गोविन्द भाष्य (श्रील बलदेव विद्याभूषण - अचिन्त्यभेदाभेद वेदान्त ब्रह्मसूत्र भाष्य सटीक)

The word ānandamaya (full of bliss) used in the Vedic literatures must refer to the Supreme Brahman, for it is repeatedly used to describe Him. Purport by Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa The Supreme Brahman is the ānandamaya described in Vedic literature. Why do we say so? Because the word ānandamaya is repeatedly used to describe the Supreme Brahman. Directly following the description of ānandamaya in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad (2.6.1), we find the following statement: asann eva saṁbhavati asad brahmeti veda cet asti brahmeti ced veda santam enaṁ tato viduḥ "One who thinks, The Supreme Brahman does not exist' becomes a demonic atheist, and one who thinks, The Supreme Brahman does exist' is known as a saint." In this passage the word Brahman was repeated. This repetition is called abhyāsa. In the previous quotation from Taittirīya Upaniṣad, the word Brahman appeared in the word brahma-puccham, but in that case the word only occurred once, and therefore there was no abhyāsa. The four verses of Taittirīya Upaniṣad beginning with the verse annād vai prajāḥ prajāyante describe the annamaya, prāṇamaya, manomaya, and vijñānamaya levels of existence. Each of these levels is progressively higher than the preceding one, and after them the ānandamaya level, which is different in quality, is the highest of all. This will be more elaborately explained in the passage following the sūtra: priya-śiras tv ādya-prāpter (3.3.13) of this book. At this point someone may raise the following objection: These stages of existence describe the conditioned souls who have fallen into the raging river of material suffering. Why has the stage of blissfulness (ānandamaya) been made the chief of these stages of suffering?" To this objection I reply: There is no fault in this. The all-blissful Personality of Godhead is pesent in the hearts of all the suffering conditioned souls, and therefore it is perfectly appropriate to mention them together. The Vedic literatures speak in this way to make a difficult subject-matter intelligible for the unlettered common man. Just as one may point out the small, difficult-to-see star Arundhatī by first pointing to a nearby large easy-to-see star, and then lead the viewer from that reference-point to the tiny Arundhatī, in the same way the Vedic literatures first describe the suffering-filled life of the conditioned souls, and then from that reference point teach about the all-blissful