Question: What is the difference between happiness, joy and bliss?
Sri Chinmoy: When you have joy, that joy is in the central being, in the heart itself. When you are really joyful, that joy usually remains inside the heart with utmost confidence. Inner joy means real inner security. But if you are happy, it can be on a much lower plane of consciousness — on the physical plane, the vital plane, or the mental plane. Happiness is like a bird that can only spread its wings. Joy is a bird that can fly from the heart. Joy is superior to happiness. Bliss is much higher, much superior to joy. It is infinitely superior to both joy and happiness. There is no comparison. If you can experience Bliss, you become immortal. It is something from a much higher plane of consciousness.
Sri Chinmoy, The giver and the receiver, Agni Press, 1987