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Is it possible to find complete bliss amidst disease, old age and death?

Q&A with Swamiji / October 25, 2016

QA with swamiji

Swamiji: There are different kinds of bliss.  A drunkard gets happiness from alcohol; a businessman gets bliss from counting his fortune; a gyani experiences happiness from the cultivation of knowledge.  However, none of these can satisfy the soul, for all these kinds of bliss are finite in quantity.  If the happiness we experience is finite in quantity, then the dissatisfaction will remain.  For example, a millionaire may be happy, but when he sees the billionaire in his private plane, he no longer feels happy.

The happiness our soul is looking for is such that is infinite bliss.  The Vedas state:  yo vai bhuma tat sukham.  The bliss of God has three attributes: it is sat-chitanand.  First, it is sat (eternal); once we attain it we get it forever.  Second, it is chit (ever-fresh).  It does not dry up like the intoxication of drinks, which leaves a hangover the next day.  And third, it is anant (infinite in extent).  Such bliss is experienced upon God-realization, when the soul completely immerses the mind in God.  It is not dependent upon external conditions, and thus it is unaffected by disease, old age and death.

Thus, we hear the stories of Saints who were in complete bliss despite harsh external circumstances.  For example, Soordas was blind, Meerabai was tormented by her relatives, and Kabir was ridiculed by the scholars of Kashi.  Yet, they all were ever absorbed in bliss, because their minds were united in loving devotion to God.

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