[Advaita-l] [advaitin] ​Happiness as the nature of the self, svarUpa of mokSha.

[Sudhanshu Shekhar]

Namaste Subbu ji, Ananta Chaitanya ji.

Isn't the definition of swaprakAshatva relevant for answering this
objection? Brahman is swaprakAsha, meaning there is nothing else required
for its illumination. Now, sat and chit are not covered by mUla-ajnAna and
only Ananda is covered [सद्भानानन्दांशानां मध्ये आनन्दांशरूपेणैव ब्रह्म
मूलाज्ञानेनावृतम्। ‘पूर्णानन्दो मे न भाती’ति प्रत्ययात् सद्भानरूपे भात इति
प्रत्ययाच्च । (Laghu ChandrikA , page 318) । . Since the discussion is
about Ananda, let us first analyse how the illumination of sat and chit
manifests even in ignorance-avasthA.

Does the illumination of existence (sat) and consciousness (chit) require
mind? It does not. It is self-manifest. The existence and consciousness of
mind is actually borrowed from sat/chit. Even in deep sleep, when the mind
is merged, the sat and chit are manifest [Ananta ji, please note]. No one
ever says that I did not exist in deep sleep. "I did not know in deep
sleep" does not deny consciousness in deep sleep, but it demonstrates
consciousness with ignorance as the object. [Absence of vyavhAra "I exist/I
know" does not imply non-illumination of sat/chit, it merely demonstrates
absence of ahamkAra which is illuminated (ajnAtatayA) by sAkshI.]

Once it is clear that sat and chit don't require mind for their
illumination, it is clear that post-ignorance-removal, the illumination of
Ananda will be manifest even without the mind as then Ananda will be on the
same footing as those of sat and chit.

Regards.
Sudhanshu Shekhar.