Bhṛgu realizes the ānanda-maya (Taittiriya Upanisad 3.6)
The ānanda-maya is the Lord in His personal aspect, this is the final realization of Bhṛgu. Everything comes from the Lord, and He is the maintainer and destination of everything.
Section 6: Bhṛgu realizes the ānanda-maya
The ānanda-maya is the Lord in His personal aspect, this is the final realization of Bhṛgu. Not only everything comes from the Lord, and He is the maintainer and destination of everything, but He is also personally always with us, residing inside the heart of all. However, because our consciousness is focused on matter, we don’t notice Him. This description helps us to purify this contaminated consciousness and become fixed in our original, transcendental position, as eternal servants of the Lord.
Text 3.6.1
ānando brahmeti vyajānāt
ānandādhyeva khalvimāni bhūtāni jāyante
ānandena jātāni jīvanti
ānandam prayantyabhisamviśantīti
saiṣā bhārgavī vāruṇī vidyā
parame vyoman pratiṣṭhitā
sa ya evam veda pratitiṣṭhati
annavān annādo bhavati
mahān bhavati prajayā paśubhir brahmavarcasena, mahān kīrtyā
Having further increased his spiritual understanding, Bhṛgu realized Brahman as spiritual bliss. From this Supreme Source of spiritual bliss, all beings arise, by this Supreme Source of bliss, they live, and at death, they return to this same Supreme Source of bliss.
This knowledge imparted by Varuna and realized by Bhṛgu starts with the understanding of anna-maya and is concluded with the understanding of the ananda-maya, the Supreme Lord. One who understands this knowledge becomes firmly situated. He becomes connected with the Lord and is maintained by the Lord with all facilities. He becomes great with fame and spiritual radiance.
Commentary: As a result of his meditation, Bhṛgu surpassed all previous stages of realization and finally came to realize the Lord in His personal aspect.
Although the Lord is always with us, our consciousness is currently focused on matter, and thus we can't associate with Him. We are covered by the false ego, intelligence, mind, senses, and the gross body, and by identifying with these different layers, we can't see the Lord. The teachings of the Taittiriya Upanisad help us to gradually purify our consciousness, helping us to see ourselves as what we really are: eternal souls, parts and parcels of the Lord, eternally connected to Him in a bond of love.
In Srimad Bhagavatam (4.28.52-55) the Lord (in the form of a Brahmana) speaks to King Purañjana, in his next birth as a woman:
"Who are you? Whose wife or daughter are you? Who is the man lying here? It appears you are lamenting for this dead body. Don’t you recognize Me? I am your eternal friend. You may remember that many times in the past you have consulted Me.
My dear friend, even though you cannot immediately recognize Me, can’t you remember that in the past you had a very intimate friend? Unfortunately, you gave up My company and accepted a position as enjoyer of this material world.
My dear gentle friend, both you and I are exactly like two swans. We live together in the same heart, which is just like the Mānasa Lake. Although we have been living together for many thousands of years, we are still far away from our original home.
My dear friend, you are now My very same friend. Since you left Me, you have become more and more materialistic, and not seeing Me, you have been traveling in different forms throughout this material world, which was created by some woman."
The material world is temporary and transient by nature. When we desire to lord over this material world, we accept different material identities under the spell of the false ego, but because these identities are different from our original identity as a soul, they can't be eternal. In this way, we transmigrate through different forms of life, with each body representing a new chapter in our journey in the material ocean.
Once inside a body, we can play for some time, but eventually, everything comes to an end. If we are not ready to return to our original spiritual nature, we are forced to abandon it and accept another body, starting again from the beginning. This process is called death, and the Lord is the ultimate controller.
This is ultimately His mercy because if we would be allowed to stay eternally in the same body, we would become entrapped into some kind of eternal torment, without ever being able to return to our original sat-cit-ananda position. Through this process of birth and death in different forms of life, the Lord gradually coaches us into returning to our original consciousness, and He patiently waits until we turn our attention to Him.