Topic: God as Sat – Chit – Ananda.

Introduction

God - the incorporeal divine principle ruling over all as eternal Spirit - the supreme or ultimate
reality and principal object of faith. The Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is
worshipped (as in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism) as creator and ruler of the
universe throughout.

This Supreme Being or God, the personal form of the Ultimate Reality, is conceived by Hindus
as having various aspects. A being or object that is worshipped as having more than natural
attributes and powers.1

It has frequently been remarked that all great living religions describe the Supreme Reality as
Tri-une or as possessing three principal attributes. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the
relationship between the Christian doctrine of the Trinity (God) and the Hindu conception of
Brahman as Sacchidananda.

Meaning

Sacchidananda, a Sanskrit compound word denoting the three generally accepted attributes of
the supreme Brahman (the Ultimate Reality of the universe according to some Hindu traditions):
being or existence or the truth (sat), consciousness or awareness or intelligence (chit), and bliss
or joy (ananda). The differences between the form of the individual words and their form in the
compound are the result of sandhi or euphonic combination. In certain Hindu philosophical
traditions, but particularly in the Advaita Vedanta school, the supreme Brahman is considered
the Ultimate Reality behind all things. Although Brahman is considered to be without particular
qualities, these three attributes are believed to be inseparable from its very nature. It has the
attribute of being, because it is the reality from which all other “being” comes. In the same way,

1
https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/meaning-of-god-said-to-be-sat--chit--ananda-486613
it is consciousness, as the source of all conscious thought. Finally, bliss proceeds from its
perfection, which is ultimate and complete.2

God as Sat – chit – Ananda

The single phrase Sacchidananda, composed of the three words, sat, chit and ananda, is regarded
as the most complete description of Brahman that can be given; and because it has a three-fold
form, it is said to express a conception of God similar to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.3

History of the Christian – Hindu dialogue on God as Sat – chit – Ananda

In 1882 Keshab Chandra Sen, the famous leader of the Brahmo Samaj, attempted' to relate the
Doctrine of the Trinity to Sacchidananda; He delivered a lecture on That Marvelloits Mystery-the
Trinity; this lecture was reprinted in Lectures in India (pages 455-: -491) which gives us Keshab
Chandra Sen's final thoughts on the person of Christ and the "doctrine of the Trinity.

He says, the Hindu too, like the Christian, believes in the continual evolution of the Logos, and
its graduated development through ever-advancing stages of life. The Divine through His Word
created the Logos in the emptiness. The Logos was the beginning of creation, and its perfection,
was the Logos-the culmination of humanity in the divine Son. The last manifestation of Divinity
is Divine Humanity. But the Sonship of One is not the final word in God's creative purpose, for
He wishes that all men should become sons.

It is here that Keshab, finds the work of the Holy Spirit, 'We need only the Holy Spirit to
complete the picture of the Trinity. We have seen the descent of Divinity on earth through
humanity. Now all humanity must be raised up to heaven in order that the purpose of Providence,
the redemption of mankind, may be fully achieved. Jesus Christ has shown us the way. But
where is the power to follow? Keshab asks. He answers to his question like this, ‘The way to do
it, that is Christ. The power to do it-that is the Holy Ghost. Christ is but an example in history, an
objective of faithful Sonship. It is only the Holy Spirit that can convert outward truth into inward

2
Constance A. Jones and James D. Ryan, eds., Encyclopaedia of Hinduism (New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2007):
388.
3
https://ephesians511blog.com/2016/11/13/is-sat-cit-ananda-or-trimurti-the-equivalent-of-the-holy-trinity/
purity. It is this Spirit that makes Christ, otherwise a mere historical character, a sanctifying
power within us.’

To illustrate his conception of the Trinity, Keshab used the picture of a triangle. He said, ‘Thus,
God descends and touches one end of the base of humanity, then running all along the base
permeates the world, and then by the power of the Holy Ghost drags up degenerated humanity to
Himself. Divinity coming down to humanity is the Son; Divinity carrying up humanity to heaven
is the Holy Ghost. God coming down and going up-this is creation, this is salvation. ‘In this plain
figure of three lines, you have the solution of a vast problem. The Father, the Son, the Holy
Ghost; the Creator, the Exemplar, and the Scantier: I am, I love, I save; the Still God, the
Journeying God, the Returning God; Force, Wisdom, Holiness; the True, the Good, the
Beautiful; Sat, Chit, Ananda; "Truth, Intelligence, Joy.” Thus, he says the Trinity of Christian
theology corresponds strikingly with the Saccidananda of Hinduism.'4

Brahmabandhav Upadhyaya (1861-1907) is the first Indian Christian theologian to enter into a
positive dialogue with the indigenous theological and philosophical tradition of Hinduism. He
tried to express theology through the concept and categories of Advaita Vedanta. He perceived
that for the Indian context the Advaita of Sankara will facilitate in formulating Indian theology.
He followed the footprints of K.C. Sen and explained the mystery of trinity in terms of Sat- Chit-
Ananda. In his journal Sophia Weekly, he presented the Trinitarian God as Sat (Being), Chit
(Consciousness) and Ananda (Bliss).5

