The Dynamic Relationship of Sat – Chit – Ananda

Sat, Chit, and Ananda are divine attributes that comprise the infinite trio nature of God. They are experienced by Realized Souls who pass from the state of Nirvana into the state called Fana-Fillah — the “I am God” state. Meher Baba has translated these Sanskrit terms respectively as Power, Knowledge, and Bliss. Other sources, however, show a different translation: Sat as Existence (or Being) and Chit as Consciousness. All sources uniformly agree on Ananda as Bliss.

Sat = Existence (Power)

Chit = Consciousness (Knowledge)

Ananda = Bliss

By pondering the dynamic relationship that exists between these divine attributes it can be seen that:

Existence (Sat) exists eternally, yet in the state described as The Beyond The Beyond State of God, it is without consciousness and therefore, unaware of itself.

When Consciousness (Chit) illumines Existence (Sat), Existence realizes itself and the state of Bliss (Ananda) spontaneously and automatically follows.

Applying the alternate definitions of Sat and Chit it is interesting to note that when Knowledge (Chit) illumines Power (Sat), Power realizes itself and the state of Bliss (Ananda) spontaneously and automatically follows.




The condition that gave rise to the Whim (Lahar) that started it all

The Beyond the Beyond State of God's unknowingness creates the potentiality of uneasiness in the state of the Original Ocean. This potentiality of uneasiness, as described by Upasni Maharaj, is the pre-condition that gives rise to the Whim (Lahar.) It is not the cause of the Whim however, since the very nature of Whim is causeless, but it does create the potentiality for the manifestation of the Whim. Meher Baba calls this pre-condition The Beyond State of God.

Upasni Maharaj describes the relationship that exists between The Beyond The Beyond State of God and The Beyond State of God as like the relationship that exists between any ordinary gross body of water and its surface.

Though inherently the same as the ocean below it, the surface exhibits qualities unique to itself. It becomes like a skin upon the ocean that forms the junction between all that is water and all that is not water. It allows the water to define its individuality by setting boundaries between what it is and what it is not.

But the case of the Original Ocean is different since, in Reality, nothing exists that is separate from the ocean and nothing exists that can be separated from the Original Ocean.
Upasni masterfully suggests that it is this very nothing of the nothing else exists that becomes The Beyond State of God, that creates the potentiality for the Ocean to recognize that it is Everything. The Beyond State creates the possibility for the manifestation of the Whim that was impossible in The Beyond The Beyond State of God.

Upasni further suggests that due to the tension created by the formation of the surface upon the Original Ocean, a kind of pressure is created that sustains the momentum of the Whim after it manifests. Vedic teachings name this pressure Prakriti, Adi Maya, or Adi Shakti — the pressure that sustains the momentum of the processes of Evolution, Reincarnation, and Involution.


After the Whim Surged:
The Formation of Drops and Bubbles

Meher Baba tells us that when the Whim (Lahar) surged in the Infinite Ocean of God, the tranquility of its Original State was stirred into a froth of drops; each drop surrounded by three bubbles of mind, energy, and gross form. The outermost bubble is the gross form and it is this bubble that the drop first identified with.

What is a bubble? I am thinking that it is imagination and that this imagination is what causes the drop to imagine itself as being limited and forget that it is, or ever was, itself the Great Ocean. Imagination even causes the drop to forget that there is, or ever was, a Great Ocean at all.

Instead, it begins to identify itself as a bubble and with other bubbles that have simultaneously begun to appear. In the course of its existence the drop, now identified totally with its bubbles, observes that from time to time the outermost bubble breaks and eventually disappears. Viewing this phenomenon, the drop becomes very frightened. The other drops do as well. They think, “If my bubble should break then I too will disappear.” They name this phenomenon — the breaking of the bubble — death.

But there are some other drops. Their bubbles look pretty much the same as all the other bubbles, though some of them do appear a little more chipped or cracked, yet there is something about them — how they are and what they say. They are not afraid of death and they talk about something else, the other two bubbles and the drop that is contained within them. “We are not just the bubble you see or even the other two bubbles you don’t see,” they say and continue to explain that within the innermost bubble is a drop of the Original Great Ocean. They say that, in fact, it is the destiny of all drops to realize their oneness with the Original Great Ocean.
The vast majority of drops who hear this strange talk think that it is all just some kind of imagination. They say that they have never seen the Original Great Ocean and they have never seen drops either.

But the strange drops patiently explain that the Ocean is within them and outside them as well — that they are always in and of the Ocean and that it is only identification with the bubbles of imagination that cause them to be unable to recognize who and what they really are.

There are always however, a few drops that hear this talk and do not dismiss it as mere imagination. Some even begin to work directly with the strange bubbles or indirectly with them through their teachings and after some time, begin to experience an unusual feeling. They say, “I am beginning to feel that I am not just my bubbles and that when my outer bubble breaks another will be there to replace it.” They go on to say, as much to themselves as to others, “In reality I am the drop within the bubbles but what that is, what I really am, I don’t know, but I want to know.”

Time passes, the drops experience the odyssey of the breaking and renewing of many bubbles, while the question of who am I continues to gain force within them to eventually become the idea fixe of their entire life.

“You are not the bubble,” the drop hears from a strange though oddly familiar drop one day. This drop was the Ancient Drop, the first drop to realize itself as the Great Ocean. “You are your drop and your drop and my drop are one. We are all the Great Ocean,” he says.

“Yes, I feel that to be true,” replies the drop, “though it is so difficult for me to accept, the Great Ocean seems so vast, so infinite, while I seem so limited and finite.”

The odyssey of the drop continues and one day, with the help of the strange drop, experiences its own dropness and simultaneously its oneness with the Great Ocean.
“I am, and have always been, and will always continue to be the Great Ocean.” It exclaims.

But to the other drops it looks just the same. They say, “To us, you don’t appear to be the Great Ocean. You are just like us, small and limited, just here for awhile and then gone.”

But the drop, now conscious of itself and its bubbles, patiently insists, “In reality, these bubbles do not even exist. When you recognize yourself as a drop of the Great Ocean, you too will realize that your bubbles are imaginary and only appeared in the beginning, after the Whim stirred the Great Ocean into the state of wish to know.”

© copyright 2008 Michael Kovitz