​Happiness as the nature of the self, svarUpa of mokSha.

[Ananta Chaitanya [Sarasvati]]

Namaste.

(https://anythingwise.blogspot.com/2026/01/happiness-as-nature-of-self-svarupa-of.html) 

The Self by svarUpa is sat, chit and Ananda. These are not three attributes as they appear to be in their translations, at least the former two, as existence, consciousness and bliss. All three words have a specific connotation each, and they point to the same vastu, entity. The three are used to take away their loaded meanings. All this is detailed by Bhagavan Bhashyakara under the Taittiriya mantra: satyam j~nAnam anantaM brahma. However, I would like to offer an additional perspective in the following analysis, which came up while teaching Vicharasagara the 2nd time. Its been several months since, but I hope to be able to give a certain angle to this.

Out of sat, chit and Ananda that are the svarUpa dharma (for a lack of a better word), sat is considered as sAmAnya while chit and Ananda are said to be visheSha, based on the fact that all jIvas know that the exist. They don't hunt for their existence, but they want it to continue by wanting to live on and on. However, they hanker after Ananda, they search for happiness. They don't know that they are the very Ananda they are looking for! Where does chit fit into all this? Vicharasagara too calls this as visheSha, but if one takes another look at it, one would agree that all know that they are conscious entities. No one needs to point it out to them, just like they know they exist and no one need point that out to them. This would put chit right alongside of sat as sAmAnya dharma, not visheSha like Ananda. Ananda is the make or break of all pursuits and hence the culmination into mokSha. One can also take sAmAnya to mean easy to understand with little or no inquiry in this context.

Having established that Ananda is the only visheSha, lets see what is known when more or less clearly or at least understood so. Now we all know that the advitiyatva of all this is definitely visheSha, that is not the focus here. That we do not know due to avidyA causing an AvaraNa, veiling one's own svarUpa. [If one understands that this is svarUpalakShaNa of AtmA, one would know that all sattA is AtmasattA, all that is chaitanya is Atmachaitanya and any Ananda is nothing but AtmAnanda.] The focus area here is that avasthAtrayaparIkShA also has the following interesting differences in manifestation of sat, chit or Ananda:

In waking: sat and chit are manifest, Ananda is veiled.
In dream: sat and chit are manifest, Ananda is veiled.
In deep sleep: sat and chit are veiled, Ananda is manifest!
 
All three never manifest together in any of these three states. If all three were to manifest simultaneously, we wouldn't struggle across lives to break out of saMsAra. The deep sleep is one that gives a glimpse into our AnandasvarUpa where we are happy even without any object, neither a waking one, nor a dream one. The recollection of sleeping happily and not knowing anything (else) shows that the sat-chit aspects are veiled while Ananda is manifest. The Ananda is not objectified, just like our being existent and conscious is not objectified. There is a massive misunderstanding when one says one is happy that somehow this is positively objectified happiness. It is not. If one recalls priya, moda and pramoda gradations of happiness as discussed in most Vedanta texts, they tell us that the craving for any object takes us away from svarUpAnanda and that object being obtained, the craving goes away and the svarUpAnanda manifests be it via the same vRtti or better still as Vicharasagara says via another AnandavRtti. Again, AnandavRtti also doesn't mean that svarUpAnanda is an object of that vRtti.

The anubhava word is misunderstood very badly due to the saMskAra of the English word experience, where an object is almost included. anubhava is actually the svarUpa of Atma itself, being interchangeable with j~nAna. Incidentally today, I came across this in Bhagavan Chitsvarupacharya's TIkA on Naishkarmyasiddhi where he glosses over the word svAtmAnubhava as svaH cha asau AtmA cha svAtmA and then, svAtmA cha asau anubhavaH cha svAtmAnubhavaH. Oneself is AtmA and that itself is anubhava. So, one cannot have an experience of AtmA as an object, ever! That is to say one cannot know AtmA as an object, ever. And this also means that one cannot have anubhava of Ananda as an object, ever.

When everything else ceases to be, what remains is you, the Self, which is Ananda. There is no positive experience of Ananda. In deep sleep though, there being no object, but avidyA being there, what reflects in avidyA is Ananda, which was always there in waking and dream too, but it was suppressed by the waking and dream object-noise. To manifest Ananda in waking and dream, we necessarily need the desire for the object to vanish, which remove the AvaraNa on Ananda in that moment, when the vikShepa vanishes with the desire. In contrast, to manifest Ananda in deep sleep, we don't need anything since there is desire for the object at that time, nor is there any object.

