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Atman (Soul)
Art & Science of Meditation
of consciousness and enormous overflow of bliss from your heart. Thus the three together are aspects of one and the same experience.
In the Atharva Veda (12.1.1) there is a corresponding concept of satyam-ritam-brihat. 'Satyam' is the essential truth of existence, 'ritam'is the dynamic action or dharma and 'brihat' is the vast and the boundless. Thus, satyam corresponds to sat, ritam to chit (shakti) and brihat to ananda, infinite bliss. Satchitananda is actually the Divine Self, eternal and infinite, that lives within each one of us.
Atman means the Self or the Soul. It is, often, mistakenly identified with temporary body or mind or intellect giving rise to ego – a false notion about ourselves; but actually it is the chit or "consciousness" that makes us aware of the different body forms. Atman is in a constant state of bliss, it is indestructible and changeless. Atman is therefore Sat-Chit-Ananda. It is self-luminous and brilliant and pervades everything including space.
Sat-Chit-Ananda is the natural state of every living being; yet we fail to experience it because we are struggling in a wrong direction and squandering our energies on trivial matters and material life, oblivious of the fact that the eternal joy lies in the state of Sat-Chit-Ananda and not in the worldly pleasures linked to material wealth.
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