In Sri Vaishnava metaphysics there is this concept known as “shudda sattvam”… the ethereal absolutely pristine non-mortal substance which is what constitutes both the svarupam and kalyaana guna — I.e. form and nature — of Paramatma and the celestials in Sri Vaikuntam.
This shuddasattvam is very difficult to conceive or comprehend by our ordinary minds. No mortal being can ever understand or realise what it truly is …… Nonetheless , the Veda tells us that it is real … and it goes on to describe it by personifying it for us so that we are at least vaguely able to grasp the reality with our feeble minds :
So, shuddasattvam is an ethereal reality which is “immaculate, ever blissful, blemishless and non-dual”… and is personified in Sriman Narayana .
Now to our weak minds and faculties , even such Upanishadic personification may prove to be very difficult to come to grips with it … It’s almost inconceivable …
However, through means of the teleological principle known as “seeking to know the unknown through the known” … we can try to conceive of shuddha sattva through yet other means which are , by no means accurate , but then at least they serve as mere approximations to what that ethereal metaphysical entity could be …
Such an approximate personification can be seen and appreciated in the way little angelic babies behave … the way they play about, gurgle, coddle, lisp and express pure joy that they feel and they are trying to express all the time …
In the Facebook video-clip above 👆🏿… you can see that bliss …. that bliss which surpasses understanding .. and it’s written all large and clearly on that cute baby’s beatific face … It is truly experiencing something that’s beyond any earthly feelings of bliss … it’s a higher kind of bliss .. it is “nishkalo, niranjano, nirvikpo, niraakhyaata..” !
Peria Azhwar was the one who too seemed to have been enraptured by the same kind of infant “shuddasattvam” which he clearly saw in the person of Child Krishna …. Balamukundan — in Gokulam ….
The Azhwar looks at the infant Sri Krishna and is bewitched by an ineffable sense of beauty that descends upon him …. It’s as an overwhelming metaphysical awareness of what shuddasattvam could be … it simply envelops him ! … He is unable to describe the feeling … he struggles to find words … and all he can do is to offer us a glimpse of what is going through his mind … and all he can say is only this :
Sarvam Sri Krisna Mayam 🙏
Sudarshan Madabushi