THE "covering of bliss"' is that covering of the Atman which catches a reflection of the blissful Atman itself. Nevertheless, this covering is a creation of our ignorance. Its nature consists of the various degrees of happiness which are experienced when a desired object is gained. Its blissful nature is spontaneously felt by righteous men when they reap the reward of their good deeds. It expresses that joy which all living beings may experience without making any effort towards it.
The "covering of bliss" is fully revealed to us in the state of deep sleep. It is partially revealed in the waking and the dreaming states, when any desirable object is being enjoyed.
This "covering of bliss" cannot be the Atman, for the following reasons: it has limitations; it is an effect of Maya; its joyful nature is experienced as the result of good deeds; it is of the same kind as the other coverings, which are all products of Maya.
~tr. Parabhavananda / Isherwood
Chinmayananda:
Now the ānandamaya kośa is being described. Ᾱnandamaya kośa is also a vṛtti, a mental disturbance; ‘vṛtti’ means ‘thought’. Even during deep sleep there are thought waves. The prāṇa, the mind and the intellect are annihilated or transcended.
Samādhi is a state wherein all thought waves have totally stopped. Deep sleep is not samādhi; during deep sleep there are yet subtle vṛtties in the intellect. These vṛtties can be said to be bliss thoughts (ānanda vṛtti).
At these moments, the bliss of Infinitude is tasted a little. Śaṅkara, in his poetic exuberance says, “The ripples of thought waves arising out of tamas in our mind, kiss the reflection of the bliss of Infinitude. This is the characteristic of the ānandamaya kośa.”
Priya, moda and pramoda are different degrees of happiness experienced when we come in different degrees of contact with the objects of our liking.
A lover sitting in his home and thinking of his beloved feels happy. Though the beloved is far away, to think of the beloved is happiness. In English, we may call this pleasurable emotion felt in the bosom as ‘pleasure’ (priya).
When the beloved, the object of our liking is in front of us, the pleasure is intensified and that intensified pleasure is called ‘moda’, in English let us call it ‘joy’.
And when we are actually indulging in or enjoying, when the object of our pleasure is in our possession, that pleasure is naturally, most intensified. This maximum intensity of joy is called ‘pramoda’, again in English let us call it ‘ecstasy’.
When we are in dreamless deep sleep, we are in the bliss sheath. Our experience in deep sleep is, ‘I don’t know.’ ‘I know nothing’ is our only experience in deep sleep. None of the things that one generally experiences as objects, emotions and thoughts are there. So absence of things and utter ignorance are the nature of this sheath.
Dayananda:
The ānandamaya is described in this verse. Ānandamaya is a specific vṛtti, born of tamas, avidyā- tamojṛmbhitā. All the vṛttis are born of avidyā only.
Ānanda-pratibimba is reflection of ānanda. So ānandamaya is a vṛtti which is pervaded by reflected ānanda. Ānandamaya is not svarupānanda, it is a particular vṛtti.
There are a lot of people who translate the word ‘ānanda’ as bliss which is not correct. Bliss itself is a vṛtti-viśeṣa, whereas the ānanda is the nature of the ātmā and not a vṛtti. In the sentence ‘satyaṁ jñānam anantam brahma’, the word ‘ananta’ stands for ānanda. Ananta means that which is free from any limitation. That is the nature of ātmā. Therefore, limitlessness, wholeness, fullness is the meaning of the word ‘ānanda.‘
The common experiential ānanda one gets is also a mātra, fraction of the vṛtti viśeṣa, a particular state of mind, and is limited in terms of time also. So it is time-bound. Again there are degrees in the experiential ānanda. Therefore we have different words like - pleasure, happiness, joy, etc. All these are vṛtti-viśeṣas with different degrees of intensity. In the experience of any ānanda, the fullness of the ātmā is manifest and that is what is sought after by all.
When what you like is in sight, there is a vṛtti-viśeṣa called priya. Labhe modaḥ, when what you like is gained or very nearly gained then there is the vṛtti called moda. And when you experience the thing you like then the vṛtti that rises in your mind is pramoda. So, all these are vṛtti-viśeṣas born in the wake of desirable objects. Since the vṛtti is born, there will be nāśa, destruction for it. Even when you gain the desired object, you may find it not very desirable; there is again the nāśa of that vṛtti-viśeṣa. All this is a set-up to prove that these priyādi vṛttis are not exactly the ānanda that we are talking about.
Similarly, ānanda being the nature of ‘I’ is never away from ‘I’. So, the statement ‘I was happy’ is a mistake. That is why ānandamaya becomes a kośa. The ānandamayasya-kośa is very clearly manifest in deep sleep, ānandamayasya sphūrtiḥ utkaṭā suṣuptau. In the deep sleep the ānanda is unaffected by any other vṛtti, because no other vṛtti is there. The ahaṅkāra is resolved in sleep, so all the notions about the self are resolved. In sleep there is no identification with the body, etc, so problems related to body, etc are not there. And therefore ānanda is predominant in sleep.
Similarly, in sleep, the ānanda that obtains is nothing but svarupānanda. The only difference is that in sleep there is no other vṛtti to vitiate this ānanda whereas, in waking and dream, there are degrees of resolution and subsequent vṛttis that inhibit the quality and the duration of ānanda.
In both waking and dream you have a judgement about yourself which also stifles the ānanda. In sleep, however, there is nothing to stifle it; so it is uninhibited.
There is a great enthusiasm to go to sleep but there is a reluctance to get up. From this we understand that sleep must be an island of joy which we want to enter into but are reluctant to get out of.
This ānandamaya cannot be the para-ātmā, naiva ayam ānandamayaḥ parātmā. This is negation of ānandamaya. At every level there is negation. Why can it not be parātmā? Sopādhikatvāt, because it has got an upādhi. The upādhi is the mind. Vṛtti-viśeṣa, a particular vṛtti of the mind is the upādhi of ānandamaya.
207. The ānandamaya kośa (bliss sheath) is that modification of nescience which is kissed by a reflection of the Ᾱtman, which is Bliss Absolute. Pleasure and so on, are its attributes and it springs into expression when an object agreeable to it presents itself. The fortunate feel it spontaneously when the fruits of their good actions manifest. Every being, without the least effort, derives great joy from it.
208. The ānandamaya kośa is fully manifest in the deep sleep state. While in the dream and waking states it is only partially manifest depending upon the sight of pleasing objects and so on.
~tr. Chinmayananda
No comments:
Post a Comment