Analyzing Ananda: Insights from Taittiriya Upanishad – January 2024

The word “ananda” is perhaps the most used and the least understood word in the spiritual compendium. Vedanta, the knowledge of oneself as limitlessly whole, is incomplete without getting a grasp of what ananda means. We translate this variously as “bliss,” “joy” and so on, but it is an elusive concept at best, an abstraction of sorts. The Taittiriya Upanishad offers a unique analysis of ananda, assimilating which one is freed of fear and sorrow. In this week-long retreat, with Swamini Svatmavidyananda, we will study selections from this Upanishad to gain the direct knowledge of ananda as the truth of oneself.