In plain words
‘Mṛtyor mā amṛtaṃ gamaya’: to what do death and birth belong? To the body alone! You have no death, no birth. You are not one who is born, not one who dies. Only what is born passes away. Death and birth belong to the body. They do not belong to the Ātma. The Ātma is eternal. That is Satya, that is the everlasting, that is immortality. We must enter into such a thing. Only then is there true Ānanda for us. Every day you pray. ‘Asato mā sad gamaya, tamaso mā jyotir gamaya, mṛtyor mā amṛtaṃ gamaya.’ But we do not come to know these three. What must be known must be known. What must be given up must be given up. The place that must be reached must be reached. Only then does Ānanda come. Until then eternal Ānanda does not come to us. It is only the Ānanda of the world! Such eternal Ānanda is what they called immortality. That alone is the everlasting. This is just what the Vedas have gone on describing. It has no attributes at all. That is why: nirguṇaṃ, nirañjanaṃ, sanātanaṃ, niketanaṃ, nitya, śuddha, buddha, nirmala svarūpiṇaṃ, ānandaṃ. If we wish to reach eternal Ānanda, we must have faith in divinity. We must develop such firm faith.
The Kṛṣṇa Principle Is Full of Ānanda
Kṛṣṇa was born. Where was He born? What property did He have? None at all. He was born in a jail. He grew up in Nanda's house. He reached Mathurā. What property did He have, and where? He had no property. He had not a span of land. He had not a naya paisa of bank balance. Yet to the world He became great. What does this mean? This worldly prosperity was not His prosperity. Worldly wealth was not His wealth. All these are just passing clouds! Eternal wealth is Ānanda alone! Kṛṣṇa was always full of Ānanda. If you recognise well the difference between Kṛṣṇa and Rāma, it is very easy to understand. For Kṛṣṇa, first the laugh, then the work. For Rāma, first the work, then the laugh. Kṛṣṇa is the one who made women weep. Rāma is the one who wept for women.