Sri Bhagavan’s Nature (svarupa) and the Way to Experience It

(From Madhurya-Tattva-Vijnana, by Sri Ananta Dasa Babaji Maharaja)

Srimat Jiva Gosvamipada has ascertained Sri Bhagavan’s svarupa to be that of transcendental bliss. Here, the omnipresent, all-pervading brahma has been called paramananda, or supreme joy. That the nature of brahma is joy has been declared in many statements in shruti, such as Anando brahmeti vyajanAt, prajJAnAnandaM brahma, AnandaM brahmaNo vidvan na vibheti kutazcana, ko hy evAnyAt kaH prANyAd yad eva AkAza Anando na syAt, etc. Though various properties of brahma are described, they singularly indicate a state of joy. “The whole world came from joy, presently exists in joy and shall dissolve into joy.” The Upanishads have proclaimed this great message to the world. Therefore, it is impossible for there to be any substance other than joy in the universe. How can there be any misery in a world belonging to the one known in shruti as Anandam amRta-rUpam (the embodiment of ambrosial bliss), raso vai saH (He is truly rasa.), and sarveSAM bhUtAnAM madhu (the honey wine for all beings)? Therefore, the misery seen in the world is nothing more than the jiva’s misfortune, the result of his karma. Because of his beginningless aversion to God, the jiva’s heart is always unclean. Though by nature a fragment of sac-cid-ananda, he is gripped by maya due to his lack of knowledge. Mistakenly thinking himself to be the body, he wanders throughout the universe suffering the miseries of material life. Maharshi Patanjali has remarked that whatever miseries the jiva may suffer are due to the union of the observer and the object observed, and the cause of this union is ignorance. tasya hetor avidyA. Having arisen from this avidya, beginningless illusion can be destroyed by transcendental knowledge. Therefore, Srimat Jiva Gosvamipada has pronounced jnana, or knowledge, as the means to realize transcendental bliss.

This jnana is of two kinds: nirvisesa-brahma-jnana and savisesa-bhagavad-jnana or bhakti. In the case of nirvisesa-brahma-jnana, the jnani obtains liberation by merging into the unmanifest supreme brahma, where, though he attains supreme bliss, he is no longer able to enjoy it. By savisesa-bhagavad-jnana or bhakti, the ability to relish the ecstasy of bhagavad-rasa remains possible. Here, Sri Jivapada has discussed nirvisesa-brahma-jnana as a sadhana for realizing Sri Hari’s svarupa.