Meditation on Bliss

When we meditate, we often have a feeling of Bliss, Joy, Peace, or Ananda. This Bliss is one of the attributes of our own soul, as in Sat, Chit, Ananda; or ever Existing, ever Conscious, ever new Bliss.

This is important because in that state of Bliss, we are in touch with an aspect of our soul; we experience it in a real way, which leads us to the next question, what is its source or its origin? The answer is its creator, the Divine source. 

Why is this so? 

Because we know, that our soul is not alone. Everyone has a soul and what makes it so marvelous is that there are an infinite number of souls and each one has its origin in the same source.

We may recall our discourse on the Koshas or sheath that protect the soul, Self.

The most outer is Annamaya kosha, the next is Pranamaya kosha, then Manamaya kosha, followed by Jnanamaya kosha, then Anandamaya kosha and the Self, or Atman.

Each of the sheaths or koshas is only an appearance. In truth, all of the levels, layers, koshas, or sheaths of our reality are only appearances or maya (while also very real in the sense of dealing with the external world), and that underneath all of those appearances, we are pure, divine, eternal consciousness, or whatever name we prefer to call it.

While some view maya as meaning that nothing is real, and turn this into an intellectual practice, others view the illusion of maya as being Shakti or energy, the creative force of the universe. In this way, the maya of the koshas can be experienced both as unreal and, at the same time, as the beautiful manifestations of the universal oneness.

Anandamaya kosha is the most interior of the koshas, the first of the koshas surrounding the Atman, the eternal center of consciousness. Ananda means bliss. However, it is not bliss as a mere emotion experienced at the level of the sheath of mind. Ananda is a whole different order of reality from that of the mind. It is peace, joy, and love that is underneath, beyond the mind, independent of any reason or stimulus to cause a happy mental reaction. It is simply being, resting in bliss called ananda.

Yet, even this bliss, however wonderful it is, is still a covering, a sheath, a lampshade covering the pure light of consciousness. It is the subtle most of the five koshas. In the silence of deep meditation, this too is let go of, so as to experience the center.

According to Vedanta the wise should discriminate between the Self or the real and the koshas, which are the non-self or illusion.

Atman is the Self, the eternal center of consciousness, which was never born and never dies. Atman is light itself, though to even describing it as that is incomplete and incorrect. The deepest light shines through the koshas, and takes on their coloring.

Atman, the Self, has been best described as indescribable. The realization of that, in direct experience, is the goal of Yoga meditation.