Those who have difficulty in landing on this Ananda as svarUpa of oneself using suShupti as an example, almost always need samAdhyanubhava, where sat, chit and Ananda all three manifest together. Of course, even this can't establish advitIyatva of AtmA, which only Shruti can bring in. There is a third way of using tarka, pure tarka which is as follows. All the analysis as pointed out by any Vedanta text in the context of how viShayAnanda takes place holds good. In short, if the viShaya had Ananda, everyone would like the same viShaya and even one who finds happiness in that object would find it all the time. Neither is the case, but there is definite happiness felt in that object. It should have come from somewhere. pArisheShAt, it belongs to the only one remaining, the subject that objectifies, meaning AtmA, one's very own Self. Ergo, AtmA is AnandasvarUpa.

gurupAdukAbhyAm

Kind rgds,
--Ananta Chaitanya
/* येनेदं सर्वं विजानाति, तं केन विजानीयात्। Through what should one know That, owing to which all this is known! [Br.Up. 4.5.15] */

[V Subrahmanian]

Namaste 

Good post on Ananda. I have a question:

Moksha is given the meaning: niratishaya Ananda avapti. In jivamnukti this experience of supreme bliss can be admitted. However, in videha mukti, in the absence of the mind medium to experience the svarupa ananda, does the stated meaning of moksha hold in Advaita? Other schools have the idea of being in a loka in mukti where they say ananda can be experienced as a certain form of individuality is maintained. In fact this is an objection against Advaita by them: the sukha that everyone longs for is not possible in the Advaita parama mukti. 

We might say: he is one with or is the Ananda Brahman. But the question remains. Does any Advaitic text address this question?

warm regards 

subbu

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[Ananta Chaitanya [Sarasvati]]

Namaste Subbuji,

On Tue, Jan 6, 2026 at 11:46 PM V Subrahmanian <v.subra...@gmail.com> wrote:

Good post on Ananda. I have a question:

Moksha is given the meaning: niratishaya Ananda avapti. In jivamnukti this experience of supreme bliss can be admitted. However, in videha mukti, in the absence of the mind medium to experience the svarupa ananda, does the stated meaning of moksha hold in Advaita? Other schools have the idea of being in a loka in mukti where they say ananda can be experienced as a certain form of individuality is maintained. In fact this is an objection against Advaita by them: the sukha that everyone longs for is not possible in the Advaita parama mukti. 

We might say: he is one with or is the Ananda Brahman. But the question remains. Does any Advaitic text address this question?

Not that I know of Subbuji, but saying that AtmA is anubhavasvarUpa itself covers it. And then we have pashyatyachakShu etc. However, Vicharasagara says towards the end in the context of videhamukti that saguNa and nirguNa are one and the same, so merging with saguNa or nirguNa both mean the same thing. 

[Sudhanshu Shekhar]

Namaste Subbu ji, Ananta Chaitanya ji.

Isn't the definition of swaprakAshatva relevant for answering this objection? Brahman is swaprakAsha, meaning there is nothing else required for its illumination. Now, sat and chit are not covered by mUla-ajnAna and only Ananda is covered [सद्भानानन्दांशानां मध्ये आनन्दांशरूपेणैव ब्रह्म मूलाज्ञानेनावृतम्। ‘पूर्णानन्दो मे न भाती’ति प्रत्ययात् सद्भानरूपे भात इति प्रत्ययाच्च । (Laghu ChandrikA , page 318) । . Since the discussion is about Ananda, let us first analyse how the illumination of sat and chit manifests even in ignorance-avasthA.

Does the illumination of existence (sat) and consciousness (chit) require mind? It does not. It is self-manifest. The existence and consciousness of mind is actually borrowed from sat/chit. Even in deep sleep, when the mind is merged, the sat and chit are manifest [Ananta ji, please note]. No one ever says that I did not exist in deep sleep. "I did not know in deep sleep" does not deny consciousness in deep sleep, but it demonstrates consciousness with ignorance as the object. [Absence of vyavhAra "I exist/I know" does not imply non-illumination of sat/chit, it merely demonstrates absence of ahamkAra which is illuminated (ajnAtatayA) by sAkshI.]

Once it is clear that sat and chit don't require mind for their illumination, it is clear that post-ignorance-removal, the illumination of Ananda will be manifest even without the mind as then Ananda will be on the same footing as those of sat and chit. 

Regards.

Sudhanshu Shekhar.

[Ananta Chaitanya [Sarasvati]]

Namaste Sudhanshuji,

On Wed, Jan 7, 2026 at 3:11 PM Sudhanshu Shekhar <sudhans...@gmail.com> wrote:

Does the illumination of existence (sat) and consciousness (chit) require mind? It does not. It is self-manifest. The existence and consciousness of mind is actually borrowed from sat/chit. Even in deep sleep, when the mind is merged, the sat and chit are manifest [Ananta ji, please note]. No one ever says that I did not exist in deep sleep. "I did not know in deep sleep" does not deny consciousness in deep sleep, but it demonstrates consciousness with ignorance as the object. [Absence of vyavhAra "I exist/I know" does not imply non-illumination of sat/chit, it merely demonstrates absence of ahamkAra which is illuminated (ajnAtatayA) by sAkshI.]

You have to read prAyeNa here, because the comparison is with jAgRt and svapna manifestations. where Ananda also manifests but not as much as in suShupti.

