Subtheme conclusion The sadhus’ descriptions emphasized that happiness has an animate nature because it is consciousness itself, or conscious of all three states of human being In other words, happiness is a witness of three states of human beings—the wakeful, dream, and deep sleep states The sadhus also mentioned happiness is beyond mind, watching over the functions of mind, and all experiences of the mind-body-sense complex It is the Divine spirit, the knower, inside each person that keeps people alive More on the animate nature of happiness, a few sadhus asserted that happiness is limitless, all-pervasive, and changeless, the topic of Subtheme 6.2 Subtheme 6.2: Happiness is Infinite “Aanand to aapaar hai, aanand kee koee seema nahin hai” [ananda (Sanskrit: happiness) is limitless, ananda has no boundaries] — Swami Shivananda (personal communication, February 10, 2018) Subtheme 6.2 answered the first research question—What is the meaning of happiness from the perspective of sadhus? Subtheme 6.2 also inherited the properties of Theme 6—Animate nature of happiness Ten out of 20 sadhus directly spoke about the infinite nature of happiness To express infinite happiness, the sadhus used these words— infinite, endless, unlimited, limitless, all-pervasive, omnipresent, and everywhere— interchangeably, anant (Sanskrit: infinite) See Table 13 for the summary of Subtheme 6.2 Table 13 Subtheme 6.2 Summary Happiness is Infinite Research Question 1: What is the meaning of happiness from the perspective of sadhus? Parent Theme 6: Animate nature of happiness Theme Number of Participants Number of References 133