Bhagavatgita a detailed study-chapter 6-yoga of meditation

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28. yunjan evam sadhaathmaanam yogee vigatha kalmashaH

 

sukhena brahmasamsparSam athyantham sukham aSnuthe

 

Thus the yogi who is engrossed in the Self always, from whom all impurities are removed, gets this greatest Bliss through the contact with Brahman.

 

As explained in the sloka 25 the mind is trained to think of nothing but Brahman always, sadhaa aathmaanam yunjan, because the yogi identifies himself with the Self only and not with body, mind and intellect. Vigatha kalamashah is the same as akalmashaH in the last sloka.

 

When the mind is free from the defects due to rajas and thamas, the intellect is established in pure satva and it becomes easy then to contemplate on the Brahman. The Brahman experience resulting from this is the BrahmasamsparSa. Then there is unlimited bliss of Brahman.

 

How to define this bliss of Brahman?

The upanishat says,

 

Yo vai bhoomaa thath sukham na alpe sukham asthi' bhoomaa eva sukham ; bhoaamaathveva vijijnaasithavyam (Chandogya.7.23.1)

 

Whichever is the highest that alone is the bliss. There is no happiness in that which is trivial. The highest alone is bliss and one should try to cognize that alone.

 

What is bhoomaa ,the highest? The upanishat explains,

 

yathra na anyath paSyathi, na anyath SrNothi, na anyath vijaanaathi, sa bhoomaa.(chandogya-7.24.1)

Where one sees nothing else, hears nothing else, knows nothing else, that is bhoomaa, the highest.

 

Yathra anyath paSyathi anyath SrNothi anyath vijaanaathi thath alpam. yo vai bhoomaa thath amrtham yath alpam thath marthyam (chandogya-7.24.1)

 

Where one is aware of, hears, and sees something else it is alpam, trivial. Bhoomaa is immortal and alpam is mortal.

 

What this conveys is that, whatever joy one experiences in this world it is always impermanent as we are aware of other things at the same time which mars the enjoyment. Any acquisition of the object of desire is sooner or later brings fear, anxiety and uncertainty in its wake. This is due to the difficulties experienced in protecting and maintaining what we have. So it is called alpam, trivial and mortal, marthyam, because the desire motivated activities resulting in the joy of the worldly things only creates karma which causes birth and death.

 

On the other hand the bliss of Brahman is called bhoomaa, the highest, because in that state one is not aware of anything else except the unlimited joy and it is amrtham, immortal because there is no return to mortality from that.

 

The scriptures have also given an estimate of the bliss of Brahman in order that it may be understood by the intellect. In Brhadhaaranyaka upanishat we have a passage describing the bliss of Brahman. (brhd.4.3.33)

 

If one could imagine an individual who has youth, money, power, family, land, health, fame and honour, he is the happiest of men and it is the highest joy of this world. Hundred times this is the joy in the pithrloka. In gandhrvaloka the joy is hundred times that of the pthrs. Hundred times this is the happiness of those who have become devas by their merit and the happiness of the born-devas is hundred times more than these devas by merit. In the prajapathi loka one gets hundred times more joy than that of the devas. The bliss of Brahman is hundred times more than that of the prajapathis. But in fact this bliss of Brahman cannot be measured at all as anything that can be measured becomes limited and the bliss of Brahman is unlimited.