The Mandukya Upanishad – Consciousness and
Sleep
The waking world and the dream
world, from the point of view of the Jiva, are two aspects of the function of
the mind. The mind projects itself in perception, both in waking and dream. The
mind is active, and it ceases from activity when it is too much fatigued. The
complete cessation of the activity of the mind, due to exhaustion, is sleep,
known as Sushupti.
Sushupti, or deep sleep, is where
one desires nothing, because the mind has withdrawn itself from both the
physical and subtle objects. It does not dream also, because even
psychic activity has ceased. This is complete absorption of the
mind into itself. But this absorption is of an unconscious nature.
The mind, while it appears to
be a little conscious in dream, and more conscious in waking, is not conscious
at all in deep sleep. We are not aware
of the world outside in the state of sleep because of the absence of Vrittis,
or psychoses, of the mind. Only when the mind becomes extrovert can it have
consciousness of the outer world, whether in dream or in waking. But, there is
no agitation of the mind, of that nature, in sleep. The happiness of deep sleep
is greater than all other forms of happiness or pleasure born of sense-contact.
It is filled with Ananda, bliss, delight, satisfaction.
An empire cannot give you that
happiness, the power which you may seem to have over the world cannot give you
that satisfaction, which you have while you are alone in deep sleep,
unbefriended, unprotected, unseen, unpossessed of anything. In that condition,
when you are alone, you are more happy than when you are in the midst of people
in the waking state. It is all bliss.
Your real nature is aloneness,
not sociability. Your real nature is singularity, not multiplicity. Your real
nature is a total transcendence of all sensory and mental phenomena, not
contact with objects. Therefore you are Anandamaya, Anandabhuk: filled with
bliss, enjoying bliss.
If consciousness were there in
sleep, you would not like to return to this waking world. But you remain
unconscious. So, you are driven back by an impulse of work, once again, to the
waking world. Consciousness of sleep is equal to Samadhi. If sleep is to be
coupled with consciousness, it becomes Atma-Sakshatkara, the realisation of the
Atman. This is what they call Superconsciousness. This is Nirvana, Moksha,
Kevalata – Liberation. This is your real nature.
What is the instrument through
which you enjoy this Ananda? It is 'Chit' that experiences 'Ananda', not the
Indriyas or the Manas, the senses or the mind. In deep sleep there is only
Ananda experienced by Chit. You experience Satchidananda,
here, Consciousness-Being, as such. But something covers the consciousness, and
makes you come back to the waking life with the same foolishness with which you
entered the state of sleep.
This is Prajna, the
consciousness which is in its own pristine nature, knowing everything and not
being associated with anything external. This is the transcendent state in
relation to waking and dreaming, the cause of all experiences in waking and
dreaming, the Karana-Avastha, in relation to which waking and dreaming are
effects, Karya-Avastha.
In correspondence with this
Prajna, or the causal condition of Anandamayatva of the Jiva, there is a Universal
Causal Condition, known as Isvara. While the waking consciousness,
individually, is called Visva, it is called Taijasa in dream, and Prajna in the
deep sleep state. Correspondingly, from the cosmic level, we have Virat in
waking, Hiranyagarbha in dreaming, and Isvara in deep sleep. The relationship
between the individual and the cosmic, between Visva and Virat, Taijasa and
Hiranyagarbha, Prajna and Isvara is one of organic integrality, and a
realisation of this organic connection of being, will land the Jiva in
Isvaratva and make it at once omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent.
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