Kṛṣṇa's transcendental body is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. Sat means ever-existing for all time and in all places; in other words, all-pervading in time and space. Cit means full of knowledge. Kṛṣṇa has nothing to learn from anyone. He is independently full of all knowledge. Ānanda means the reservoir of all pleasure. The impersonalists are seeking to merge into the Brahman effulgence of eternity and knowledge, but the major portion of the absolute pleasure which is in Kṛṣṇa is avoided by them. One can enjoy the transcendental blissfulness of merging into the Brahman effulgence after being freed from the contamination of material illusion, false identification, attachment, detachment and material absorption. These are the preliminary qualifications of a person who can realize Brahman. It is stated in Bhagavad-gītā that one has to become full of joyfulness; this is not exactly joyfulness, but a sense of freedom from all anxieties. Freedom from all anxieties may be the first principle of joyfulness, but it is not actual joyfulness. Those who realize the self, or become brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20), are only preparing themselves for the platform of joyfulness. That joyfulness can be actually achieved only when one comes into contact with Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so complete that it includes the transcendental pleasure derived from impersonal or Brahman realization. Even the impersonalist will become attracted to the personal form of Kṛṣṇa, known as Śyāmasundara.
Ananda means
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Nectar of Devotion
Easy Journey to Other Planets
Those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious are very intelligent because they are not interested in getting promotion to any planet where there is death, despite a long duration of life there. Rather, they want to get a body like God's. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. (Bs. 5.1) God's body is sac-cid-ānanda. Sat means "eternal," and cit means "full of knowledge." Ānanda means "full of pleasure."
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
We are searching after ānanda, bliss, but we do not know where to get bliss. We are trying to get bliss in this material world by eating meat, eating wine, drinking wine, by sex. They are trying to get ānanda. That is not ānanda. Ānanda is what is satyānanda. These ānandas, these pleasures—flickering, for few minutes, for few hours. That is not ānanda. Ānanda means satyānanda, real ānanda, real ānanda. What is that real ānanda? Brahma-sukha. That ānanda is in exchange with the Supreme Brahman. Brahma-saukhyam anantam (SB 5.5.1). That is anantam, unlimited ānanda. Therefore ramante yoginaḥ anante (CC Madhya 9.29). Therefore those who are actually yogis, bhakti-yogīs... There are different types of yoga. So they ramante, they enjoy, ramante yoginaḥ anante, along with the ananta, unlimited. Kṛṣṇa is unlimited.
That is spirit soul. Sat means eternal, and cit means knowledge, and ānanda means bliss. So if we study ourself, this body is not eternal. Sat means eternal. So if you study this body... In the Bhagavad-gītā you will find, antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ (BG 2.18). This body is antavat; it will perish. Therefore it is not sat. Sat means eternal, and the body is not eternal. Therefore it is very difficult to understand what is sat because we have no education, no experience. Everything is annihilated, destroyed, anything material. So actually we have no experience what is sat. So... But Vedic instruction is sad gama asato mā: "Don't remain in asat, noneternal. Come to the platform of eternity." Sad gama asato mā. So that is our mission of life.
That is called sat. And cit. Cit means knowledge. At the present moment we are all in ignorance. We do not know what is the next step, "Whether I am going to live or to die." Everything in ignorance. Therefore this body is also not cit. It is full of ignorance. Then sat, cit and ānanda, that we have got experience... Where is ānanda? Ānanda means blissfulness, joyfulness. There cannot be any joyfulness in this body. There are three kinds of miserable condition of material life: adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika. So either these three or one or two is always there. Adhyātmika means miserable condition on account of the body and mind. So wherever we go, the body is there. So even if I am very opulent materially with wealth, we are getting experience that even the most rich, richest man in the society, he is committing suicide. Why? He has got every resources to enjoy. Why he is committing suicide?
We are eternal. As God is eternal, we are also eternal because we are part and parcel of God. As God is always blissful, jolly, similarly our nature is always blissful and jolly. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Sat, cit, ānanda. Sat means eternal, and cit means blissful, cit means full of knowledge; and ānanda. Ānanda means blissfulness. That is our nature. Therefore we want to live. We do not wish to die. We do not wish... Nobody wishes to die, but we are forced to die. That is our punishment. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This instruction you will get in the Bhagavad-gītā, that "The living entity is eternal," śāśvata, "very, very old."
