The jiiva has three states-waking,
dream and deep sleep. Waking state Viveka chuuDaamaNi-Verse 91. In the
waking state the jiiva identifies himself with the gross
body and experiences gross objects through
the external organs. The jiiva is known as vis'va in this state. Brahman
associated with the totality of gross bodies (the macrocosm)
is called vais'vaanara or viraaT. MaaNDuukya
upanishad, mantra 3 says about this state-The first quarter ( of the Self)
is vais'vaanara whose sphere is the waking state, whose consciousness relates
to things external, who is possessed of seven limbs and nineteen mouths,
and who experiences gross (external) objects.
Dream state :Viveka chuuDaamaNi
(V.C.) Verse 100-This is the special state of
the subtle body. In this state the buddhi
shines by taking the role of the agent, with]
the vaasanaas (impressions) .derived
from the waking state. In this state the
sense-organs are dormant. Under the influence
of ignorance, desire and past action,
the mind, possessed of the impressions
of the waking state, creates objects. Br. Up.4.3.10.S.B.
says -There are no chariots, nor animals to be yoked to them,
nor roads there, but the jiiva creates them
in this state. In this state the jiiva
is
known as taijasa. The corresponding macrocosm
is called hiraNyagarbha.
MaaNDuukya up. mantra 4 says--taijasa is the
second quarter, whose sphere is
the dream state, whose consciousness is internal,
who is possessed of seven limbs
and nineteen mouths, and who experiences subtle
objects.
Deep sleep state V.C. Verse
122-sushupti, deep, dreamless sleep, is the special
state of the causal body. This state is characterized
by the dissolution of the activities
of all the sense-organs and the mind. The
mind remains only in seed-form. This state is described in MaaND. up,
mantra 5, as the state in which there are no desires
and no dreams. In Vedaanta the waking state is also considered to be similar
to dream, because the Reality is not known
and what is unreal is projected in both these states. In deep
sleep, though the Reality, Brahman, is not
known, there is no appearance of what is
unreal, as in the waking
and dream states. In this state the jiiva is called praajna.
The corresponding macrocosm is iis'vara. In
MaaND. up. Mantra 2, it is said that
the Self has four quarters.
The waking, dream and deep sleep are the first
three quarters.
The fourth, turiiya, is
aatmaa unconditioned by the three states. MaaNDuukya kaarikaa, 1.14 says-The
first two are endued with dream and sleep, but the third is
endued with dreamless
sleep. There is neither dream nor sleep in turiiya. Here sleep means
ignorance of the Reality and dream means projection
of the unreal. The fourth,
turiiya, is the state of samaadhi. The self
desires to go into the state of deep sleep
Br. Up. 4.3.19.S.B. - tadyathaa asmin aakaas'e
---svamaatmaanam pravis'ati. As
a hawk or a falcon, flying in the sky, becomes
exhausted, and stretching its wings,
goes towards its nest, where it can have perfect
rest, so does this infinite being run
for this state, where, falling asleep it craves
for nothing and sees no dream.
The waking
state is also considered by the s'ruti to be only dream. As the bird
goes to its
nest to recover from fatigue, so also does the jiiva, who is fatigued by
the experiences
of the waking and dream states, go to his abode, which is his own self,
free from all attributes and devoid of all
exertion caused by action. In this state he becomes one with the supreme
Self, as the following quotation from Ch.up, shows.
Ch.up. 6.8.1.S.B.-tatra hi aadars'aapanayane--------mana
aakhyaam hitvaa. Just
as the reflection of a person in a mirror
appears to merge back in the person
himself when the mirror is removed, so also,
in deep sleep, when the mind and
organs become dormant, the supreme Being who
had entered the mind as a
reflection attains his true nature, giving
up his appearance as an individual soul,
which is called the mind. Ch. up. 6.8.1.S.B.
yadaa svapiti iti uchyate--------- gamyate
iti abhipraayaH.
When a person is in deep
sleep, he becomes identified with Existence
(Brahman). Having discarded his nature as an individual soul he attains
his own self, his own nature, which is the ultimate
Reality. Ch.up.6.9.2. S.B. yathaayam
dr.shTaantaH-------- All
these creatures, after merging in Existence
day after day during deep sleep do not
know that they had so merged. Ch.up.6.9.3.
S.B. yasmaat cha evam aatmanaH------- vaasanaa
saa na nas'yati ityarthah. Since they
merge in Existence without knowing
that it is their own nature, they wake up
again as the same beings as before. Their vaasanaas
do not get destroyed. (The implication is that the vaasanaas continue
and they are born again and again in
accordance with them, as long as they do not
realize that they are in reality
Brahman). Br.up.4.3.15.S.B. tatra charitvaa iti-----
'Roaming' in that state
of dream and becoming fatigued, and
thereafter going to the state of deep sleep, he comes back
to the dream state and then to the waking state. Br.up.4.3.17.S.B. na,
kaarakaavabhaasatvena------na lipyate kriyaaphalena. No. The
self does not do anything
even in the waking state. Its being looked upon as an agent is merely
attributable to its revealing the actions (performed
by the body). Agency is attributed to
the self because of the limiting adjuncts such as the body and is not natural
to it. See
V.C. verse 131-Because of whose mere presence, the body, sense-organs,
mind and
intellect perform their functions as if prompted (by it). Br.up.4.3.18.S.B---
evam ayam
purushaH aatmaa------- vilakshaNaH. --
Thus it has been brought
out in the preceding paragraphs that the self is itself the
light and is different from the body
and organs as well as their causes, desire and
action and is not attached to them.
