God and Bliss

"Ishu kshayan na nivartante
Nantariksha kshiti kshayan.
Matikshaya na nivartante,
Na Govinda gunakshayat."

"Not that space is exhausted but my quiver is emptied of arrows. Not that God is exhausted but my mind empty withdraws." So infinite are His attributes and Ananda is one such and is measured thus: The ideal state of perfect happiness of a man possessed of everything in perfection in this world (including perfect health) is taken as the unit with which to measure Ananda. Then we are taken through all the grades of beings, Gandharva, Yaksha, Raksha, Kinnara etc., and we are told the Ananda of the one above is one hundred times that of the one below, and it goes on finally to that of Indra and then to the four-faced Brahma whose Ananda is said to be a hundred-fold that of Indra. Then taking four-faced Brahma’s Ananda as the unit, the Sruti seeks to measure the Ananda of Brahman i.e. the Final Cause, but lo! it fails and cannot be reached by the mind as it is unthinkable and unutterable:

"Yato Vacho Nivartante Aprapya Manasa Saha."

According to Vedanta the soul partakes of the nature of the God-born in bliss, nurtured in bliss and losing itself in bliss. In the Brahma Sutra, He is spoken of as ‘Anandamaya,’ i.e., Ananda itself:

"Ananda Mayo Abhyasah,"

and also

"Raso Vai Rasaha Rasahyenam labdha Anandi Bhavati,"

i.e. having obtained a glimpse of his love he is filled with bliss.

The Vedas affirm that nothing could exist but for the joy of existence:

"Koh eva Anyat-kah-Pranayat
Yadesha Akasha Anando nasyat."

i.e. "If this all refulgent (God) bliss were not, what could live? what could breathe?"

What makes existence possible is the innate wish. Were there no will to be, nothing would or could be. The will to be can only subsist in joy, not in grief, as grief kills and joy generates. Sorrows pass; joy abides.

So if we are to have joy let us contemplate on Him who is the fountain-head of joy (Ananda). The Sruti says:

"Anandath-Khalu Yemani Bhutani jayanti."–Taitt.

There is a very great principle and a fundamental one ‘Tat-Kruthu-Nyaya’–‘What you think you become’–which philosophers explore and discuss at great length. Because also of the existence of another quality in the Brahman that we, his creatures, can imbibe His ‘Yojas’ below,

"Esha-eva Anandayati."–Taitt II-61-1.
i.e., He makes others blissful.

The study of the Vedas and the Sastras leads to an intellectual perception of God and such knowledge (Jnana) avails one and is fruitful only in so far as his Devotion (Bhakti) enables him to be in rapport and enjoy bliss. As to how far the Infinite can thus be cognised by the finite depends not only on the devotee but also on the possible existence of a personality in the Impersonal Infinite–a question that has exercised thinking minds much. Though perhaps the idea of a personal ultimate cause makes one shy a little, yet it cannot be denied that the Divine relations involve a number of ideas of a personal character. So long as God is conceived as being, "in relation with his creatures," the unlimited nature becomes limited and gets clothed with qualities; otherwise, "we will be found to deny intelligence and will," which in substance is personality in the conception of God.

In fact it is an age-long controversy whether the Brahman is possessed of attributes or not,-the apple of discord between Sankara and Ramanuja–the former holding that it has no attributes, which according to the latter borders on Nihilism–the essence of Buddhism. It will be out of place to dwell further on this knotty question except by pointing out that the last portion of the ‘Brahma-sutras’ deals with Brahman having attributes.

It may however be stated that the philosophy of the Upanishads is a happy blending of both the Impersonal and the Personal aspects, and M. Thibaut in his commentary on the ‘Vedanta-sutras,’ favours the view of Sri Ramanuja. It is because of the existence of attributes that the Divine has relation to man and that conduces to meditation. A cursory perusal of the ‘Brahma-Vidyas’ of the Upanishads discloses various qualities attributed to the Brahman, upon one or two of which the ‘upasaka’ meditates. Space forbids dwelling in detail on each particular attribute which each of the various Vidyas point out as the object of contemplation, as the Vidyas are many, such as ‘Sat,’ ‘Dahara,’ ‘Sandilla,’ ‘Upakosala’, ‘Panchagni,’ and others. Let us take the last case of the ‘Panchagni Vidya,’ where the ‘upasaka’ meditates on the Deity as being in the centre of the Sun and sits surrounded by four sacrificial fires and contemplates on the form and the attributes ascribed to the Vidya. The whole of God in its totality cannot be grasped by man, and hence the various Vidyas have been inculcated by the Maharishis, each having a particular quality, for contemplation. According to Vyasa, the Sutrakar, any one attribute of the Brahman is taken for contemplation and it is affirmed that it is enough, and will conduce to the result.

So we find the ‘Brahma Sutra’ saying

"Vikalpo-Visishtaha-Phalavat."

Sri Ramanuja comments thus on it: "It matters not which of the ‘upasanas’ (vidyas) a meditator chooses, the fruit is whole and unlimited blissful Brahman."

We find also Western mystics like B. Bosanquet stating that "some well-defined attribute may be focused by the wandering mind to fix upon and utilised for securing a definite object "–it being well known that no achievement is possible without concentration.

But how are we to visualise even a speck of that ocean of bliss of which He is the embodied one? The following remarks of Francis Power Cobbe will be quite in point: "That which will truly constitute the blessedness of man will be the gradual dying out of his tiger passions, his cruelty, and his selfishness, and the growth within him of the god-like faculty of love and self-sacrifice: the development of the holiest sympathy wherein all souls shall blend at last, like the tints of the rainbow which the Seer beholds around the great White Throne on High."

Sree Krishna prescribes perfect discipline and perfect renunciation as the only cure for all ills:

"Abhyasena-tu-Kaunteya Vairagyena-tu Grihyate."

Hence also Sri Ramanuja says the six qualities of the Brahman are to be contemplated, viz. Jnana. Bala, Aisvarya, Veerya, Sakti and Thejas, the ‘Shadgunya Paripurna,’ as He is known in Vaishnava literature. In the Saguna state, the Monistic school of Sankara admits these qualities, though, at the final stage, according to them, everything vanishes including Soul and Matter. Dr. Mackenzie, in his Elements of Constructive Philosophy, considers the attributes of the Infinite and says:

"It is perhaps partly the difficulties involved in the application of boundlessness to such attributes that has led some to postulate a finite God." Even Sankara is forced to say "Bhaja Govindam."

It is in a blissful state wherein all earthly loves, father, mother, son, daughter, wife, and all loves are re-discovered in God to which the ‘Brihadaranyaka’ refers:

"Atmanyeva priyam upasate
Nahyesha priyam premayatam."

i. e., whoso loves the spirit alone, to him there is no mortality. "Happiness is ours by birthright but we have not had the good luck to use it. With infinite wealth hoarded at home we have gone out of ourselves to beg at the door of the five poverty-stricken senses." So says the great philosopher James. Sree Krishna says: "Manayeva Manushyanam Karanam Bandha Mokshayoh," i.e., mind is the root cause; discipline it and you are the master."

When calmness of mind is secured we can realise ourselves as we are–only then is happiness envisaged, for all happiness is really inside and is enjoyed by a spiritual mind alone. For we find even in sense pleasures that they fail if the mind is withdrawn. The pleasures of thought are finer than sense pleasures, and moral happiness is infinitely higher. But the faculty of spiritual contemplation takes one to a plane of feeling which is all bliss–not mere happiness. It is what is known as spiritual bliss of which the intellect is no judge–but which is the birthright of all to attain and enjoy and which is unknown to the senses.