[H S Chandramouli]

Namaste Ananta Chaitanya Ji,

Reg  // The recollection of sleeping happily and not knowing anything (else) shows that the sat-chit aspects are veiled while Ananda is manifest //,

I am not sure if you are presenting this statement as unique to VS. In the traditional version, the very fact that I am able to recollect that * I * was happy shows the manifestation of the *sat * aspect  during deep sleep. I was not aware of anything ( else ) shows that I was aware of the veiling meaning thereby the manifestation of the chit aspect. In fact recollection of this anubhava this is held to be  conclusive for claiming the manifestation of avidyA during deep sleep.

I am not touching upon other issues I find with this post due to inability in participating in long discussions on too many topics.

Regards

--

[V Subrahmanian]

Namaste Al,

The question arose because of such a statement: Shankara says this clearly in the Brahma Sutra Bhashya 4.1.15:

कथं हि एकस्य स्वहृदयप्रत्ययं ब्रह्मवेदनं देहधारणं च अपरेण प्रतिक्षेप्तुं शक्येत ? श्रुतिस्मृतिषु च स्थितप्रज्ञलक्षणनिर्देशेन एतदेव निरुच्यते । 

How can anyone deny the Brahman-experience of the realized person who at the same time is aware that he lives in the body? This alone has been elaborated as sthita prajna lakshanam in the shruti and smriti.     

Post death, the body mind complex, which is a sine qua non for the Atma jnana, is absent, there will be no way to say 'this jnani will be experiencing the niratishaya ananda rupa moksha'. That is because the body-mind complex is required to be avidyāvān and that is also required to identify the person as 'vidyāvān'.  In other words, the baddha jiva/mukta jiva vyavahara is body-mind specific. One explanation of the niratishaya ananda rupa mukhya moksha is 'it's a statement to convey that mukti is not duhkharupa.'  Shankara says this in the BSB 4.4.6"

अत एव च जक्षणादिसङ्कीर्तनमपि दुःखाभावमात्राभिप्रायं स्तुत्यर्थम् ‘आत्मरतिः’ इत्यादिवत् । न हि मुख्यान्येव रतिक्रीडामिथुनानि आत्मनि शक्यन्ते वर्णयितुम् , द्वितीयविषयत्वात्तेषाम् । तस्मान्निरस्ताशेषप्रपञ्चेन प्रसन्नेन अव्यपदेश्येन बोधात्मना अभिनिष्पद्यत इत्यौडुलोमिराचार्यो मन्यते ॥ ६ ॥

 It's because of this position of Advaita that there will be no trace of the jiva in mukti, that the objection that there is jiva svarupa nāsha in advaita.  The reply is: since the jiva's true svarupa is NB, and since NB is ever nāsha-free, the objection

does not subsist. 

warm regards

subbu   

On Wed, Jan 7, 2026 at 3:11 PM Sudhanshu Shekhar <sudhans...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Ananta Chaitanya [Sarasvati]]

Namaste Chandramouliji,

On Wed, Jan 7, 2026 at 4:33 PM H S Chandramouli <hschand...@gmail.com> wrote:

Namaste Ananta Chaitanya Ji,

Reg  // The recollection of sleeping happily and not knowing anything (else) shows that the sat-chit aspects are veiled while Ananda is manifest //,

I am not sure if you are presenting this statement as unique to VS.

I never said that it is the view of VS. 

 

In the traditional version, the very fact that I am able to recollect that * I * was happy shows the manifestation of the *sat * aspect  during deep sleep.

I am not sure if you read the entire post. The manifestation of sat is not the way it is in jAgRt and svapna. That is the contrast shown. If it is the same in all three states, there is no parIkShA needed. The statement for analysis is sukhamaham asvApsam, not sadahamasvApsam. Just by aham being there, sat and chit cannot be brought in. The aham is not recollected the way sukham is. There are so many such analytical flaws that can shown in each avasthA then. And every aspect can be established in any avasthA. Ananda can be established in jAgRt itself and then we won't need to analyse suShupti at all. The idea is to contrast it across states; that is why you have to read prAyeNa there.

I was not aware of anything ( else ) shows that I was aware of the veiling meaning thereby the manifestation of the chit aspect. In fact recollection of this anubhava this is held to be  conclusive for claiming the manifestation of avidyA during deep sleep.

As above.

 

I am not touching upon other issues I find with this post due to inability in participating in long discussions on too many topics.

I don't think there will be a long discussion even if you point of anything you find as an issue. I am also unable to participate in discussions, but I did want to share this post and quickly reply, when possible.

gurupAdukAbhyAm,

ananta 

[V Subrahmanian]

In the Panchadashi it is said that for the manifestation of the Ananda aspect in the waking (and by extension, in dream), one needs to cultivate more sattva. The chit and sat aspects manifest naturally. In BSB Shankara says in the very first sutra: सर्वो हि आत्मास्तित्वं प्रत्येति, न नाहमस्मीति |  यदि हि नात्मास्तित्वप्रसिद्धिः स्यात् , सर्वो लोकः ‘नाहमस्मि’ इति प्रतीयात् । आत्मा च ब्रह्म ।  Everyone experiences his own existence; no one says ' I am not'. If the popular natural idea of 'I exist' were not there, everyone would experience 'I do not exist.' Atman is Brahman. This includes the chit aspect too. 

regards

subbu

regards

subbu  

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