Punar janma, you are trying to own over repetition of birth. The modern civilization, they do not know that it is possible. It is possible to become immortal, to have eternal blissful life of knowledge. That is called immortality. Sac-cid-ānanda. Sat means eternity and cit means knowledge and ānanda means pleasure, bliss. We are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda vigraha (Bs. 5.1). His transcendental body is eternal, blissful and complete knowledge, His body. Therefore He's speaking Bhagavad-gītā. If He's an ordinary man, what is the use of hearing Him? Ordinary man will commit mistake, will cheat, will be illusioned. His senses are imperfect; how he can give complete knowledge? That is not possible. Therefore we are not concerned to hear any rascal. We want to hear Kṛṣṇa. We are not prepared to hear any rascal, so-called scientists and so-called philosopher, so-called God. No.
Now, if by doing that yajña, if we become free from all reactions, then why should we not do it? Why should we not do it? There is no difficulty. There is no question of difficulty. Rather, it is a thing of pleasure, ānanda. The whole thing is ānanda. Ānanda means pleasure. Enjoyment. Spiritual life does not mean that void of enjoyment, no. It is full of enjoyment. We are seeking after enjoyment, but that enjoyment is hampered by our material existence. We do not know. We are trying to squeezing out the senses and trying to have material pleasure. This is nonsense because we do not know what is spiritual life. Spiritual life means unlimited, unlimited pleasure.
We cannot increase ānanda here. In the material sense gratification, ānanda does not increase. If you want some ānanda from sense, for the time being it may give you some pleasure, but at once it decreases. You have no more capacity to enjoy. You see? At once decreases. So it is not ānanda. It is not real ānanda. Ānanda means that will increase, increase. You enjoy and increases. Increases. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. The example is very nice. Ambudhi. Ambudhi means sea. Sea... You don't find sea has increased. You go to the, what is called, seaside. Ten years before you had been to the seaside. You see the same level is there. It does not increase. If it increases, the whole New York City will be overflooded. It does not increase. But here Lord Caitanya says that ambudhi, the ocean of bliss, it increases. It increases. That is a new experience. When you are actually in spiritual happiness, your bliss will be increased.
Sac-cid-ānanda body. Sat means eternal. Cit means full of knowledge. Sat, cit, ānanda. Ānanda means blissful. That is His body. Our body is just the opposite. It is not sat; it is not eternal. It is temporary. And it is not full of knowledge. We are full of ignorance. We do not know what is there beyond this wall. Therefore it is full of ignorance. We are proud of our eyes. If the electricity is immediately gone, we cannot see. So we see, we act, under some conditions offered by the material nature. So we are not fully aware of everything; neither our body is eternal; neither we are blissful. This body is the source of so many diseases. The body is subjected to birth, death. The body is forgetful. The body is suffering old age. So this is not blissful body. But Kṛṣṇa's body—just opposite.
And when we revive our original spiritual body, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha... (Bs. 5.1). Sat, cit, ānanda. That is the formation of Kṛṣṇa, and that is our formation also. Sat means eternal. Cit means full knowledge. Eternal, full knowledge and ānanda. Ānanda. Ānanda means bliss. Now, we can make distinction from the spiritual body and the material body is this, that as the description of the spiritual body is given, sat-cit-ānanda, eternal, full of knowledge and blissful, so just the opposite number is this material body. It is neither sat, nor cit, nor ānanda. It is not sat. Sat means eternal.
Sun is always existing, but it is appearing and disappearing. Similarly, we also appear and disappear.
Actually, we are eternal. Both God and the living entities they are qualitatively one, eternal. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Sat means eternity, and cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means full of joy. These are the qualifications of God and living entity. Therefore we are hankering after pleasure. All people are working hard, day and night, for pleasure. Because by constitution, he is pleasureful, joyful. As soon as there is little hindrance to the process of his joyfulness he becomes sorry. This is my nature. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1).
This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. God is personally giving you the information, what is the material nature, what is the spiritual nature, how you can transfer yourself to the spiritual nature, and then you come to your original, constitutional position.
Our original position is sac-cid-ānanda, means eternity, knowledge, and blissfulness. The Supreme Being, Kṛṣṇa, or God, is also sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). He has His transcendental form of eternity, knowledge and blissfulness. So the Supreme Lord or Supreme Being is also vigraha. Vigraha means form. As you are form, I am form, similarly, God is also form. He is not formless. So that is described in the Vedic literatures.
By nature, we are jolly. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. In the Vedānta-sūtra you'll find. The nature of Brahman is ānandamaya. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Sat, cit, ānanda. Sat means eternity, cit means full knowledge, and ānanda means pleasure. This is our constitution. We are all fragmental portion of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord. Therefore, because He is ānandamaya, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, so we are also ānandamaya, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Unfortunately, we have been put in the contact of this material energy. Therefore we are just experiencing the opposite.
