and constant.
Chalanam Achalameva Cha: God is no doubt steady and unchanging, but He is also immanent in things that are subject to change. Even so, constancy being the basic nature of the Absolute, God is known as Achalam.
Sarvadhi Saksibhutam: In addition to all the names mentioned so far, God is called the Eternal Witness. He is a witness to everything and all the time.
Pious and noble rishis of the past gave so many Names to God. Keen to experience Divinity, they sacrificed everything worldly and material, and did intense penance. Induced by his inner feelings, each sage ascribed an attribute or form of his choice to God and then gave a name to God appropriate to his conception. God is actually both Formless and Nameless – all the descriptions of God are due to the rishis of old. However, Names of God like Brahmanandam, etc., have nothing to do with worldly or physical descriptions. They transcend all these and relate to a superior plane. In this plane, God is beyond all normal and conceptual description. He is the Supreme One beyond all duality, and is described as
Brahmanandam Parama Sukhadam Kevalam Jnana murtim
Dvandva atitam Gagan asadrisham Tatvamsyadi Lakshyam,
Ekam Nityam Vimalam achalam Sarvadhee Sakshibhutam
Bhavatitam Trigunarahitam Sad Gurum Tam Namami.
God alone is entitled to all these glorious Names. (SSB 2000, pp. 173-182)