Joy / Ananda

Once you said that transcendental delight is one of the divine qualities not manifested on earth. Why is that?

On the highest plane there is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss; we call it Sat-Chit-Ananda. Sat is Existence; Chit is Consciousness; Ananda is Delight. Consciousness is the source of everything, but Consciousness cannot stay without Delight and Existence. If there is no Existence, there can be no Consciousness. If there is Existence and Consciousness, Bliss is required for self-fulfillment.

Great spiritual Masters from time immemorial have brought down the Sat and Chit aspects. But Ananda is difficult to bring down. Some could not bring it at all. Some brought it, but it lasted for only a few seconds or a few minutes and then went back up again. Peace is accessible; we can bring down peace. Light and power can easily be brought down. But the delight which immortalizes our inner and outer consciousness has not yet been established on earth. It comes and then goes away because it sees so much imperfection in the earth-atmosphere that it cannot remain.

Even spiritually advanced people are often confused. They feel an inner ecstasy which comes from the vital world, and they think this is the real delight. But it is not so. Real delight comes from the highest world to the soul, and from the soul it saturates the whole being.

This Ananda is absorbed differently from physical delight, or what we call pleasure or enjoyment. The supramental delight is totally different from the world of pleasure and enjoyment. Once you get even an iota of it, you feel your entire inner being dancing with joy like a child with utmost purity, and your outer being feels true immortality in its outer existence. If you get this delight even for a second, you will remember it all your life. All around us is the Cosmic Game, the Cosmic Play. The universe is full of joy, inner joy and outer joy. When realization takes place, we have to feel the necessity of manifesting this constant delight in our heart. This delight glows, but does not actually burn. It has tremendous intensity, but it is all softness and absolutely sweet-flowing Nectar.