That is an opposite conception of this form. But Brahma-saṁhitā says no. God has form, but He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Sat, cit, ānanda. Sat means eternal. Sat means eternal, cit means knowledge and ānanda means pleasure. So God has form, but He has got a form which is full of pleasure, full of knowledge, and eternal. Now compare your body. Your body is neither eternal nor full of pleasure nor full of knowledge. Therefore God has form, but He has got a different form. But as soon as we speak of form, we think the form must be like this. Therefore the opposite, no form. That's no knowledge.
Although He comes as a person, but He is not a person like us. He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). That we can understand, study.
What is that sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha? Sat means eternal, cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means blissfulness. But so far my body is concerned, your body is concerned, they are not sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. My body, your body, will not exist. Therefore it is asat. It is not sat. My body, your body is full of ignorance. Therefore, it is not cit. It is acit. And my body, your body is not at all pleasing. There are so many troubles. Therefore it is not ānanda. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's body is different from us. Therefore He is controller. We think, "If Kṛṣṇa has got a body, then He must have a body like us." Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). "These mūḍhas, rascals, because I appear before them to give them the lesson about God, what is God, these rascals think of Me as one of them."
He has no eyes, but He sees. Then what is that seeing power? That means He has got a different type of eyes, but He has got His eyes. He is not nirākāra, but not ākāra like us. His body is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Sat, cit, ānanda. Sat means eternal, and cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means full of bliss. So His body is made of such qualities. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Then you can compare your body. If we compare, if I think of my body, it is not sat. Sat means eternal. This body will be finished. So it is not sat. It is asat. Sat means which exists, and asat means which does not exist. Therefore, how you can say Kṛṣṇa's body and my body is the same? No.
This is one of our qualification, forgetfulness. But Kṛṣṇa says that "You have forgotten. Because you are living being, your nature is to forget. But because I am the Supreme Lord, I have not forgotten." Therefore His knowledge is perfect.
And then ānanda. Ānanda means pleasure, blissfulness. He is always... Kṛṣṇa, while He was present on this planet, He showed how to dance with the gopīs. He was always full of ānanda. Here we have got Kṛṣṇa. He is ānanda-mūrti. He is not nirānanda, without blissfulness. He is always with His consort, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. And He is playing flute and Rādhārāṇī is dancing. This is ānanda. So where is our ānanda? We imitate Kṛṣṇa, but we are not able to enjoy because we are in this material body. In this way from Bhagavad-gītā, if we study Bhagavad-gītā nicely, then we can understand what is God.
He is not nirākāra; vigraha. Vigraha means form, but His form is different from our form. Therefore He is described as sac-cid-ānanda. Sat means eternal, cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means full of transcendental bliss, eternal bliss. The beginning is eternal, so eternal life, eternal complete full knowledge and eternal bliss; this is the composition of Kṛṣṇa's body. But mūḍhas, rascals, they think of Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human being. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Fools and rascals, mūḍhāḥ—mūḍhāḥ means fools and rascals—because they see that Kṛṣṇa is incarnation just like ordinary human being: cousin of Arjuna or nephew of Kuntī, like that. Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ, Kṛṣṇa comes just like ordinary human being, but that does not mean He is ordinary human being.
The Brahma-saṁhitā says, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). His form is full of bliss, and full of knowledge, and eternal. But this body, this body, our body, is neither eternal, neither full of knowledge, neither blissful. So we can distinguish what is the form of God. Sac-cid-ānanda. Sat. Sat means eternal, cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means full of blissfulness.
They are not interested to get promotion in any planet where there is death, never mind the long duration of life there is. They want, just like God, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). The God's body is sac-cid, sac-cid-ānanda. Sat means eternal, and cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means full of pleasure. We have got our pamphlet—most of you might have seen—Kṛṣṇa, the Reservoir of all Pleasure. Similarly, if we transfer our body, our self, leaving this body to the spiritual world, in the Kṛṣṇa planet, or any other spiritual planet, then we get the similar body, sac-cid-ānanda: eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss.
So in this material body we have no knowledge. Even if we have got..., now imperfect knowledge, limited knowledge. But in the spiritual life you have got full knowledge. That is spiritual life. And ānanda.
Here is no ānanda. In this material world... Ānanda means pleasure, bliss, but here it is not possible. First of all, you have to die. You may manufacture some so-called ānanda, but you'll die. Now, suppose we are dancing here, and if we understand that immediately death will take place, then we shall not be able to enjoy the dancing. Immediately the anxiety will come. So here, ānanda, there is no ānanda. Why there is ānanda? This body is subjected to so many miserable condition of life. We become hungry, we become thirsty, there is death, there is fearfulness, there is enemy—so many things.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for educating people how to think of God constantly. And if we practice like that, then, after giving up this body, we are going to get a body which is exactly like God. This body is called sac-cid-ānanda. Sat means eternal, cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means full of bliss. This body, this material body, is just the opposite number. It is neither eternal, neither full of knowledge, neither full of bliss. And if we develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness or God consciousness, then next body we shall get a body... (end)
He has got His form, but it is a different form. How we can understand? Because we have got experience of this material world. We cannot see anything subtle. Gross things we can see. Therefore we can understand by our thoughts what kind of form God has got. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Sat means eternal, cit means knowledge, and ānanda means blissful. So if we compare with our body, then we can understand what is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Sat means eternal. So if we compare with our body, this body is not eternal; it is destructible. It has got a history, it is produced at a certain period, it exists for a certain period, it grows, it gives some by-product, then it becomes older and older, and then vanquished, no more. That is our practical experience, we know.
