TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0385 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

|| 4.03 | BRAHMAN AS BLISS OR HAPPINESS ||

Absolute Being is the highest perfection .

Perfection is Bliss .

The Self is the seat of Absolute Love ,
Love without an object outside It .

It is Bliss without objectification , for BRAHMAN-Bliss is not derived through contact of subject and object .

Here , Love and Bliss are Existence Itself .
That which is , is Bliss of Consciousness which is Being .

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0386 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

The highest aim of all endeavour is deliverance from the present condition of limited life and the reaching of

" the Bhuma which is Bliss " .

" The great Infinite alone is Bliss , there is no bliss in the small finite . Where there is neither seeing nor hearing nor knowing of anything else which is a second entity — that is the Infinite . " ( Chh . Up . VII . 23 , 24 )

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0387 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

Absolute Existence which is Absolute Knowledge is also Absolute Bliss .

The Consciousness of Bliss experienced is in proportion to the growth and expansion that we feel in the conscious being of ourselves .

Sat-Chit-Ananda does not imply a threefold existence , but is Absolute Self-Identity .

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0388 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

The world appears to be real , intelligent and blissful , because it projects itself on the background of something which is essentially Reality-Intelligence-Bliss .

" That , verily , is the essence .

Only on getting this essence , does one become blissful . Else who would breathe and , who would live — if there were no bliss in existence ( space ) ! Truly , this essence is the source of bliss . " ( Taitt . Up . II . 7 )

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0389 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

This Essence is impartite bliss and is fearlessness , but ,

" if one would create even the least difference in this , there is fear for one " .

" This Being ( of BRAHMAN ) is the supreme Bliss . " ( Brih Up . IV . 3 . 32 )

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0390 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

The Mundaka Upanishad calls Reality as the " Blissful Immortal " .

According to the Taittiriya Upanishad , it is the Reality

" whose Self is Truth , which is the delight of life , the joy of mind , the fullness of peace , the immortal " .

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0391 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

The repeated declarations of sage Yajnavalkya ,

" whatever is other than That , is wretched " , " one who departs hence without knowing this Imperishable is miserable " ,

suggest the absolute supremacy of the Bliss of BRAHMAN , when compared to which even the highest heaven , even the abode of the creator , is just darkness and sorrow .

The natural phenomena of hunger and thirst , pain and illusion , old age and death are said to be overstepped by That most Exalted Being which is beyond all evil and sin .

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0392 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

BRAHMAN is not " blissful " but " Bliss " , not " conscious " but " Consciousness " , not " existent " but " Existence " .

It neither decreases nor increases ; it is the Ocean of Plenitude , without an ebb or a flow , filled up to the brim of being , allowing in nothing , giving out nothing .

That is the real nature of the Self in which one rises from the consciousness of something to the consciousness of being everything , where the knower and the known , the enjoyer and the enjoyed are one , in which one is lifted above all desires and sees nothing outside .

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0393 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

It is said that the Self , when in fast embrace with the Being whose essence is Knowledge , knows nothing , either external or internal , for that is the True One in which all desires are quenched , in which the Self alone is the desire , in which all wants and sorrows are dissolved .

TROTA | CHAPTER 4 | SEL0394 | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

This is the zenith of Bliss and Wisdom , by a small fraction of which the whole universe is sustained .

" One who is conscious of the Bliss of BRAHMAN fears not from anything . "

" When one finds one's rest in That which is invisible , incorporeal , inexpressible , unfathomable , then one has attained to Fearlessness . "

For , this Atman is Silence and Peace , " shantoyamatma " .