Bliss Alone is the Nature of the Universe

From the suckling child to the international warring heads of state, from the dog under the chair in the drawing room to the roaring lion in the African forests, from the tiniest fungus to the giant oaks, every movement, physical or mental, is directed towards getting rid of pain and gaining happiness.So universal is this instinctive dread of pain that even great thinkers have missed the mark and failed to note its obvious message! In this revolt against pain lies the clear declaration that bliss alone is Truth, bliss alone is Real, and bliss alone is the nature of the universe.The ocean is nothing but water; the mountainous waves, the dancing froth and the glittering foam, the sparkling ripples and the flickering bubbles are all merely its various names and forms, having for themselves no separate individuality. So too, the multiplicity of things and beings we observe in the universe is merely many different names and forms of one and the same thing – the nature of bliss.Once the jiva (the individualised ego) is tuned to perfection, it finds full contentment and bliss in itself. His is an experience of endless bliss; his is an attitude of perfect detachment from life’s fitful fever. He becomes a calm witness of the universe, as if it were a mere temporary disturbance within himself. Even if his body be living and subject to phenomenal conditions of illness and decay, which may strike an ordinary superficial observer as utterly miserable and extremely unhappy, the saint, living as he does entirely in his own true inner nature, recognises nothing but the ultimate joy of Godhood.All worldly actions, individually or collectively, among men or animals or plants, have the same motive and aim—to escape from pain and achieve bliss.