So if we simply scrutinizingly study how, what sort of body God has got. It is a simple language, it is given. Sac-cid-ānanda, and ānanda means blissful. Always blissful. You have seen our Kṛṣṇa, how blissful He is. He is playing on His flute, and His eternal consort, Rādhārāṇī, is there. He's not blissful? You like, because you are part and parcel of God, therefore you also like that blissful life. You want, young girl wants young boy, and the young boy wants a young girl, live together blissfully. But that is not possible, because it is material world. But the idea comes from God, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Where from this idea came, unless if God the same propensity is there? Love between young girl and young boy.
He can produce millions and trillions of sons by His desire. And why He's hankering after one son? That is His affection. That is His kindness.
So God is more anxious to take us back to home, back to Godhead. Why? Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Ānanda, ānanda means blissfulness. Ānanda, pleasure. You cannot enjoy pleasure alone. It must be many. There must be many. When a man takes the risk of becoming family man He's alone, there's no botheration, but he takes the responsibility of maintaining a wife, children and working very hard for maintaining them. Why this botheration? No, this is not botheration. There is pleasure. This is not botheration.
He has His form. And what is that form? Sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Ānandamaya-rasa-vigraha. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. That is not this vigraha. That we have to understand. Our vigraha, our form, at the present moment, material form, that is not sac-cid-ānanda. Sat means eternal, cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means full of blissfulness.
Ānandamāyā means always blissful. Because we are part and parcel of God... God is blissful, all-good, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His form... He has got form. He is not formless. But His form is different. That form is sat-cit-ānanda. Sat means eternal, and cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means full of bliss. So we are part and parcel of God. Kṛṣṇa says, mamaivāṁśo jīva bhūtaḥ: (BG 15.7) "All these living entities, they are My part and parcel." So if Kṛṣṇa is sat-cit-ānanda, then we are also sat-cit-ānanda, because we are part. Just like gold and a gold, small particle. That is also gold. You cannot say it is something else. No. So part or whole, it may be. That is difference. Part is never equal to the whole.
"You fight," so not the instruction the same to everyone. Kṛṣṇa knows who is capable to do something particular, and similarly, guru also knows. So it is not that the same instruction is given to all. There may be, because variety. It is not impersonalism, one kind of... No. Variety. Kṛṣṇa is ānandamaya. Ānanda means variety is the mother of enjoyment. Unless there are varieties, how there can be ānanda? Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda. So Kṛṣṇa's business is variety. The Māyāvādīs, they cannot understand. They simply understand that we are one. No. Varieties.
The living entity, or Brahman, or Para-brahman... Just like our Kṛṣṇa. He's Para-brahman. He's enjoying ānanda. Similarly, we also, being part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, mamaivāṁśo jīva... (BG 15.7), we want ānanda. So ānanda cannot be in impersonalism, or voidism. That is not possible. Ānanda means varieties. When you get varieties of foodstuff, made of the same ingredient—same, I mean to say, grains, or milk and sugar—but we can prepare hundreds and thousands of preparations... At least, hundred preparations, and we enjoy: this is peṛā, this is baraphi, this is kṣīra, this is rābṛi, this is dahi, and so many things. So variety is required. Variety is required. So therefore the last word of tattva-jñāna is to understand Kṛṣṇa, who is full of variety.
When there... Ānanda you cannot get. Just like if you, simply in the sky you fly, you don't get ānanda. Therefore you have come to down, come down again to the airplane, airport. Without that, there is no ānanda. Similarly, simply rising up to the Brahman effulgence, there is no ānanda. Ānanda means you have to enter into the spiritual planet, where Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, is there. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). You have entered to that eternal planet. You must get some residence. The impersonalists, they do not get that. They remain... Just like you remain in the sky. You cannot be happy. You want some planet, but if you cannot get planet, then again you come back in this planet. So āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Again in this material world.
