levels of happiness

Apparently, Happiness has levels:

• First there is the joy experienced through our body. This is termed as "Dehananda" (transliteration: body-happiness)
• Higher than that is the joy experienced by the mind. This is termed as "Chittananda". (transliteration: mental-pleasure)
• Apparently, one can transcend the mind and experience something bigger than mental-pleasure. The pleasure derived beyond the mind is termed as "Chidananda".
• The universal bliss (into which our personal bliss is to be merged) is termed as "Brahmananda". This latter is eternal.

It is said that our journey is the process of progressing from our body-happiness, to mental-pleasure, to transcending the mind, to ultimately merging with the eternal and universal bliss.

That is, we are to progress from Dehananda -> Chittananda -> Chidananda -> Brahmananda. This is said to be the way to eternal bliss.

Source: Sathya Sai Baba, pg 124, Vol 2 of Fundamentals of Educare book.