Anuvaka 5 of Brahman Valli of Taittiriya Upanishad discusses two types of happiness: Anandamaya kosa and Atmananda. Interior to and subtler than the intellect sheath is Anandamaya kosa (bliss sheath) which is considered as Atma. Intellect sheath is relegated to the status of non-Atma. Bliss-sheath is subtle and assumes the shape of food-sheath (gross body). Its head is priya (joy), lefthand side is moda (hilarity), righthand side is pramoda (enjoyment), bliss is the trunk, and Brahman is the tail, the foundation. The state of deep sleep is bliss sheath. There is an experience of happiness a waking person recollects from memory.
As the bliss sheath is experiential, it is not Atma. Ananda without any limitation is Atma. Ananda has no “maya”. The suffix maya indicates fluctuations and modifications. Anandamaya is graded, fluctuating, experiential, timebound, and finite. Non-graded, non-fluctuating, non-arriving, and non-departing is pure Ananda and it is to be claimed as I. Atmananda is not limited to a Jiva. It is everywhere and is the reality behind the creation. It is Brahmananda. Discrimination of five sheaths has revealed that Atma or Brahman is of the nature of bliss, free of the characteristics of five sheaths.
Anuvaka 8 inter-alia deals with Ananda mimansa which means inquiry and evaluation of ananda. A calm and quiet mind is needed for kosa-ananda like a clear mirror required to see the face clear. The all-pervading Atmananda is reflected in such a mind and happiness is experienced. A tranquil mind can be obtained in two different manners. By changing the external setup, e.g., getting a desired object. It is called Visaya Prapya. It is an external adjustment and is not possible all the time. The second method is an internal adjustment of the mind called vairagya (dispassion). Verse 2.65 of the Gita describes: in tranquillity, the destruction of all miseries takes place.
Kosa-ananda is of broadly three types, namely, priya, moda, and pramoda. A person likes some food. The happiness due to desire is Priya, the happiness when the food is served is moda. When he eats, it is pramoda. Desire is priya, possession is moda, and enjoyment is pramoda. The Upanishad compares kosa-ananda obtained by the two methods.
Progressive gradation of kosa-ananda
There is a young man, who is learned in scriptures., the most dynamic, the most resolute, and the strongest. The entire earth, full of resources, is his. Happiness enjoyed by him is the maximum possible happiness. It is one unit of human happiness (M). One hundred times M is one unit of happiness of Human-Gandharva (HG) as well as the happiness of a man of scriptural learning who is not affected by desire. One hundred units of happiness of HG is one unit of happiness of Deva-Gandharva (DG) as well as the happiness of a man of scriptural learning who is not affected by desire. 100 units of happiness of DG is one unit of the happiness of the manes who are the residents of Pitra Loka (PL) as well as the happiness of a man of scriptural learning who is not affected by desire. One hundred units of happiness in PL is one unit of happiness of the devas born in deva Loka (DL) as well as the happiness of a man of scriptural learning who is not affected by desire. One hundred units of DL is one unit of the happiness of Karma Deva (KD) who gets deva-status by performing scriptural rituals as well as the happiness of a man of scriptural learning who is not affected by desire.
One hundred units of happiness of KD is one unit of happiness of a Swarga God (SG) as well as the happiness of a man of scriptural learning who is not affected by desire. One hundred units of happiness of SG is one unit of happiness enjoyed by Indra. One hundred units of happiness of Indra is one unit of happiness of Brihaspati as well as the happiness of a man of scriptural learning who is not affected by desire. One hundred units of Brihaspati happiness is one unit of the happiness of Virat as well as the happiness of a man of scriptural learning who is not affected by desire. One hundred units of Virat happiness is one unit of happiness of Hiranyagarbha as well as the happiness of a man of scriptural learning who is not affected by desire.
In a higher Loka, happiness is equated to 100 times in the preceding lower Loka. One unit of Hiranyagarbha Ananda is 10 to the power 20 times M. M stands for one unit of maximum happiness enjoyed by a human being in Bhu-Loka. In Bhu Loka, one gets sense-pleasures through objects. The pleasures in higher Lokas increase exponentially. A person goes to higher Lokas if he has earned sufficient punya in human birth. The Upanishad says that happiness available in different Lokas may be qualitatively and quantitively very high but a human being with sufficient dispassion has the same happiness by saying “no” borne of knowledge of the true nature of sense pleasures.
A person in a higher Loka has better sensory objects to enjoy, but the human being can have better dispassion. With the increase in possession or dispassion, one can enjoy varying degrees of kosa-ananda. The final level is the Hiranyagarbha ananda which can be obtained by a human being who is anchored in dispassion and has scriptural learning. Scriptural learning makes dispassion unshakable.
The following differences are noteworthy.
Atmananda: Original, Permanent, Ungraded, Non-experiential, Knowledge based, Freedom, Pure, Contentment
Kosa-ananda: Reflected, Impermanent, Graded, Experiential External or internal, Bondage, Mixture of sorrow, Insatiable
According to Swami Parmarthananda, a Jnani has Atmananda due to Self-knowledge and has kosa-ananda because of dispassion which he acquires as a seeker in the preparation stage.