How God can be nirākāra? God is never nirākāra, but He's sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. His ākāra is not like us. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His form is sac-cid-ānanda. This body is not sac-cid-ānanda. Sat means eternal, and cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means full of bliss. So if we study, "Is our body eternal?" no, sir. It is temporary, say, fifty years, sixty years, utmost hundred years. So it is not eternal, it is not sat. Asat. Asato mā sad gama, the Vedic injunction, that "Don't keep yourself in this asat body. Just get your original sat body, eternal body." We are not interested. We are simply interested with this temporary body: "I am this body."
This chance is given. That is material world. We get a material body, and we are given chance to enjoy as we like. But that is not very fruitful for our satisfaction. After all, we are part and parcel of sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Sat, cit, ānanda. Sat means eternal, cit means knowledge, and ānanda means bliss. So we, being part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, the sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, we have got also the same type or same quality of constitutional position. But because we wanted independently, therefore we are in a position or in a circumstance which is neither sat nor cit nor ānanda. Asat acit nirānanda.
That is our position. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. God is described īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac cid ānanda vigrahaḥ. Sat, cit, ānanda (Bs. 5.1). This is three different features of God's body. What is that? Sat. Sat means eternal. Sat. And cit. Cit means knowledge, full of knowledge. And ānanda means full of bliss. That is ānanda. So this is God's body. And we are part and parcel of God. Just like gold and particle of gold. It may be very small particle, but one shall say it is gold. It is not anything else. Similarly, in quality we are same as God. Now we have got this body which is not eternal. God's body is eternal and my, this body is not eternal. And sat, cit... God is full of knowledge, omniscient, but my body is full of ignorance. Why these universities are there? Because we do not know what it what. Therefore we are being educated. So that means this body is not full of knowledge. It is full of ignorance. So And again, God's body is blissful, and our body is miserable.
They're side by side just like a boy and girl." No. If Kṛṣṇa is transcendental whole spirit, similarly the Rādhā or His expansion, Her expansion... It is explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā, ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). This is expansion of the quintessence of spiritual energy, ānanda-cinmaya. Ānanda means blissful, and cinmaya means spiritual. So all kṛṣṇa-līlā, all Kṛṣṇa's activities, they are manifestation of His spiritual internal potency. You understand this?
Nityānanda Prabhu, He is... Hā hā prabhu nityānanda, premānanda sukhī, kṛpābalokana koro, āmi boro duḥkhī. Nityānanda means... Nitya means eternally; ānanda means happy. So Nityānanda has no unhappiness, but He was passing on the street, there was a crowd, and Nityānanda Prabhu inquired, "Why there is so much crowd?" So somebody informed that "There are two brothers, Jagāi and Mādhāi, and they are very fallen souls, although they were born in brāhmaṇa family, very nice, rich family. But being addicted to drinking and prostitution, they have become now rogues, thieves, this way. So they are disturbing the whole neighborhood." So Nityānanda Prabhu considered, "So these two brothers are so fallen? So why not deliver them first?" This is Nityānanda Prabhu.
The more you become Kṛṣṇa conscious the shining of your life increases. Śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam. Then this life will be full of knowledge. Vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. And to increase the life of knowledge means ananda. Ānanda means pleasure. We want pleasure. So you will get more and more pleasing life. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. And prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanam. And every step of life, as we are... In the material way of life we are experienced, only unpleasure, difficulties, the just opposite. Ānandāmbudhi-vard... Āmbudhi means the ocean. So this ocean does not increase, but when you come to the spiritual ocean of ānanda, blissfulness, it will increase daily.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Now, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that brahma is full of six kinds of opulences. Pūrṇa. Ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇa. And ānanda, and full of bliss. There is an English word, I think: "Variety is the mother of enjoyment." Enjoyment, ānanda means enjoyment. Enjoyment cannot be impersonal; there must be varieties. That is enjoyment. You have got experience that when there is a bunch of flower of different colors it is very enjoyable. And if there is only rose only, although rose is very nice flower, it is not so pleasing. With rose, some green foliage, some grass, inferior quality, it looks very beautiful. So when there is question (of) ānanda... Because Kṛṣṇa has got form, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), eternal, cit, full of knowledge, and full of ānanda, bliss. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt, Vedānta-sūtra says. The Lord is ānanda-mayo.
Festival Lectures
Without God realization, our life is frustrated. We being part and parcel of God, it is our duty to understand our relationship with God and act accordingly, and then our ultimate goal of life is achieved. The ultimate goal of life is to attain eternal life, full of knowledge and bliss, sac-cid-ānanda vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Sat means eternal, ānanda means bliss and cit means knowledge. This body is just the opposite. It is not sat. This body is temporary. It is not eternal. This body is full of ignorance. There is practically no knowledge. We do not know, after closing our eyes, we do not know what is happening before our eyes. So our knowledge is always imperfect. And this life is also miserable. It is not at all blissful. Every step, there are three kinds of miserable condition: ādhyātmika, adhibautika, adhidaivika.
