27 Dec Ananda: Cosmic Bliss – December 28 2020
Once the ananda, the divine delight in all things is attained, it sets right all the distortions, all the evil of the world. It carries man through to the goal. If by the truth and right of things we arrive at the ananda, by the ananda also we can arrive at the right and truth of things.
Sri Aurobindo,
The Secret of the Veda
Ananda is the Sanskrit word meaning ‘pure bliss.’ Here, Sri Aurobindo (one of the great Vedic masters of the modern era) refers to ananda as “the divine delight in all things.” He then goes on to say that the system of this relative world works in both directions: the “truth and right of things” leads one to this bliss just as the finding of this bliss leads one to the truth and right of things.
To find bliss is to “[set] right all the distortions, all the evil of the world.”
Bliss is our true nature. Bliss is our birthright. Bliss is our assignment. Bliss is our responsibility. It is my responsibility each day to choose bliss, to see bliss, to find the possibility of bliss in all my affairs. And to pay no attention to the voices within that tell me it’s not possible or that I don’t deserve it.
Today I will notice when I have fallen into a mood, and I will choose, arbitrarily and against all my resistance, to find bliss in that moment.
Bud Powell’s First Christmas, 2018, Studio City