The three Happiness in Deep sleep !

[Guest guest]

Nairji observes :

 

(As Michael recently pointed out here, he just thinks that `bliiss'

is too a exaggerated a word to describe the happiness of sleep.

Besides, he thinks that the happiness in sleep is due to physical

relaxation and rest. That is all. He doesn't have any

disagreements with the basic tenets of Vedanta.)

 

Is 'Bliss' just a word ?

or is Bliss a state of mind ? or Bliss something else ?

 

In this context , it is my pleasure to quote From Shri Anandaji's

weekly definition on 'Ananda' ( Happiness ) ....

 

Here i take liberty of Quoting a joyous verse from Taittiriya

Upanishad 2.7, as appended below (with a rather free translation).

 

yad vai tat sukRRitam raso vai saH

[it is just this essential savour that is quite spontaneous and

natural.]

 

rasaM hy evAyaM labdhvAnandI bhavati

[it's only when one reaches this true savour that one comes to

happiness.]

 

ko hy evAnyAt kaH prANyAt yad eSha AkAsha Anando no syAt]

[For what could be alive at all, what could move with energy, if

there were not this happiness -- here at the background of all space

and time, pervading the entire world?]

 

Folks, pl read Anandaji's weekly definition of 'Ananda' at

 

http://www.advaita.org.uk/discourses/definitions/Ananda.htm.

 

In this context also, it is my plesure again to bring another

Analogy from Shri Anandaji's writings :

 

EXPERIENCE OF HAPPINESS IN DEEP SLEEP – AN ANALOGY (79)

 

Suppose a bucket is lost in a deep well, and you dive down to the

bottom to make a

search. You touch the bucket there at the bottom, and come up to the

surface. Coming

out of the water, you say you found the bucket. But the bucket was

really found while

you were under the water, where there was no medium to express that

experience.

Similarly, Happiness was experienced in deep sleep, but you get hold

of a medium

to express that experience only after coming to the waking state.

Experience is always beyond the mind. The personal `I' knows it only

when the `I'

comes to that realm of the mind. Still others come to know it when

you give it a gross

form by putting it into words. But the experience was clearly beyond

the mind.

 

http://www.advaita.org.uk/discourses/atmananda/atmananda_quotes.htm

 

So, to cut a long story short , what is deep sleep ? is there

a 'mind' in deep sleep ? is there an 'ego' in deep sleep ? If the

answers are 'no' then you are 'Ananda' .Ananda just does not mean

happiness - it is a state of no mind , no ego .

 

ps nairji : please take doc's advice . you are very dear to all of

us. A vedanti is also a good sleeper, dreamer and a day dreamer!

smile:-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

advaitin , " Madathil Rajendran Nair "

<madathilnair wrote:

>

> Namaste Dr. Shaym-ji.

>

> Your post # 37354.

>

> Sorry for the delay. I was off net the last couple of days due to

a

> very compelling situation at work.

>

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sister Nivedita-ji.

 

May I point out the following in response to your post # 37396:

 

The Ananda of sat-chit-Ananda is a synonym for Brahman. Sat and chit

are the other names for Brahman. All indicate the same thing.

 

The above Ananda is not bliss. This is not my opinion alone.

Several masters hold the view that Ananda of sat-chit-Ananda is

fullness or infiniteness or limitlessness or wantlessness.

 

Happiness is the opposite of sorrow. Brahman cannot be the opposite

of anything. Brahman is beyond the pair of opposites. Brahman IS,

the pairs of opposites are. Brahman IS, pain is. Brahman IS,

pleasure is.

 

When Ananda is understood as fullness or infiniteness or

limitlessness, what is meant is not the opposite of being incomplete

or finite or limited because from the Absolute point of view there

cannot be anything incomplete or finite or limited in opposition to

Brahman. Words of the phenomenal are at best approximations. The

meaning has to be intuited and understood as a homogeneous all-

inclusiveness. That may sound like an oxymoron. That can't be

avoided.

 

There is a large body of water. The substratum for the water is the

ground underneath, which holds and supports it. At times, this huge

body of water is rough, wavy and frothy. That is like waking. Then,

there are times when it is relatively subdued but glittery. That is

dream. In both these states, a direct appreciation of the substratum

(ground) is not possible due to the commotion and glitter on the

surface. However, there are times when the water surface is quiet

and the whole mass is in absolute rest, without waves, surf and

shine. Its transparence then affords a view of the bottom. That is

like deep sleep. In sleep, there are no objectifications and

distractions (waves, froth and glitter) due to the absence of BMI

and, as such, shruti takes it as an excellent example to teach us

about the substratum – Brahman.

 

Otherwise, shruti could have taken examples even from waking.

Actually, there are patches of quietude in waking akin to sleep.

When we are totally absorbed in something (listening to soulful music

like Mounaji described in a recent post or experiencing extremes of

pleasure), we cease to exist as BMI and totally forget our

individuality at least for very short patches of time. These are

occasions when we become the thing we enjoy. In normal parlance, we

then say " Oh, I was one with it! " .

 

Such things happen to us only when we are dealing with something

pleasing to the mind. That is not the case with a jnAni. He is

always one with everything – all the pairs of opposites like pleasure

and pain, comfort and discomfort, heat and cold etc. etc. He is

always the substratum and knows that, as Consciousness, he is both

pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow. Pleasure, comfort or

relative happiness cannot cast an exclusive spell on him any more

like they do on us. Neither is he repelled by discomfort or pain.

 

A jnAni doesn't have to study sleep to understand the substratum of

his being. He is always one with it. He is it. He is equally the

enjoyment in eating a mango, the fire of hunger in the stomach, the

pain of a carcinoma on the shoulder and what not.

 

That is the knowledge Advaita grants. Yet, possession of this

knowledge alone doesn't release us from the clutches of the

opposites.

 

Thus, the enjoyment of eating soft idlis with well-made coconut

chutney on a hungry stomach is Brahman. The enjoyment in the removal

of hunger. Similarly, the happiness from sleep is equally Brahman.

But, we ought to differentiate that our sense of well-being after

waking is due to the removal of tiredness through physical/biological

relaxation and rest and a refreshed BMI. That is a more sensible

thing to do than yell out " BLISS, BLISS… " from the rooftop.

 

This is an attempt to sift fancy away from facts.

 

PraNAms.

 

Madathil Nair