Brahmānanda
Brahmānanda · brahma-ānanda, “the bliss of Brahman”
Grammar: masculine noun; a compound of brahma (Brahman, the Supreme) and ānanda (bliss): “the bliss of Brahman”.
Meaning: the bliss that is the very nature of Brahman and of the ātmā, beyond all sense-pleasure; the endless joy of the one established in the Self.
In the scriptures: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa names brahmānanda as the state of Bhagavān Śiva and of Ṛshabhadeva, and as the bliss that Śrī Kṛshṇa himself is and gives.
Bhagavān Śiva on Kailāsa. When the devas and the maharshis came to Kailāsa with Brahmā, they saw Bhagavān Śiva seated with the yoga-paṭṭa drawn tight about him, his mind fixed firmly in brahmānanda, foremost among those established in the ātmā; the lokapālas and the maharshis joined their hands and bowed (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 6).
Ṛshabhadeva. Bhagavān Ṛshabhadeva taught his sons that sense-enjoyments make a man like the beasts; the human body is not fit for them but for divine tapas, by which the antaḥkaraṇa is purified and, through ātma-jñāna, endless brahmānanda is gained. Śuka tells Parīkshit that Ṛshabhadeva, the giver of moksha, practised many yogas as an example to people and was always established in the supreme brahmānanda; he saw all beings in himself as the Self of Bhagavān Vāsudeva, with not the slightest difference between himself and Vāsudeva, and he became complete (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 5).
Śrī Kṛshṇa himself. Telling of the gopa boys at play in the forest, Śuka says that Śrī Kṛshṇa is the one whom the jñānīs experience as brahmānanda, whom the devotees who have taken refuge adore as the supreme deity, and whom those bound by ajñāna know as a human boy; the gopa boys played with him because of heaps of puṇya (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 12). Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava: “To one who has offered his mind to me, with no expectation from anything, brahmānanda comes from me, who am the ātmā. How could it come to one whose mind is caught in sense-pleasures?” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 14).
Related terms: Ānanda · Brahman · Ātmā · Ātma-jñāna · Jīvanmukta
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 6; Skandha 5, Chapter 5; Skandha 10, Chapter 12; Skandha 11, Chapter 14