CHAPTER 11
WHAT IS
SATCHITANANDA?
It is living in Peace and Bliss, Conscious
of the Truth
Satchitananda is a state of eternal Peace and everlasting joy. It is a state unknown to common man, even though he dreams of such bliss and peace that flows like an unending river. How is it even possible to live with such Divine Peace? There is a way. When the Monkey Mind becomes a Monk, one can experience Satchitananda.
This state of bliss is Consciousness. It is a state of awareness when one awakens to the Truth about life. Because of the Monkey Mind, most of humanity remains spiritually blind. People carry their ignorance from birth to death, as they suffer from stress and anxiety. They live as ME – Mind and Ego, and the Monkey jumps from thought to thought, moment by moment, until, before we can realize, life is over. Most of humanity experiences Peace and stress in cycles. We return to that moment of Peace either after an achievement or after a bout of sound sleep. Sometimes it is reading a passage or listening to a song, or words that touch the depth of our Soul. We feel deep peace only to be overcome by stress once again.
When one shuts off this intermittent Peace by becoming conscious, one experiences a state of tranquillity, despite all the anxiety around us. Although we will see misery and grief in people and circumstances that surround us, we will be unaffected as we become conscious with the realization of the Truth. The Truth is simple. It is called Sat. The Truth is that we are not going to be here forever. There is no doubt that we will leave planet earth after the show of life comes to an end. We know beyond doubt that we are not this body that grows from a tiny zygote and ends up as ashes, as it returns to dust. We realize that we are not even the ME – the Mind and Ego that we seem to be. We become conscious that this is an illusion. All the money and the wealth, all the name and the fame that we are yearning for, is eventually meaningless. And it is this Ever Yearning itself that causes us to worry and be anxious. We are the Divine Soul that we see depart at death, but despite knowing this Truth, we do not realize it because we do not become conscious of the Truth – Sat. The Truth is the Truth. There is no doubt about what it is. But just like the beautiful blue sky and the bright sun get covered by dark clouds, we too get enveloped with a blanket of ignorance and we cannot see the Truth. It is our own ego that stops us from seeing the Truth beyond, creating this illusory veil between us and the Truth. But when we become conscious of the Truth, despite the dark clouds, this realization makes us ever conscious of the Truth – Sat.
Consciousness is Chit. It is that state when we cut the tail of the Monkey and make it a Monk. When we remove the 'EY' from our life and stop this Ever Yearning, then, the Monkey becomes a Monk and we experience Consciousness. This is not impossible and all of us experience this in flashes as it comes and goes. We enter the moment of Chit but no sooner than we do, the Monk starts yearning and the Monkey takes over. It robs our Peace as it destroys our state of Chit - Consciousness. It is only in a state of Satchit – or Truth Consciousness that we can constantly be aware of the reality and remain in that state of seamless tranquillity. This Divine bliss is a unique state of joy that man yearns for, but rarely experiences. It is a state of Ananda.
Ananda is bliss. It is beyond pleasure and happiness that the world talks of. It arrives when one has the Chit of Sat – the Consciousness of the Truth. Satchitananda is thus that Divine state of bliss, when one is conscious of the Truth. When this awareness is after the realization of Sat, the Truth, then the Chit or Consciousness is not at the ransom of the Monkey. The Monkey's tail is cut forever, and one experiences Divine Peace living as the Monk, every moment of life. This is the Divine state of Satchitananda, a state which comes with Consciousness of the Truth and the emergence of Divine Peace and joy without reason. One remains in that state of Satchitananda purely because one becomes conscious of the reality and this Consciousness liberates one from all suffering. The pain of the body, the misery of the Mind, and the agony of the ego dissolve like mist in the morning sun with the realization of the Truth, that we are the Divine Soul. We start living life like a beautiful lotus and although we are surrounded by dirt and stench in the waters that surround us, we bloom with bliss and peace in Satchitananda - a state of Ananda, conscious of the Truth.