And adhidaivika, natural disturbances. So either of these three, or at least one or two, there must be always present. This is the material condition of life. But as spirit soul, we are sac-cid-ānanda vigraha, part and parcel of sac-cid-ānanda vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Sat means eternal, cit means knowledge and bliss, and ānanda means blissfulness.
So if we want to have eternal life, full of knowledge and blissfulness, then we must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is the greatest welfare activities in the human society. We are giving information to every man, without any discrimination of cast, creed, or color, that every human being especially, not only human being, all living entities, including the animals, beasts, birds, trees, aquatics—everyone—they can achieve to the highest perfection of life by this Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
When you are in the circles of friend or family or other associates, you feel pleasure. Just like I am speaking. The speaking is very pleasing when there are many persons here. I cannot speak alone here. That is not ānanda. I can speak here at night, dead of night, nobody here. That is not ānanda. Ānanda means there must be others. So because Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Truth, is ānandamaya, therefore eko bahu syām, He has become many. We are also Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel, to give pleasure to Kṛṣṇa. And the chief pleasure potency is Rādhārāṇī.
Then he says, se sambandha nāhi jā'r, bṛthā janma gelo tā'r: "One who has not been able to contact Nityānanda, then one should think of himself that he has simply spoiled his valuable life." Bṛthā janma gelo, bṛthā means for nothing, and janma means life. Gelo tā'r, spoiled. Because he has not made connection with Nityānanda. The Nityānanda, very name, suggests... Nitya means eternal. Ānanda means pleasure. Material pleasure is not eternal. That is the distinction. Therefore those who are intelligent, they are not interested with this flickering pleasure of material world. Every one of us, as living entity, we are searching after pleasure. But the pleasure which we are seeking, that is flickering, temporary. That is not pleasure. Real pleasure is nityānanda, eternal pleasure. So anyone who has no contact with Nityānanda, it is to be understood that his life is spoiled.
Then we'll be happy, and we'll get moonshine, and our all fatigueness will be subsided.
Sambandha nāhi jār, bṛthā janma gelo tār. So if you have no connection with Nityānanda Prabhu... Nityānanda means always. Nitya means always, ānanda means pleasure. This is another meaning you can draw. So therefore, if you have no connection with Nityānanda Prabhu... Se tār: "He's simply wasting time." Bṛthā means useless. Uselessly, he's wasting time. Se paśu boro durācār. And Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has used very strong word. "Anyone who has no connection with Nityānanda Prabhu, he's a paśu." Sei paśu. He's a paśu, means animal. So animal, how one animal can get happiness? That is not possible.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
This movement is not hackneyed. Increasing the ocean of happiness. You have no experience of the ocean increasing. If the ocean increases, then the whole planet will be again overflooded. But this is an ocean of happiness. By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, Lord Caitanya says, ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. Ambudhi. Ambudhi means ocean and ānanda means bliss. If we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, as soon as our heart is cleansed... That is the first benediction of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, that our heart becomes cleansed. If your heart is not cleansed, how we are participating together? Somebody is Indian, somebody is American, somebody is Canadian, somebody is African.
Initiation Lectures
The rabbit, when he's in face to face of some ferocious animal, the rabbit closes the eyes. He thinks he is safe. Similarly, simply by trying to cover our sufferings by artificial means, that is not solution. That is ignorance. The suffering can be solved by enlightenment of spiritual life, spiritual bliss. That is the way. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. Ānanda means bliss, transcendental bliss. And there is ocean of transcendental bliss. If you want to dip into this ocean, there is chance for you. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). Vedānta-sūtra says that we spirit soul, we are by nature full of bliss. That is our nature, ānandamaya. But we have been contaminated by this material affection. So one has to come out of it. That is the process of self-realization, liberation, whatever you call. The process is to come out of this contamination.
I can become immortal, I can become blissful, I can become full of knowledge-sac-cid-ānanda. Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), and if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then ultimately you also become exactly like Him, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Vigraha means form, body, and sat means eternal, and cit means knowledge. Sat, cit, ānanda. Ānanda means blissfulness. So this body, however you may be... You may be American, you may be Englishman, you may be very rich man, you may be very poor man, you may be white man, you may be black man, whatever you may be, but this body is not sac-cid-ānanda. It is not eternal; it will end. It is full of ignorance. We do not know what will happen if I go just out of this door. Full of ignorance. We do not know what is happening beyond this wall. So... And always full of anxieties. Where is ānanda?
