[Advaita-l] Some thoughts on the nature of bliss

[H S Chandramouli]

Namaste Sri Venkatraghavan Ji,



Reg  << There was a recent discussion in the group whether as a jnAni
enjoys the
world's bliss, he would also suffer the world's sorrow too. >>,



My understanding of a jnani’s enjoyment of bliss/sorrow  is different. A
jnani is not all the time in the same frame of mind. When he is intently
concentrating on Brahman, he goes into samAdhi and “enjoys”  swaupa Ananda.
But when he is not concentrating on Brahman, due to prarabdha and vAsana,
he is influenced both by external environment and internal emotions
(desire,jealousy etc), and enjoys/suffers like any other jiva. But then
such experience is limited to his own particular body and he is not
affected by others’ experience. The extent of such experience is
undoubtedly decided by his own personal traits like vairagya etc cultivated
by his previous sAdhanAs. But always limited to his own individual body.
The relative time for which the jnAni is in samAdhi and attitude like
vairagya cultivated by sadhanAs when out of samAdhi determine the extent of
Ananda he enjoys overall. That is what is presented in the Ananda mImamsa
of taittariya Up. That also accounts for the gradation of jnanis as
brahmavit, brahmavidvara, brahmavidvariyan and brahmavidvarishtha.



Hence at no point of time, the jnani is enjoying in his body the Ananda of
all bodies. Likewise he does not at any time suffer the sorrow of all jivas.




Regards