Paramananda (Hinduism)
This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (November 2023) |
Paramananda (
Jivanmukti
Joy, happiness or bliss, which are one of the four moral ends towards which human beings direct all their efforts, are derived via decidedly good thoughts and good deeds that depend on the state and control of the mind. That means, depending on the evenness of one’s own temper or in other words, through the practice of equanimity in the performance of every act without becoming instrumental in making those actions bear fruit ; the state of supreme bliss is reached through evenness of the mind with reference to all aspects of one’s life.[2] The Bhagavad Gita, by using five verbs viz. karoṣhi (ordinary activities carried on for earning a livelihood, social duties etc.;), aśhnāsi (activities intended to keep the body and soul together by intake of food etc.;),juhoṣhi (activities connected with worship, meditation etc.;), dadāsi (activities connected with charity etc.;) and tapasyasi (activities which bring about self-restraint, all forms of austere penance etc.;), does enumerate those actions with which the ordinary man identifies himself with, attaches to and craves for their fruits, the practice of equanimity includes shunning of this wrong identification, attachment and craving.[3]
A person experiences delight which follows from the contact of the senses with their objects of enjoyments, and there is also enjoyment derived through practice of adoration, meditation, etc.; whereby end of sorrow is reached. But even this is not the state of supreme or true happiness. Both, the physical and the spiritual good, result in bliss; whereas the former by itself is an aspect of bliss, the latter constitutes the acme of bliss.[4] According to the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy, Ānanda is that state of sublime delight when the Jiva, the individual empirical self, becomes free from all sins, doubts, desires, actions, pains, suffering and also all physical and mental ordinary pleasures, having become established in Brahman, the eternal Universal Self and the subtle essence underlying all existence, it becomes Jivanmukta, it becomes liberated.[5]
Experience with self-realisation
The sage of the
Even though Vakya Vritti Sl.53. explains that Kaivalya is the final destination of evolution reaching which destination one gains the state of Absolute Oneness with the Divine, and by knowing one’s own true essence enjoys endless immeasurable bliss called Padamapada
To know that the Self already stands realised is not difficult for one becomes aware of self-realisation at once with the dawn of the knowledge of the highest. But knowing this much and that too without experiencing the spiritual progress and the ecstasy in knowing it, is like not knowing the Self, it is like not knowing what purity actually means. In that state of realisation all finite ideas cease, the man of realisation simply exists as the Self who is the Eternal Bliss, and as the eternal subject distinct from all other objects. Hence, there is the experience of Paramananda to be gained as being distinct from Ānanda.[8]
Self-realisation
Whatever is experienced it is Brahman alone because it is a reflection of Brahman, when the Vritti is directed inward or is withdrawn, the reflection of Paramananda is unobstructed (Panchadasi XV-19).[11] Adi Shankara in his commentary on Brahma Sutra III.iii.41 explains that the fact that Vamadeva while realizing this (Self) as That (Brahman) knew " I was Manu, and the sun " shows the result of knowledge, consisting in becoming identified with all, occurs simultaneously with the rise of complete illumination, hence liberation comes inevitably to a man of knowledge.[12] And then, the stage - "avibhaagen drshtatvaata" (Brahma Sutra IV.iv.4) is reached, in liberation the soul exists in a state of inseparableness from the supreme Self, and the liberated soul "established in Infinity on Its own majesty delights in his own Self and disports in his own Self" (Chandogya Upanishad VII.xxv.2), "in that state which the knowers of Brahman call the highest the five senses of knowledge come to rest together with the mind weaned away from its functions of thinking etc;, and the intellect characterised by determination too does not function" (Katha Upanishad II.iii.10).[13]
Rishi Bandhvaduya Gopayanah (
References
- ISBN 9780879722081.
- ^ Jayadayal Goyandka. Srimad Bhagavad Gita Tattvavivecani 1993 Edition. Gorakhpur: Gita Press. p. 101.
Ch.II.48-49
- ^ Jayadayal Goyandka. Srimad Bhagavad Gita Tattvavivecani 1993 Edition. Gorakhpur: Gita Press. p. 422.
Ch.IX.27
- TaittiriyaUpanishad II.8
- ^ "Vedantasara" (PDF). p. 117 Verse 217.
- ISBN 9788188951208.
- ^ Swami Gambhirananda. Brahma Sutra Bhasya of Shankaracharya. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama. p. 863.
- ^ Swami Madhavananda (1921). Vivekachudamani of Adi Shankara. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama.
Verse 485
- Ramachandra Dattatrya Ranade (1968). A constructive survey of Upanishadic philosophy. Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 222,253.
Maitri Upanishad II.1-3
- Rig VedaI.163.4
- ISBN 9780874814293.
- ^ Swami Gambhirananda. Brahma Sutra Bhasya of Shankaracharya. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama. p. 705.
- ^ Swami Nikhilananda. The Upanishads (PDF). New York: Harper & Brothers.
- ISBN 9788188951208.