Sixteen, at least, yes. So Śyāmānanda. Śyāma means Kṛṣṇa. Śyāmasundaram. So one who takes pleasure in serving Kṛṣṇa, his name is Śyāmānanda. Ānanda means pleasure. We take pleasure in serving so many nonsense things. Sometimes we take pleasure in serving a dog, but the same service attitude, when transferred to Kṛṣṇa, then our life is successful. Our... Everyone is giving service. Somebody is giving service to a country, to his society, to his wife, the children. And if he has nothing to serve, then he keeps a pet dog and gives it service. So service we must give. That is our constitutional position. But that service is meant for rendering to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So long we remain forgetful where our service should be given, that is called material life.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Sixteen rounds. So your name is Akulānanda. Akula means incomparable, and ānanda means blissfulness. So Kṛṣṇa is Akulānanda.
Devotee: John Swindler.
Prabhupāda: Akulānanda dāsa brahmacārī.(aside:) He's brahmacārī? (japa)
Devotee: Pyāri-caraṇa.
Prabhupāda: Hm? Pyāri-caraṇa? (devotee spells name) What are the rules and regulations?
Bhakta John: No intoxication, no meat-eating, no gambling, no illicit sex life, and chant at least sixteen rounds a day.
And what is that process? Tama mukundāṅghri-niṣevayaiva. Mukunda means Kṛṣṇa, one who gives liberation. Hari. Hari means one who takes away all your sinful activities. Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi (BG 18.66). He's taking; therefore His name is Hari. Mukundāṅghri. Another name is Mukunda. Mukunda means... Muk means mukti, and ānanda means bliss. Kṛṣṇa gives you mukti, deliverance, deliverance from this tama, this material world, and gives you transcendental bliss; therefore His name is Mukunda. Mukundāṅghri: the lotus feet of Mukunda. Niṣevayaiva. Simply by serving the lotus feet of Mukunda, I can do this. This is the sum and substance.
General Lectures
As soon as one realizes that "I am Brahman. I have nothing to do with this material world," his all anxieties immediately finished. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati. In the Vedānta-sūtra you'll also find, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). The spirit soul or the Supreme Soul, both of them are ānandamaya. Ānanda means blissful, by nature blissful. Always wants to enjoy. That is the nature of spirit. But at the present moment, because we have forgotten that I am..., we are spirit soul, part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7), identifying ourself with something else which is transitory, we are suffering. This is the cause. There are many places. Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād īśād api etasya viparyayo 'smṛtiḥ. Viparyayo 'smṛtiḥ means converted thinking. I'm not this, any product of this material world, but I am thinking, "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Englishman," "I am German," "I am Chinaman," "I am Russian," or "I am cats and dogs," these so many. These are all designations.
That pleasure, rasa, a mellow... By painting one picture, you enjoy some rasa or mellow; otherwise why you are working so hard? There is a pleasure. So Kṛṣṇa is raso vai saḥ. Raso vai saḥ: "He is the reservoir of all pleasure." Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). These words are used. Sat, cit, ānanda. Ānanda means pleasure. His pleasure potency is Rādhārāṇī. You have seen the picture of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. So Rādhārāṇī is the manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency. He has got, as I have already explained, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). He has got multi-energies, and one of the energy is pleasure potency. That is Rādhārāṇī. Kṛṣṇa is addressed in the Bhagavad-gītā, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). So parabrahma. Now, Brahman means biggest. So for Brahman happiness... That you have got experience within this world, that for achieving brahma sukha, or the greatest pleasure, ananta, unlimited pleasure...
He has got His form. God is not formless. Vigraha. Vigraha means form. But what kind of form? Sat-cid-ānanda. Sat means eternal, cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means full of bliss. You find that form, Kṛṣṇa's picture, always blissful, ānanda. You'll see here is Kṛṣṇa's picture. Here He's enjoying with his pleasure potency, Rādhārāṇī. That is His own potency. When Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is Para-brahman, described, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). When Arjuna understood Bhagavad-gītā, he said..., he addressed Kṛṣṇa not as Kṛṣṇa. Before that he was addressing Kṛṣṇa, because he is friend. Now when he understood Bhagavad-gītā, he understood Kṛṣṇa also. He addressed Him, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān: "You are perfect."
So He has got body. But what kind of body? Sac-cid-ānanda. It is, the ingredients are spiritual, not material. Here, the ingredients, gross body I have got, you have got—earth, water, air, fire, mind, intelligence, ego—these ingredients. But Kṛṣṇa's body, the ingredients are sac-cid-ānanda. Sat means eternity, cit means knowledge, and ānanda means blissfulness. That is His body, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. But He has got a body. He has got a form, transcendental form, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Anādiḥ, anādiḥ means, because nobody is controller above Him; therefore He is the supreme controller; He has no beginning. Anādi, ādiḥ: and He is the beginning of everything. Anādir ādir govindaḥ—His name is Govinda. Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, there are many names. There are millions of names of God.
