In plain words
Ānanda is man's innate nature. Ānanda is what every man longs for, all the time. From rising from sleep until he lies down again, he wishes to live a life of Ānanda. But the Satya of where this Ānanda lies, that alone he fails to recognise. All of today's learning, property and possessions, jobs and positions are only for enjoying physical joy. What is the source of Ānanda? Whatever joys man enjoys, all of them are only parts of Brahmānanda. Now, though riches and wealth are seen in plenty in a rich man's house, the home of this wealth is Lakṣmī herself. In the same way, all the joys man enjoys in this world, the joy of the senses, the joy of learning, the joy of feeling, the joy of the mind and the rest, are rays that have come forth from the seat of Brahman. Ānanda takes on many forms according to the differences of its vessels, but the abode of Ānanda is but one.
We must recognise that Ānanda is the very form of God
Whether it is drawn from a well, a tap or a pond, water is water. By the difference of its vessel we say well water, tap water, pond water. In the same way, the joy of the senses, the joy of learning, the joy of worldly things in family life, all of them are Brahmānanda, all of them our own nature. Ānanda lies within all things. So it is most necessary to recognise that Ānanda is the very form of God.
In matter, too, the elements of Sat, Cit and Ānanda lie merged. Though so many die before his eyes, every person hopes that he himself will live for ever, and when illness comes, that he will cure it and live a while longer. Wanting to last for ever is the nature of ‘Sat’. ‘Cit’ makes the will to know everything grow. Then there is Ānanda. There is no one who does not want it. ‘Sat’, ‘Cit’ and ‘Ānanda’ are man's very nature. Here one is the original and the other its reflection. In ‘Sat’ too there is one face turned inward and one turned outward. These are Being and Becoming. What spreads out the divinity within is Becoming; if it were not within, it could not be spread out, could it! The eternal Satya within is ‘Sat’. Everything we see in this world is the reflection of what is within us. Reflection of the Inner Being: the whole world is Becoming. The divinity that is its basis is Being. This permanence and this solidity are reflections of each other. One moves, the other is fixed. Pictures come and go on the screen. What neither goes nor comes, what lasts, is the screen. The pictures that come and go are what is fleeting. The bond between these two is that each rests on the other.
This whole world, too, passes in a moment. Yet this is what they called ‘jāgrata’. For jāgrata the gross body is essential. This is the annamaya. Then the subtle ones are the manōmaya and the vijñānamaya. For both of these the prāṇamaya is the support. These three together make the subtle body. It is experienced in the dream state. And the fifth is the ānandamaya. This is the causal form. The principle of the causal form is true Ānanda.
Now, ‘Cit’ is there in subtle form. ‘Cit’ is awareness. Beside it there is power. These, ‘Sat’, ‘Cit’ and ‘Ānanda’, each have both an inner and an outer aspect. Divinity, which is the gross, the subtle and the causal form, dwells in many forms and shines in them. One is the efficient cause, the other the material cause. If there is no efficient cause at all, there is no material cause. If there is no material cause at all, the efficient cause comes to nothing. These two rest on each other.