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How can I say I am Pure Bliss?

Writer's picture: Vimida DasVimida Das

Self-search

Sat-chit-ananda is the description Advaita Vedanta gives of Ultimate reality or Brahman. Sat means existence. Chit means consciousness. And Ananda means bliss. I know only a drop in the ocean of Advaita Vedanta, so while I cannot explain it from the point of view of intellectuals, let me try to explain it to you from the point of view of my own experience.

When I started my meditative practice and began looking within, I could only find silence. The more I searched for the so-called Brahma, the more silent he seemed to become. I started to conclude that silence is the true nature of nature. It is from silence that everything began. It was a peaceful thought, but it was like a consolation prize in my spiritual pursuit. So I always had this silence that I could turn to, and that calmed me down, but was that it?

Intellectual Understanding

Then I got exposed to more knowledge. I got exposed to this word "Sat-chit-ananda." Understanding Sat was very easy. Do I exist? Of course, I do! That much I knew. Does everything around me exist? Yep again, although I knew that they existed only because of my experience, so I knew that everything existed in my awareness. So somehow I understood what consciousness was also. I, the observer, exist, and everything that I observe shines in the light of my consciousness. Intellectually, I was understanding. Intellectually, I was also understanding Oneness - if there was one creator, then we, the creation, can't be separate from the creator.

The Search for Joy

The creation and creator must exist on the same plane. It was a bit abstract, but I was getting it. But then what? What was I supposed to do with this understanding? Why was this supposed to bring me joy? They said that the oneness took away the feeling of separation, and that led to joy. Okay, but for me, that only removed my fear. It did not give me joy.

Understanding the Bliss

It was one day pondering on this on my terrace that I had this incredible experience. I felt as if I am expanding, and everything around me was within me. In one single moment, I was experiencing all that was happening all around me. I could feel the plant, the earth, the sky as if they were all dimensionless within me. I was just experiencing it all. I don't know how long this state lasted, maybe only a few minutes, but to me, I felt as if I was in a timeless zone, a zone where I was everything. When I returned to myself, I had tears in my eyes. And that was when I understood the "bliss" in Brahman. The Ananda in Satchitananda. The bliss was in experiencing. It was in being formless and experiencing the joy of form. In knowing everything and knowing that all of it was my own illusion, my own playground. My own Maya.

In one moment, I understood that I am the observer, I am the experience and experiencer, and none of it really matters. If you could just shed the five senses and the ever-chattering mind for a few moments, you can tap into your own true nature, your own bliss at any moment



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