The further explanation he gave is as follows:

God the Father as Sat

For Upadhyay, “Being is the ultimate foundation of all certitude, the foundation of thinking”.
According to him, only God can be truly called sat, i.e. existence by itself which is eternal,
immutable and infinite. All other ‘being’ has only a borrowed or contingent existence, enduring
in time, and is both mutable and limited. Thus, the presence of sat necessarily involves a self-
related cit. Upadhyay depicted God as the highest Supreme Being, who exist in an absolute pure

4
https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ijt/07-3_093.pdf
5
“Metamorphose,” A Catholic Ministry Exposing the Errors in the Indian Church 13/23 (October 23,2016): 2.
form, without attributes and the attributes are part of chit. Absolute Being the Truth is the Father
in trinity.6

God the Son as Chit

The consciousness (chit) of God must, of necessity, be distinguishable from the Subject (sat)
because, he reasons, “a being cannot stand in relation to its identical self.” Upadhyay has
established the ontological basis for the Second Person of the Trinity in a way consistent with
Advaitic thought. His Hymn of the Incarnation brings forth his Christological position in trinity
as Chit- Consciousness or intelligence.7

God the Holy Spirit as Ananda

The term ananda as joy or bliss sounds strange to the Western ear until it is recognized that it
seals the internal joy of the triune Godhead apart from any external relationships. First, he seeks
to demonstrate how ananda confirms the unrelated nature of the Absolute. Second, he seeks to
make it clear that ananda is a person, and a third, eternal distinction within the Godhead. Third,
ananda protects the doctrine of God from slipping into a rationalistic abstraction, but clarifies
that the Christian God is one, who out of joy, does enter into direct, personal relations with
humanity.8

Triune God in OT & NT

Old Testament

In the OT the idea personal God hits the reader at the very outset of the OT. The
anthropomorphic ways of describing God’s behavior were precisely intended to present a
personal God. In the book of Genesis, we have God talking to Adam and Eve (Gen 3:8-19),
making a covenant with Abraham (Gen 15:17-21), wrestling with Jacob (Gen 32:22-32). The
high point of this personal encounter with God is seen in the book of Exodus where God reveals
his ‘name’ to Moses as “I am” (Ex 3:13). “Thus, you shall say to the Israelites ‘I am has sent me

6
http://instagos.blogspot.com/2019/03/trinity-as-sat-cit-ananda-introduction.html
7
http://instagos.blogspot.com/2019/03/trinity-as-sat-cit-ananda-introduction.html
8
http://instagos.blogspot.com/2019/03/trinity-as-sat-cit-ananda-introduction.html
to you.’ (Ex 3:14). Many more references could be given from the OT presenting the
anthropomorphic symbolisms used for God, just to show how the living God is personal.9

New Testament

In the NT the personal God reaches scandalous proportions for the Jews in the preaching of Jesus
of Nazareth. Jesus, by addressing God, the all-powerful creator as ABBA was most shocking the
Jewish hierarchy. The synoptic gospels are unanimous in presenting Jesus as the “Son of God”.
This title given to Jesus was not like the one used in the olden times for Kings (Ps 2:7), Prophets
and Israel (Ex 4:22). It was not even a title given to show some kind of adoption or choice by
God. It was a title given to Jesus to show his ontological oneness with the Father perceived
through his life, actions, death and resurrection. “Those functions (his ‘doing’) depended on his
ontological relationship as Son of God”.10 The life, death and resurrection of Jesus was the
spectrum through which his eternal pre-existence was perceived as an obvious conclusion. This
became a valid pre-supposition of Pauline Christology and soteriology as well. John, asserting
the pre-existence of Jesus as the eternal Logos, sets the stage foe the second person in the
Godhead.11

The Holy Spirit, which will be given by the Father at the behest of the Son (John 14:15), is the
‘Advocate’, “… the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him
nor knows him” (John 14: 16-17), is received at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4) and convinces the early
Christians of its distinct existence within the Godhead because “the Holy Spirit (was) not a mere
impersonal gift, … (but) also a personal giver … the third person of the Trinity.” It was then left
to the coming generation to make sense of this deposit of revelation of the inner nature the
personal God that appeared to be Tri-personal the Triune God.12

Is Sat – chit – ananda or Trimurti the equivalent of the Holy Trinity?

Mainly in India which is a Diverse country Syncretism plays a very important role. Syncretism
in the religious sphere means choosing and mixing up of elements from different religions, as for
9
Ludwig Kohler, Old Testament Theology (Philadephia:The Westminster Press, 1957) 188.
10
Gerald O’Collins, Christology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995) 126.
11
Sharada Sugirtharajah, Religious Pluralism and the Modern World an Ongoing Engagement with John Hick (UK:
Palgrave Macillian 2012) 86.
12
Edmund J. Dobbin, Trinity, in The New Dictionary of Theology (Bangalore: TPI, 2003) 1054.
example, borrowing elements from Hinduism or Jainism into Christianity. The Church does not
approve such steps in the name of inculturation, because they may have a different religious
significance.13 The Roman document The Roman Liturgy & inculturation brings out the
following points:

It says: “The liturgy is the expression of faith and Christian life, and so it is necessary to ensure
that liturgical inculturation is not marked, even in appearance, by religious syncretism.  This
would be the case if the places of worship, the liturgical objects and vestments, gestures and
postures let it appear as if rites had the same significance in Christian celebration as they did
before evangelization. The syncretism would be still worse if biblical readings and chants or the
prayers were replaced by texts from other religions, even if these contain an undeniable religious
and moral value” 14

Therefore, the answer to the question, Is Sat – chit – ananda or Trimurti the equivalent of the
Holy Trinity?

