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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:



The Measure of Bliss



Have you seen a child's face when you present it with a new toy? It just blooms 
with happiness at the new acquisition, the entire countenance awash with 
delight. The industrious student, on being told that he has stood first in the 
State, is deliriously happy. So is the hard-working employee, when his 
promotion to a higher cadre is announced. The parents of a girl, having found a 
groom with good education and character, are extremely happy and so is the 
girl. When a bonny baby is born, not only the parents but the grandparents too 
are transported to a world of delight.



Happiness has several facets and degrees. Sources of happiness are multifarious 
and the delight they afford is equally varied. However, one common feature all 
these types of delight share is that they are temporary. Once the novelty of 
the new toy wears off, the child no more feels as happy as she did. When the 
accolades have been received and dealt with, the hard-won laurels of the 
student and the employee afford them gradually less happiness. Once the 
daughter is married-off, the parents' happiness is transformed into relief at 
the discharge of an onerous responsibility. And as the baby grows up into a boy 
chock- full of mischief, the original happiness is no longer felt to be an 
unalloyed one.



Apart from all these routine sources of happiness, what about windfalls? 
Suppose you hit the jackpot at the races, sweepstakes or lottery, suppose you 
find a pot of gold in your backyard-these would definitely make you dance with 
delight, but easy money has the knack of disappearing as easily as it came, 
taking along with it the happiness it brought.



All this boils down to a stark, simple fact-no happiness is permanent. The 
duration of delight may vary, but all the same, nothing is forever. Try hard as 
we might, we are unable to think of a single source of happiness which lasts us 
a lifetime. Further, no man's cup of happiness is full. If a man is endowed 
with good health, he lacks money. A person on whom the Goddess of Learning 
smiles, is often impoverished. Many a rich man lacks morals. And a righteous 
man has only his scruples to count as his wealth.

The man endowed with abundant wealth, health and character lacks progeny for 
carrying the line of succession onward. An intelligent man is cursed with a 
dull wife and a beautiful woman with an unseemly spouse. It would appear as if 
Providence never smiles fully on anybody and a bouquet is invariably balanced 
by a brickbat. Thus, nobody can boast of a lifetime of unalloyed bliss. The 
happiness of carefree childhood, the delights of married-life, the pleasures of 
parenthood- all these are but passing clouds in life's firmament, as ephemeral 
as a flash of lightning, and equally blinding, making us oblivious to the 
unhappiness and sorrow lurking round the corner.



In contrast to this fleeting and puerile pleasure, Azhwars speak of a happiness 
that is ever lasting, that knows no bounds-"andamil pErinbam". This happiness 
has no end and lasts forever, without "andam" and is of the highest 
order-"pErindbam". This is the bliss the prapanna enjoys upon his ascent to Sri 
Vaikuntam and upon being allotted his quota of the kainkaryam to the Lord. This 
bliss is endless because neither the Lord, who is the recipient of the 
kainkaryam, nor the Mukta who performs the same, are subject to any limitations 
of time. And since our stay in Paramapadam is guaranteed, since there is no 
return to the world of mortals ("na cha puna: AvartatE") and since there are no 
hurdles to the divine service, this bliss is indeed endless and uninterrupted. 



Apart from being everlasting, this happiness is also qualitatively superior to 
that available on earth. We are told that the liberated soul experiences bliss 
equal to that of the Paramapurusha. Imagine! If we human beings are delighted 
beyond measure with our trivial enjoyments, of what high order the Lord's bliss 
would be! 



Though we might say in abstract terms that the Mukta's enjoyment is equal to 
that of the Supreme Being, can we quantify it the latter's bliss? If we are to 
aspire for something, we must have a fair idea of what it is like, for, it is 
difficult to be impressed by vague promises of "endless bliss". It is with this 
motive in mind that the Veda Purusha sets out to measure the bliss of the 
Brahmam.