This is understanding. He can expand His hand millions and trillions of miles. That is His hand. That is explained in the Vedic literature. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). God is vigraha, is form, exactly like our form. But His form is sat cit ānanda. Sat means eternal, and cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means bliss. So our body, this hand, this leg, this body, is not sac-cid-ānanda. It is not eternal; it will be finished. But God's body will never be finished. That is the difference. He has got His body, and I have got my body. But this body will be finished at a certain date, but His body will remain eternally. That is the difference between God's body and my body. Sat and cit. His body or He Himself knows everything, past, present and future, but I do not know what is beyond this wall. Therefore my knowledge is always imperfect, and God's knowledge is perfect. This is sac, cit. And ānanda.
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: That he does not know. That he has to learn from us. He may be a big philosopher in the Western countries, but our utility of pleasure he does not know. Our pleasure is... (break) ...incessant. It will not stop. That is the standard of high-class pleasure. That is quality. Here in the material world we have got experience, we get pleasure, but that is transient. Just like ordinary men, they understand sex pleasure is the highest pleasure. Actually, on sex pleasure the whole material world is existing. But how long this sex pleasure can remain? A few minutes. So our philosophy is we don't want that few minutes' pleasure. We want pleasure which will continue perpetually. Nityānanda. Nitya. Nitya means eternal. Ānanda means bliss.
Prabhupāda: Ānanda means... God is full ānanda, sac-cid-ānanda. He is eternal, sat; He is spiritual; and He is ānanda, bliss. So unless one comes in contact with God, there is no question of ānanda. (Sanskrit). In the Vedic literatures we understand that God is reservoir of all pleasure, unlimited. So when you come in contact with God, then you will taste what is pleasure. So material pleasure is only perverted reflection of the real pleasure. Real pleasure is possible when we come in contact with God.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: .We accept so many pseudo, pretender as God. But we do not know how to test him, whether he is greater than everyone? Whether nobody is greater than him? Then he's God. Can you find out any, so many gods, who has no greater than him, or equal to him? You are claiming You are God, I am also claiming, God. Then we are equal. Then how you can be God or how I can be God? We are equals. As soon as you find there are equals, or as soon as find there is greater, then you are not God. God—the great. He must be greater than everyone. Therefore śāstra has concluded, īśvara, God; parama, the Supreme; Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). And why? Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His body is sat, cit, sac-cid-ānanda. Now you test. Your body's not sac-cid-ānanda. Sat means eternal, cit means full of knowledge, ānanda means full of bliss. Is, is my body sac-cid-ānanda, this body? No. It is not eternal. It is full of ignorance. It is full of miseries. Then how it can be God? So God, there cannot be many Gods.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So the Brahman realization is like that. Every living entity, he wants ānanda. Ānanda means just like we are walking together, talking together. This is ānanda. If I would have walked alone, it would have been no ānanda. I do not like. Nobody likes. So ānanda means there must be entourage. Therefore ānanda is with Kṛṣṇa. When we play with Kṛṣṇa, we dance with Kṛṣṇa, talk with Kṛṣṇa, serve Kṛṣṇa, take care of Kṛṣṇa, then there is ānanda. And simply to become one with the Brahman, then you will have to fall down again. Therefore jñāna-kāṇḍa is not perfect. And karma-kāṇḍa is, you can migrate from one body to another or one planet to another. You'll be brahmāṇḍa bhramite.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Anthropomorphism it is called. They create a form, but that is not the fact. God has His eternal form. That I explained. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Vigraha means form. And it is sac-cid-ānanda, means eternal, full of knowledge and... Just like Kṛṣṇa is speaking Bhagavad-gītā. People are accepting, because that is real knowledge. And nobody reads other books so carefully. And this Bhagavad-gītā is read all over the world. All big, big scholars, big, big philosophers, theologists, they read. Because that is real knowledge. That is the proof. It is real knowledge. Cit. Sac-cid. And one who is giving real knowledge, it is natural conclusion, he has got eternal body. We cannot give real knowledge because we forget. As we change our body, we forget.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: What is that ānanda?
Young man: Ānanda means bliss, infinite happiness.
Prabhupāda: Infinite. But what is the platform of that ānanda, material or spiritual?
Young man: Of course, ānanda means very much spiritual aspect.
Prabhupāda: But if somebody wants to derive ānanda by sense pleasure, is that spiritual?
Young man: Our practices has...
Prabhupāda: Tantra means they want to derive pleasure through the senses. So is that spiritual?
| Page Title: | Ananda means |
| Compiler: | Rishab, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 24 of Jan, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=2, Lec=54, Con=4, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 60 |