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eventually the result of his enquiry is presented in terms of 'beatific consciousness’29 constituting the source of all things whatsoever. “We have different kinds of pleasures answering to the different levels of our existence, the vital pleasure, the sensuous, the mental and the intellectual, but the highest is Ānanda”30
With certain reservations we may regard Bahirātman of Jainism as comprising Annarasamaya, Prāṇamaya, Manomaya Ātman-s; Antarātman may be regarded as Vijñānamaya Ātman, and Paramātman as Anandamaya Ātman or the beatific consciousness, though not cosmic consciousness.
According to the Gītā' also the attainment of bliss is the supreme end, the absolute value. The Yogin whose mind is thoroughly quiet, who is passionless, stainless, constantly putting himself into the Atman, experiences easily and happily the highest bliss of contact with the Brahman.
Pūjyapāda32 and all others speak of the Ātman as full of excellent bliss. In the Iștopadeśa he tells us that a supreme kind of happiness is experienced by the Yogi who is established in his own self. 33 The Yogasāra of Yogīndu recognizes that those engrossed in great meditation after renouncing all conceptual thinking enjoy ineffable bliss which is equivalent to the happiness of liberation. 34
The author of the Chāndogya-upanișad also lays stress on the pursuance of immortal happiness which consists in seeing, hearing and meditating upon the Atman to the utter exclusion of the radically different kinds of perishable happiness experienced in seeking things other than the Ātman. 35 The experience of great happiness is consequent upon the realization of the Ātman as above and below before
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Spiritual Awakening (Samyagdarśana) and Other Essays
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