The Anandavalli of the Taittiriyopanishad says that a man's cup of happiness is 
full, when he is in the prime of youth, well-versed in the Vedas and Shastras, 
is endowed with all auspicious qualities, has the copious blessings of elders 
and is strong enough in mind and body to defend himself and others against any 
challenge. He is the undisputed monarch of all the vast expanse of earth and 
the possessor of riches beyond imagination. ("YuvA: syAt sAdhu yuvAdhyAyaka:, 
AsishttO dradishttO balishtta:, tasyEyam Prithvi sarvA vitthasya poorNA: syAt, 
sa EkO mAnusha Ananda:").



Thus the true and full measure of a man's happiness is being endowed with the 
bloom of youth, robust health, unimaginable wealth, sterling qualities and 
unlimited power over the whole world. It would be extremely difficult, nay, 
impossible to find a person suiting all these requirements. Thus, for most of 
us, the full measure of human happiness is beyond attainment.



If we multiply the full measure of human happiness by hundred, we can arrive at 
the quantum of delight enjoyed by a Manushya Gandharva, who is a much superior 
being to a mere man.

A hundred measures of the Manushya Gandharva's happiness amounts to the 
complete happiness of a DEva Gandharva, who is endowed with divine nature and 
attributes.

Multiply the DEva GandharvA's happiness by a hundred times and we have the 
measure of a Pitru dEvatA's happiness, hundred times of which equals the 
delight of a AjAnaja DEva. Hundred times the happiness of this divine being 
gives us the happiness of a single Karma DEva (one who has attained the worlds 
above through performance of specific karmas like agnihOtram, etc).

A hundred times the Karma DEva's Ananda is equal to the Ananda of a single DEva 
(one of the thirty-three crore and odd inhabitants of the DEva lOka, like Vasu, 
Rudra, Aditya, etc.).



Even at this stage, our head starts spinning. To start with, the full happiness 
of a man described above seems beyond our imagination, leave alone attainment. 
The geometrical progression of delight from a man to a deity, consisting of all 
those "hundred times", is simply mind-boggling and defies our imagination. The 
brain just refuses to undertake the exercise, since the astronomical figures 
are impossible for it to grapple with. 



However, we are not done with yet. A hundred times the happiness of a deity 
equals that of an Indra, who is the ruler of all the DevAs. Brihaspati, the 
DEva Guru, has a hundred times the happiness of an Indra, and PrajApati (the 
four-headed BrahmA)'s Anandam is equal to a hundred times that of Brihaspati. 



The Upanishad concludes its quest of the full measure of the Paramapursha's 
bliss by equating it with a hundred times the happiness of PrajApati. Each 
measure of happiness detailed at various stages above is verily beyond our 
comprehension, much less our experience.



However, even the tentative measure applied to the Lord's Anandam is only 
indicative, and the Veda vAkyAs, unable to scale the heights of happiness that 
are ascribed to the Lord, simply return vanquished, failing miserably in their 
endeavour to put a yardstick to the immeasurable, says Sri Alavandar-

"upari upari abja bhuvOpi poorushAn

prakalpya tEyE satam iti anukramAt

gira: tvat Ekaika guNAvadhi IpsayA

sadA stthitA: nOdyamatOti sEratE"



It is a measure of the Lord's infinite mercy and generosity that He affords us 
bliss equal to His own, bliss that is so exalted that we are unable to even 
imagine its existence. It is this Anandam that every Jeevatma is entitled to, 
but which is denied to it due to KArmic bondage.



Wouldn't you agree that the puerile pleasures described in the beginning 
couldn't hold a candle to bliss of such high order? We now understand the 
Azhwar's dejection at the vast majority of human beings preferring to rot and 
perish in a pigsty rather than reside in a palace that is rightfully theirs. 
Every word of Sri Nammazhwar's Thiruvaimozhi is aimed at showing up the 
transitory nature of worldly pleasures vis a vis the boundless bliss that 
awaits us in the enthralling company of the Lord. All of Azhwar's efforts are 
directed to making us take that one crucial step towards the Lord, which He 
matches by taking ten giant steps and comes running to hold us in an 
everlasting embrace.



Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana 
Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

Dasan, sadagopan







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





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