The three states

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.—manasaH vishayavishayyaakaara------

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. 

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