Ananda Meaning: Bliss in Yoga, Vedanta and Buddhism

Ananda (Sanskrit: आनन्द, ānanda) means bliss, or deep joy. In yoga and Vedanta it names a happiness that does not depend on anything outside you, and the Upanishads use it to describe the nature of Brahman, the ultimate reality. It is also a common name in India, the name of the Buddha's closest attendant, and the ending of many monks' names, as in Yogananda and Vivekananda.

What does ananda mean?

The word comes from the verb root nand, to rejoice or be glad, with the prefix ā, which here adds fullness: joy that reaches all the way. Everyday Sanskrit and modern Indian languages use it for ordinary happiness too. In Hindi, anand is what you feel at a good meal with friends, and Anand is a common first name.

In philosophy the word gets a narrower sense. Ananda there means a joy that is not caused by getting something and does not end when the thing is gone. English has no exact word for it. "Bliss" is the usual translation, and it is close enough if you keep that distinction in mind.

Ananda in the Upanishads

The main source is the Taittiriya Upanishad. Its second chapter describes the human being as five layers, or koshas, from the physical body inward: food, breath, mind, understanding and, innermost, the anandamaya kosha, the sheath made of bliss. The same chapter measures bliss on a rising scale. It starts with the joy of a young, healthy, learned person who owns the whole world, and multiplies it by a hundred at each step, until it reaches the bliss of Brahman.

In the third chapter, the student Bhrigu asks his father what Brahman is. He is sent back to practise and reflect five times. Each time he gets a step further: food, breath, mind, understanding. The fifth time he concludes that ananda is Brahman: beings are born from bliss, live by it and return to it.

These texts are the background for the idea, common in yoga classes, that joy lies at the centre of a person and is uncovered rather than produced. If you want the two neighbouring terms, read our pages on Atman, the inner self and Brahman.

Sat chit ananda: being, consciousness, bliss

Sat-chit-ananda (saccidānanda) joins three words: sat (being, what is real), chit (consciousness) and ananda (bliss). Vedanta uses it as a description of Brahman, and by extension of the true self. Teachers usually say it is a pointer, not a list of qualities: reality is, it is aware, and it is whole enough that nothing is missing. That last part is where the bliss comes from.

You will hear it in chants and in the names of teachers and ashrams. Swami Sivananda's tradition uses it often, see our post on the Sivananda lineage and its yoga styles.

Ananda in the Yoga Sutras

Patanjali mentions ananda once, in Yoga Sutra 1.17. He describes the first kind of samadhi, absorption with an object, and says it comes with four stages: coarse thought, subtle thought, ananda and a pure sense of "I am". Here ananda is a stage of meditation you pass through, not the goal. Patanjali's goal is kaivalya, the separation of pure awareness from everything it observes, including joy.

So the Yoga Sutras and Vedanta give ananda different weight. More on that below. For the framework around the sutra, see the 8 limbs of yoga explained and what a sutra is.

Ananda in Buddhism

In Buddhist history, Ananda is a person. He was the Buddha's cousin and, for the last 25 years of the Buddha's life, his personal attendant. The tradition remembers him for his memory: after the Buddha died, Ananda is said to have recited the teachings at the First Council, and many suttas begin with his words "Thus have I heard". He also argued for the ordination of women as nuns.

The name means joy, and Pali uses ānanda in that sense too. Buddhist meditation texts speak more often of piti (rapture) and sukha (ease) as factors of deep concentration. There is a short introduction in our post on the Buddha.

Yogananda, Ananda Sangha and Ananda Yoga

Many monks in the Dashanami order, the order that traces itself to Shankara, receive names that end in -ananda: bliss through something. Vivekananda is bliss through discernment, Sivananda bliss through Shiva, Yogananda bliss through yoga.

Paramahansa Yogananda brought Kriya Yoga to the United States in 1920 and founded the Self-Realization Fellowship. He wrote about bliss as "ever-new joy": the pleasure of a good concert or a fine view fades and repeats itself, while the joy found in deep meditation keeps changing and never wears thin. For him it was reached through daily meditation and was always inside.

Ananda as an organisation came later. His disciple Swami Kriyananda founded the Ananda community near Nevada City, California, in 1968, now known as Ananda Sangha. It also gave its name to Ananda Yoga, a gentle Hatha style in which each pose is paired with a silent affirmation.

Where the sources disagree

Is bliss the goal or a stage? In the Upanishads and in Vedanta, ananda is the nature of reality and of the self. In the Yoga Sutras it is a passing stage of meditation. Patanjali treats even refined joy as something to observe and move past. Both readings are traditional. Which one you meet depends on whether your teacher comes from Vedanta or from classical yoga.

Is the bliss sheath the self? Commentators have argued over the anandamaya kosha for more than a thousand years. Shankara, the great teacher of Advaita Vedanta, read the suffix -maya as "made of" and concluded that the sheath of bliss is still a covering, the last one, not the self itself. Other schools read it as Brahman. Modern yoga books tend to call it the "soul level" and skip the debate.

Is bliss something you can feel on the mat? A good class can leave you calm and content, and many teachers call that ananda. Traditional sources set the bar higher: ananda is not a mood, and it does not come and go with your practice. Using the word for the glow after Savasana (Corpse Pose) is common and harmless, but it is a looser use of the term.

Science. In 1992 researchers named a newly found molecule in the brain anandamide, after ananda. It is part of the body's endocannabinoid system and plays a role in mood and the "runner's high". The name is a tribute. It says nothing about whether meditation produces the bliss the Upanishads describe.

How ananda shows up in practice

You meet the word in three places in a modern yoga practice:

• In poses: Ananda Balasana (Happy Baby Pose) takes its name from it, the playful joy of a baby on its back holding its feet.
• In chants and mantras: sat chit ananda and Om often sit next to each other. See our guide to the Om mantra.
• In meditation: most traditions agree that if ananda is found anywhere, it is found in steady, regular sitting. Our beginner's guide to meditation is a practical place to begin.

If you want to sit with the texts behind the word, our introduction to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali reads them one sutra at a time, and the two-week meditation program is a place to try the sitting part.

Frequently asked questions

What does ananda mean in English?

Ananda means bliss or deep joy. In yoga and Vedanta it refers to a happiness that does not depend on outside things, as opposed to the pleasure of getting what you want.

What does the name Ananda mean?

As a name, Ananda (often Anand in Hindi) means joy or happiness. It is a common first name in India and Sri Lanka, and a common ending in monks' names, such as Yogananda, "bliss through yoga".

What does Ananda mean in Buddhism?

In Buddhism, Ananda is best known as the Buddha's cousin and personal attendant, remembered for his memory. Tradition says he recited the Buddha's teachings at the First Council after the Buddha's death.

What is sat chit ananda?

Sat chit ananda means being, consciousness and bliss. Vedanta uses the phrase to describe Brahman, the ultimate reality, and the true self. Teachers present it as a pointer to what reality is like, not as three separate qualities.

What is the anandamaya kosha?

The anandamaya kosha is the innermost of the five sheaths described in the Taittiriya Upanishad: the sheath made of bliss. Some schools read it as the self, while Shankara held that it is still a covering over the self.

What is the symbol of Ananda?

Ananda has no single fixed symbol in the yoga tradition. The Taittiriya Upanishad places it at the centre of the five sheaths, and some teachers link it to Om. Ananda Sangha and other groups use their own logos.

Is Ananda Yoga the same as ananda?

No. Ananda Yoga is a gentle Hatha style developed by Swami Kriyananda, a disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, and named after the Ananda community he founded in 1968. Ananda the word is much older and means bliss.