Degree of Consciousness
In sleep, some action or other is always going on in your mental or vital being; things happen there and they govern waking consciousness. For instance, some are very anxious to perfect themselves and make a great effort in this direction during the day. They go to sleep and when they rise the next day, they find no trace of the gains of their previous day’s efforts; they have to traverse the same ground once again. This means that the effort, and whatever achievement there was, belonged to the mere superficial or wakeful parts of the being, but there were deeper and dormant parts that were not touched. In sleep, you fell into the grip of these unconscious regions and they opened and swallowed all that you had laboriously built up in your conscious hours.
Be conscious. Be conscious of the night as well as of the day. First, you will have to get consciousness, afterwards control. Such of you as remember your dreams may have had this experience that sometimes, even while dreaming, you knew it was a dream; you knew that it was an experience that did not belong to the material world. Once you know, you can act there in the same way as in the material world. Even in the dreaming state, you can exercise your conscious will and change the whole course of your dream experience. And, as you become more and more conscious, you will begin to have the same control over your being at night as you have during the daytime, perhaps even more.
For, at night, you are free from slavery to the mechanism of the body. The control over the processes of the body-consciousness is more difficult, since they are more rigid, less amenable to change than are the mental or the vital processes. At night, the mental and vital parts of your being, especially the vital ones, are very active. During the day, they are under check; the physical consciousness automatically replaces their free play and expression. In sleep, this check is removed and they come out with their natural and free movements. In sleep, the mind is in a subtle state. The thought waves have also assumed a subtle state. But, in non-duality, there is no mind. There is no universe. The world sinks down in Brahman —(Vide Mandukya Upanishad, II-1).
The Supreme Self
The Supreme Self which has four forms, is inside the bodies of all living beings and is known by the names waking, dreaming, deep sleep and super conscious state. The seat of the waking state is the right eye; within the Mind dwells dream state, (Mandukya Upanishad), while deep sleep state resides in the ether of the heart. The objects of enjoyment are of three kinds - —gross, subtle and bliss itself. Satisfaction is also threefold.
The first foot of Omkara (OM or AUM) is waking state, who has objective consciousness, who has seven limbs and nineteen mouths and who enjoys gross objects.” (Mandukya Upanishad, I-3). The objective mind or conscious mind plays in the waking state. —The second foot of Omkara is the Dream state, who has subjective consciousness, who has seven limbs and nineteen mouths and who enjoys subtle objects.” (Mandukya Upanishad, I-4). It is the reflected consciousness associated with the dream state. It is the enjoyer of the subtle world. The subjective mind and false ego play in dreams.
—The third foot of Omkara is the Deep sleep, in whom all melt into one, who is a mass of knowledge, who is full of bliss, who enjoys bliss and who is the door (to the two states of consciousness—waking and dreaming). That is the state of deep sleep wherein the sleeper does not desire anything and does not see any dream.” (Mandukya Upanishad, I-5). The mind with the subtle desires rests in deep sleep in vital Prana in the heart. Vital Prana means Brahman. We will explore more relevant to this on next week.
Reference
Mind – Its Mysteries and Control by Sri Swami Sivananda
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