God is Abundance

|| विकारशब्दान् नेति चेन् न प्राचुर्यात् || ब्रह्मसूत्र (१,१.१३ )

||vikāraśabdānneti cenna prācuryāt || Brahma Sutra ( 1.1.13 )


This sūtra can be split like this: vikāra śabdāt na iti cet na prācuryāt विकार शब्दात् न इति चेत् न प्राचुर्यात्

vikāra śabdāt – word denoting modification (as explained in the previous sūtra, modifications such as bliss); from the word 'Anandamaya' with the suffix 'mayat' denoting modification; Na: is not; Iti: this; thus; na cet – if said like this (Brahman is subject to modification, etc), then it cannot be accepted (because); prācuryāt – present in abundance (Brahman is full of abundance).


If (it be objected that the term Anandamaya consisting of bliss can) not (denote the supreme Self) because of its being a word denoting a modification or transformation or product (we say that the objection is) not (valid) on account of abundance, (which is denoted by the suffix 'maya').

If the objector says that 'maya' means modification, it cannot be. We cannot predicate such a modification with regard to Brahman who is changeless. We reply that 'maya' means fulness or abundance and Anandamaya means not a derivative from Ananda or Bliss but fulness or abundance of bliss.

The word 'Anandamaya' has been certainly applied to denote the Supreme Soul or the Highest Self and not the individual soul. In the Tait. Up. II-8 the Bliss of Brahman is finally declared to be absolutely Supreme. "Maya" therefore denotes abundance or "fulness".

Anandamaya does not mean absence of pain or sorrow. It is a positive attribute of Brahman and not a mere negation of pain. Anandamaya means 'He whose essential nature or Svarupa is Ananda or Bliss'. When we say: 'the sun has abundance of light', it really means, the sun, whose essential nature is light is called Jyotirmaya. Therefore Anandamaya is not Jiva but Brahman. 'Anandamaya', is equal to 'Ananda-svarupa' – He whose essential nature is bliss. 'Maya' has not the force of Vikara or modification here.

The word 'Ananda' or Bliss is used repeatedly in the Srutis only with reference to Brahman. 'Maya' does not mean that Brahman is a modification or effect of Bliss. 'Maya' means pervasion.

The phrase 'The sacrifice is Annamaya' means 'the sacrifice is abounding in food', not 'is some modification or product of food!' Therefore here also Brahman, as abounding in Bliss, is called Anandamaya.