In India, we face a serious problem in this connection. Hindu scriptures and terms are used in
some Christian circles, without verifying their exact meaning, and sometimes giving a Christian
interpretation, a few like, “Vande Saccidanandam“, “OM“, “Asato ma sat gamaya…” etc. are
chanted.  “Saccidananda” is applied to the Holy Trinity.  But this is not what has been revealed
by Christ.  Holy Spirit is not “ananda” or bliss, but a Person of the Trinity.

On “Sacchidananda” the Communication from Rome further points out: “Besides – to reduce –

as is here done – the proclamation of the Trinity in the three terms “Being, Knowledge, Bliss”. 
The people of God have the right to call God by the three names by which he has revealed
Himself. And above all, has the right and duty to do so at the supreme moment of the Eucharistic
doxology. “Saccidananda” in the original Sanskrit, it has even more a formal connotation, being
compounded in a single name: It is all the more suggestive, and, therefore, all the more
unacceptable as a formula of worship” 15

13
Anita Maria Leopold and Jeppe Sinding Jensen, Eds, Syncretism in Religion (India: Routledge,2005) 47.
14
W. D. SCHERMERHORN, SYNCRETISM IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD AND IN PRESENT-DAY
INDIA' (Evanston: Garrett Biblical Institute) 468.
15
“Metamorphose,” A Catholic Ministry Exposing the Errors in the Indian Church 13/23 (October 23,2016): 15.
Conclusion

On the surface we may certainly see a similarity, for if we think of the Tri-une God and His
relations with the world, Saccidananda is somewhat like our doctrine of the Trinity.

Upadhyay’s development of God as sat, chit, and ananda is one of the most significant of his
theological contributions. It is a bold attempt in contextualized theology which seeks to do
theology ‘outside the gate’ and, in the process, help to communicate the Trinity in language and
thought forms which are familiar to those within his own context. Ultimately, the Trinity remains
a mystery which can only be grasped via revelation.

The persons in the Trinity are Father, Son and Holy Spirit, precisely because they are related to
each other. Now if Atman is Brahman or if we are in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26),
then we too are intrinsically relational beings yet distinct. It is by our understanding of persons in
the Trinity, that our personhood has to be understood and not vice versa. 

Our personhood cannot be understood without relations imbued with self-giving love. In fact, it
is the self-giving (kenosis) that is crucial to understand the relations as well as the oneness of the
persons in the Trinity. It is this understanding that actually breaks down the very barriers of caste
and Dalit oppression because its existence would be an insult to the tri-personal Parabrahman
(Triune God) itself. On the other hand, it would be that Parabrahman who would become the
model of our communion and togetherness helping us to live like members of one family, a real
Vasudaivakutumbakam.

The Hindu-Christian dialogue has led to a great enrichment of Christian theology in India. The
initiative for such a dialogue has mostly, if not always, been from the Christian side. Has this
dialogue ever helped Hindu theology in general and Advaita (Advaita Vedanta) in particular? If
this dialogue is a sign of a Hindu-Christian symbiosis, then the symbiosis is incomplete if there
is no learning or give and take on both sides.

Bibliography

Collins, Gerald O’. Christology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Dobbin, Edmund J., Trinity, in The New Dictionary of Theology. Bangalore: TPI, 2003.
Jones, Constance A and Ryan, James D. eds. Encyclopaedia of Hinduism. New York: Facts on
File, Inc., 2007.

Kohler, Ludwig. Old Testament Theology. Philadephia:The Westminster Press, 1957.

Leopold, Anita Maria and Jensen, Jeppe Sinding. Eds, Syncretism in Religion. India:
Routledge,2005.

“Metamorphose.” A Catholic Ministry Exposing the Errors in the Indian Church 13/23 (October
23,2016): 2.

“Metamorphose.” A Catholic Ministry Exposing the Errors in the Indian Church 13/23 (October
23,2016): 15.

Schermerhorn, W. D. Syncretism in The Early Christian Period And in Present-Day India'

Evanston: Garrett Biblical Institute.

Sugirtharajah, Sharada. Religious Pluralism and the Modern World an Ongoing Engagement
with John Hick. UK: Palgrave Macillian 2012.

Web Sources

http://instagos.blogspot.com/2019/03/trinity-as-sat-cit-ananda-introduction.html

https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ijt/07-3_093.pdf

https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/meaning-of-god-said-to-be-sat--chit--ananda-486613

https://ephesians511blog.com/2016/11/13/is-sat-cit-ananda-or-trimurti-the-equivalent-of-the-
holy-trinity/

https://biblicalstudies

http://instagos.blogspot