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SAT CHIT ANAND PLETTENBERG BAY VEDANTA |
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VEDANTA: SAT CHIT ANANDA
Merge in it, loosing their name and form, So the wise man, freed from name and form, Attains the supreme, divine person.
Contemplating him who has neither beginning, Middle, nor end, the One, the all-pervading, Who is intellect, bliss, the formless, the wonderful, The peaceful, silent sage reaches the source of being, The universal witness, on the other shore of darkness.
He is the imperishable, the supreme majesty. He is all, what has been and what shall be, eternal. Having realized him, one overcomes death. No other path leads to liberation. [Vedas: The Encounter]
Vedanta is a summary of the Upanishads and it deals with the Absolute. In the Vedas, our inner Divine nature is called SAT CHIT ANANDA. The Vedas describes the attributes of the Ultimate as SAT (Being), CHIT (Consciousness), and ANANDA (Bliss). The combination of all 3 is called SAT-CHIT-ANANDA, which is the infinite and eternal Reality. SAT CHIT ANANDA is the name for the Ultimate State of Realization which is expressed as eternal existence, infinite consciousness, supreme bliss.
Being, Consciousness and Bliss
“Once attained, the state of self-realization is the same by whatever path and in whatever religion it may be approached. There are 3 aspects of God, according to one’s approach to realization. They are SAT (Being), CHIT (Consciousness), ANANDA (Bliss).
The aspect of Being is emphasized by jnanis who are said to repose in the Essence of Being after incessant search and to have their individuality lost in the Supreme.
The Consciousness aspect is approached by yogis who exert themselves to control their breath in order to steady the mind and are then said to see the Glory (Consciousness of Being) of God as the one Light radiating in all directions.
The Bliss or Beautitude aspect is approached by devotees who become intoxicated with the nectar of love of God and lose themselves in Blissful experience, remaining forever merged in God.” [SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI, Indian Self-Realized Saint]
The Trinity of Being, Consciousness and Bliss
SAT CHIT ANANDA is the name for the godhead. SAT is being, the ground of all. CHIT is consciousness, and ANANDA is bliss. Being, consciousness, and bliss.
For the Hindu, the Ultimate Reality is total reality, total being, in total consciousness, which communicates total bliss. That is the Hindu concept. And they relate it to the Christian trinity.
The Father is the source of all, the ground of being, the Ultimate. The son is the wisdom of the Father, the self-revelation, the self-expression, of the Father, the consciousness of the One. And the Holy Spirit is the bliss of love, the ananda which flows from this communion of being and knowledge.
It is a beautiful conception: SAT CHIT ANANDA. Being, knowledge and bliss are non-dual. There is no difference there – there is pure awareness, pure consciousness. And in this pure consciousness, there is a communion of love. Within the depths of reality, there is a communion of love. The Spirit is the ananda, which is not simply a bliss of consciousness - it is a bliss of communion, a bliss of love.
So you can develop from SAT CHIT ANANDA to a very profound sense of the Trinity as - interpersonal love is the Ultimate Reality. [FATHER BEDE GRIFFITHS, Christian priest and co-founder of SatChitAnanda Ashram in India]
Self Knowledge, Self Realization, Enlightenment
Knowledge of Truth is ultimately knowledge of oneself - our true nature, which is eternal existence, pure consciousness, everlasting bliss.
“Man’s primary task is to penetrate within and there discover himself. Whoever has not found himself within himself, has not yet found God, and whoever has not found God within himself, has not yet found himself. God is he who [that which] is at the heart of all … So long as anyone has not penetrated to that inner source from which diversity itself originates, he is merely cherishing the external idols which he has created.” [Henri le Saux, Benedictine monk and co-founder of Satchitananda Ashram in India.]
Sri Ramana Maharshi describes the state of Oneness as follows: “In the state of Samadhi, you remain calm and composed during activity. You realize that you are moved by the deeper Real Self within and are unaffected by what you do or say or think. You have no worries, anxieties or cares, for your realize that there is nothing that belongs to you as ego and that everything is being done by something with which you are in conscious union.”
“Vande Saccidananda: Adoration to the One who is Being, Knowledge, and perfect Joy. The highest goal, the one for whom the ascetics sigh, but the world rejects." [Christian Indian hymn]
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