infinitely powerful, and conscious, like a living person The sadhus asserted that happiness has an animate nature—the topic of Theme and an inherent property of the following four subthemes Theme 6: Animate Nature of Happiness “Joy and happiness are the same things Because they are … they are really that aspect of the Divine presence within you That consciousness is always happy, joyful…” — Swamini Amritananda (personal communication, January 20, 2018) Theme answered the first research question—What is the meaning of happiness from the perspective of sadhus? All 20 out of 20 sadhus described the animate nature of happiness See Table 11 for the summary of Theme Table 11 Theme Summary Animate Nature of Happiness Research Question 1: What is the meaning of happiness from the perspective of sadhus? Theme Number of Participants Number of References N=20 Animate nature of 20 (100%) 361 happiness Quote: Joy and happiness are the same thing Because they are … they are really that aspect of the Divine presence within you That consciousness is always happy, joyful … — Swamini Amritananda (personal communication, January 20, 2018) Definition The sadhus described happiness has an animate nature During the interviews, it was difficult for the sadhus to describe happiness Two sadhus directly stated it was not possible to describe happiness However, when they tried to describe happiness, they used different expressions to express the animate nature of happiness Some sadhus equated happiness to “consciousness (the knower)” (Swamini 127