Three State of Consciousness
3. Deep Sleep State
If we extend King Janaka's story explained by
Swami to yet another state where, after being explained by Sage Vasishta that neither
the one who was attending the court / enjoying the company of his wife is real,
nor the one who was chased by the tiger in the forest is real, the king
retires to sleep and experiences a sound sleep where he does not
have experience at all, then that state is known as deep sleep.
Therefore, deep sleep state is characterized by
an absence of any particular experience! Unlike waking and
dream states where particular objects (sounds, colours, etc.) are very much
experienced.
It’s like when you say: “The room is empty”. You
are experiencing an absence of things in the room. And
this is an experience you have; else you could never say “the
room is empty”.
So you can validly experience an absence of
something. Hence deep sleep is that state in which:
(a) I do not know anything (i.e.
because there is an absence of any particular experience);
(b) I sleep happily (everyone enjoys a
deep, restful, worry free sleep! My identity with all my everyday problems is
temporarily dormant in deep sleep).
In deep sleep, it is evident I do not identify
with my gross or subtle bodies as nothing is experienced, hence I identify with
my causal (karana) body during deep sleep.
All differences are resolved in the causal body,
the mind is in an unmanifest state, and hence there can be no experience in
deep sleep.
In all the three states, on introspecting, we
can observe one common thing.
·
In the waking state, there is one
factor which is fetching us all the experience through our senses and
intellect but that one factor is above our senses and intellect. This can
be said so because, that factor is only using the senses and intellect to
fetch your experience. A king who uses the service of his ministers has to be
obviously above the state of his ministers. Thus, the single
factor which is using the ministers of its senses and intellect has
to be above the senses / intellect!!
·
In the dream state, again, that
same single factor exists, which retrieves our impressions
and bananas and then through our intellect, is fetching us the experience
of what happened in the dream. Again, here also, the same explanation
applies. The king, that single factor, using the vasanas / impressions
and then the intellect, has to be above all of them!!!
·
In the deep sleep, when neither senses
are working, nor our impressions or vasanas are working, still, That
single factor is definitely present, otherwise, without body, mind
and intellect working, who was present while the King had deep sleep, who
fetches the experience that "I had a deep sleep without
any experience" when the king wakes up on the next day??
We will keep this "single factor"
flagged as of now and will address the same after we are though with three bodies and then 5
sheaths or pancha koshas in the upcoming posts.
Love.