Nothing robs the real Monk of this treasure of Satchitananda, provided the Monk is not experiencing Monkhood by just coiling the tail of the Monkey and not transcending it completely. If this is so, the Monkey will soon return as it jumps from thought to thought trying to steal this state of Satchitananda from the Monk. But the moment we have cut the tail of the Monkey and then made it into a Monk, this state of Ananda will not be a temporary state of bliss, but rather a permanent Consciousness of the Monk, as we enjoy a life of everlasting bliss that comes from seamless Peace and tranquillity. The moment we become conscious of the Truth, we realize we are not the ego and whatever actions we perform through the Mind and the body, do not belong to us. A true Monk lives with freedom in action, although we human beings cannot achieve a state of freedom from action. Realization of the Truth makes us conscious that we are only an instrument that is performing the action. Our Karma becomes Karma Yoga and we transcend Karma. When we liberate ourselves from being the doer of action, we are also liberated from the corresponding unfolding of Karma to the body, Mind, and ego and we become a witness, an observer, as we transcend Karma, enjoying that state of Ananda as we become conscious of the Truth, Sat. The Monk, who is the Divine Soul, lives in realization and Consciousness discriminating thoughts.
The Monk knows that life is a cosmic drama that will eventually end. Thus, as the Monk goes beyond Karma, living with dispassion, detached from people and possessions, the Monk remains in that state of Ananda, which even the millionaires and the billionaires, the presidents and the kings of the world fail to enjoy.
How does the Monk live in Satchitananda? The Monk becomes detached from the world and its offerings. Although the Monk lives in the world, he stays afloat like a hydrofoil that skims over the oceans to reach its destination. The Monk doesn't sink in the ocean of Samsara, this material world, as he is detached because of his Chit – Consciousness of Sat – the Truth. This dispassionate life of a Monk that makes him live with detachment from people and possessions is the key to his Ananda, his state of divine bliss and Peace.
As long as the Monk was a Monkey, it was Ever Yearning for pleasures and possessions, for name and fame. But when the Monk dropped its Monkey tail, the 'EY' – the Ever Yearning, the Monkey itself became a Monk. The Monkey that was jumping from one anxiety to another, without its Ever Yearning tail, enjoys a state of Peace, as a Monk, being conscious of the Truth. As long as this Monk has this Ever Yearning, it cannot transcend from Monkey to Monk, enjoying Satchitananda. However, a true Monk who cuts off the tail of the Monkey and stops this Ever Yearning, not just for the moment, but renounces it, lives in a state of Satchitananda. When the Monkey Mind drops its tail, the Monk becomes a Yogi, one who lives in constant Yoga. The Chit or Consciousness of the Yogi makes the Yogi live in Divine Yoga. Unlike the popular belief of Yoga, the true meaning of Yoga is living in Divine Union. When the Monk realizes his true existence of the Divine Soul, then the Divine Soul becomes conscious of its oneness with the Supreme Soul that is omnipresent, and this causes a state of Ananda, tranquillity, and bliss.
As long as you and I, live as ME, the Mind and the Ego, we identify ourselves as two different entities. We become like two balloons – one blue and one white that were earlier two pieces of dead rubber. Because the air was blown into the balloons, they started jumping and dancing with life and became two distinct balloons. However, if the balloons are deflated, they return to their state of being dead rubber balloons without the energy and life they possess. What happened to the air in the balloons? The air merged with the air that was everywhere. It is impossible to recover the air of the blue balloon and the white balloon separately as the air has merged. As long as we live as two Monkeys, we will live with our Mind and Ego, ME, and identify ourselves as separate from each other, as two different human beings. Then we will fight, compare, compete and also experience misery, stress, and anxiety. Our ignorance of being two Monkeys will make us live and die, as apes chasing grapes in the garden of life. But the moment we realize Sat, the Truth and we become conscious with Chit, then we experience Satchitananda. What is this realization that gives us Peace and bliss? When we realize we are not the dead body that finally lies on the floor at death, we realize our true self, our true existence as that of the Divine Soul, the life energy. It departs at death and we too will merge like the air of the two balloons and become one with the Divine. We don't have to wait for death to realize that we are not the body that will die. We are not the body that we wear. We are the Soul that wears the body. This is the Sat, the Truth and if we become conscious of it now, we can enjoy the Ananda, that comes from Consciousness of the Truth. But as long as we live as Monkeys, we will never realize the true self. We will live as you and me, and remain with stress and anxiety, without being conscious of the Truth and enjoying Satchitananda. This is our ultimate goal, Satchitananda – Eternal Peace! How will we reach there?
