The Supreme is Pure Being, Absolute Existence, sat. He is Existence because He alone Is, there being nothing else which has any ultimate reality or any being independent of His self-manifestation The Supreme is also Pure Awareness, Absolute Consciousness, cit. We must be on our guard against confusing the ultimate consciousness of Brahman with our own modes of thought ahd knowledge, or calling Him in any but avowedly metaphorical language the Universal Omniscient Mind and by such other terminology; Mind, Thought, Knowledge, Omniscience, Partial Science, Nescience are merely modes in which Consciousness figures under various conditions and in various receptacles. But the Pure Consciousness of the Brahman is a conception which transcends our modes of thinking The Upanishads tell us that Brahman is not a blind universal Force working by its very nature mechanically, nor even an unconscious Cause of Force; He is conscious or rather is Himself Consciousness, cit, as well as sat. It necessarily follows that sat and cit are really the same; Existence is Consciousness and cannot be separated from Consciousness The Supreme is, finally, Pure Ecstasy, Absolute Bliss, ananda. Now just as sat and cit are the same, so are sat and cit not different from ananda; just as Existence is Consciousness and cannot be separated from Consciousness, so Conscious Existence is Bliss and cannot be separated from Bliss. I think we feel this even in the very finite existence and cramped consciousness of life on the material plane. Conscious existence at least cannot endure without pleasure; even in the most miserable sentient being there must be pleasure in existence though it appear small as a grain of mustard seed...
