In plain words
So man’s chief aim is to keep far from attachment and aversion, root out Ahaṅkāra and do his duties selflessly. Truly, man is the very form of Ānanda. What he longs for is Ānanda alone. This humanness is a treasure filled with happiness. Saukhyāmbudhi means the ocean of Ānanda. Within him and outside him, all around, above and below, all that is, is Ānanda. When man, who swims in Ānanda, cranes his neck for Ānanda, is this not plain ignorance? Ānanda is right within him. Though he himself is infinite in form and full of Ānanda, he loses his Ānanda only because he is deluded by this petty body.
The goal of life is to reach God, not to die. The river is a part of the sea. This river finds its Ānanda only when it joins the sea. The fish is a part of this river. It cannot live even a moment out of the water. The child is a part of the mother. Can the child live apart from its mother? A branch is a part of the tree. Apart from the tree, the branch cannot live. In the same way, man, who is a part of God, cannot live apart from God. So it is most necessary to recognise the truth that human life was given for one purpose only: to reach God. The Bhagavad Gītā teaches that the very part of God is in everyone. ‘Ahamātmaguḍākeśa.’ ‘I abide in all beings as the very form of the Ātma,’ Kṛṣṇa taught.
Man was not born to live like a beast, a slave to Prakṛti. He must live as the master of Prakṛti. Man must experience the state of Nārāyaṇa. Every human being must gain the experience ‘Śivoham, Acyutānandoham, Ānandoham.’ Before the serpent of time strikes, before the boat of life sinks, we must recognise this truth and try to experience the Ānanda of the Ātma.
Mokṣa is not some special place. To recognise one’s own true form oneself is Mokṣa. To behold one’s very own true form oneself is Mokṣa. To recognise oneself is Mokṣa. Far from such Satya and close to Asatya, we are trying to experience unrest. Ānanda alone is everywhere. We live in Ānanda alone. Our life itself is Ānanda. But covered over by attachment and possessiveness, we experience unrest because of this very covering. On the day we remove this covering we have wrapped round ourselves, on that very day it becomes possible to recognise the form of Satya.
Last night we had deep sleep. In this deep sleep we experienced Ānanda. Where did this Ānanda come from? In sleep we experienced no object at all. We took hold of no object; we saw nothing. Yet where did this Ānanda come from? It did not enter from outside. That very Ānanda within oneself, by casting off every kind of covering