We know that it is not attached, because it moves
from the waking to the dream state
and then to the state of deep sleep and again
back to the dream and then the
waking state, proving that it is distinct from
all these
three states.
To explain this
further, an illustration is given here. Just as
a big fish in a river
moves freely from one
bank to the other, never affected by the currents of the river,
so does this infinite
being move to both the states of dream and waking. The point of
this illustration
is that the body and organs, which are described as forms of death,
together with their causes, desire and action,
are the attributes of the non-self
and that the self is distinct from them. Br.up.4.3.6.S.B-sushuptaat
cha utthaanam---
We awake from deep sleep with the remembrance
that we slept happily and knew
nothing. Br.up.4.3.21.S.B-sa yadi aatmaa avinashTah-------
duHkhii veti veda.-----
A doubt may arise-If the
self remains unaffected and in its own form during deep
sleep, why does it not know itself then or
know all other things, as it does in the
waking and dream states? The reason is unity.
This is explained by the s'ruti with
an illustration. As a man, when fully embraced
by his beloved wife, both desiring
each other's company, does not know anything
at all, either external, such as `
This is something other than myself', or internal,
such as `I am happy or unhappy',
but he knows everything external and internal
when he is not embraced by her
and is separated, so also, this infinite being,
the individual self, who is separated
from the supreme Self (in the waking and dream
states) because of having entered
the body and organs, like the reflection of
the moon in water, becomes unified with
the supreme Self in deep sleep and does not
know anything external or internal,
such as `I am happy or unhappy'. Br.up.4.3.22.S.B.-atra
cha etat prakr.tam--------
"In this state a father is no father, a mother
is no mother, worlds are no worlds,
the gods are no gods, the Vedas are no Vedas.
In this state a thief is no thief,
the killer of a noble braahmaNa is no killer,
and so on".
The form of the self
that is directly perceived in the state of deep
sleep is free from ignorance, desire and
action. The s'ruti says that in this state a father is no father. His fatherhood
towards a son is on account of the action of begetting.
Since he is dissociated from all action
in the state of deep sleep he is not a father then. Similarly, the son
ceases to be a son in the state of deep sleep.
All other relationships also cease to
apply in this state. Br.up.4.3.23.S.B.-striipumsayoriva
ekatvaat----drashTr.bhaavinii
hi saa.---It was said that the self does not
experience anything during deep sleep
because of unity and this was illustrated
by the example of a couple. It was also
said that the self is pure consciousness.
Now the doubt arises-if consciousness is
the very nature of the self, just as heat
is of fire, how can it give up that nature
even in sleep and fail to see anything? The
answer is - the reason for its not
seeing anything in sleep is that there is
then no second thing separate from it
which it can see.
What caused the particular
vision in the waking and dream states, namely, the mind,
the eyes and forms, were all presented by
nescience as something different from
the
self. They are all unified in the state of
deep sleep. The organs and objects
are not
there as separate entities in sleep. There
is therefore no particular experience,
for
such experience is produced by the organs
and objects and not by the self, and only
appear as produced by the self. But the
vision of the self can never be lost. Br.up.4.3.32.S.B.-yatra
punaH saa avidyaa------ s'rutivachanametat. When, however,
that ignorance which projects things other
than the self is at rest, in the state of
deep sleep, what can one see, smell, or
know and through what? Then, being fully embraced
by the self- luminous supreme Self,
the jiiva becomes infinite, perfectly
serene, with all his desires attained.
Then there is no second entity different from
the self to be seen.
In deep
sleep the self, freed of its limiting adjuncts, remains in its own supreme
light, free from all relationships. Br.up.4.3.32.S.B.-etasyaiva
aanandasya anyaani------ vibhaavyamaanaam. ---On a particle of this very
bliss, projected by ignorance,
and perceived only during the contact of the
organs with objects, all other beings
are sustained. Who are they? Those who have
been separated from that bliss by
nescience and consider themselves as different
from Brahman. Being thus different,
they subsist on a fraction of that bliss which
is experienced through the contact of the sense-organs with their objects.
(It follows from this that when one realizes one's
identity with Brahman one enjoys this bliss
in its plenitude, nay, one becomes that
very bliss itself). In Panchadas'i, ch.15,
the process by which one experiences
happiness in the waking state is explained.
Any happiness experienced by any
person is really nothing but the bliss of
Brahman. As long as there is some
unfulfilled desire, the mind remains agitated.
When the desire is fulfilled the mind
becomes temporarily calm and sattvaguNa becomes
predominant. In such a mind
the bliss of the self becomes reflected clearly,
The happiness experienced is
therefore the result of the mind having become
calm, but it is wrongly attributed
by people to the fulfillment of the desire.
When the mind is free from all desire, when there is total detachment, the bliss of the self is experienced in its fullness. So it is said in Panchadas'I,15.18 that the greatest happiness results only from detachment.
MaND.up.5.S.B.-manasaHvishayavishayyaakaara------
He is full
of joy (in the state of deep sleep), his abundance
of joy being caused by the
absence of the suffering involved in the effort
of the mind in experiencing objects;
but he is not Bliss itself, since the joy
is not absolute.