Mantra 3
The Self associated with the waker’s body is called Visva. Its field of experience is the universe obtaining in the waking state. Worldly objects are experienced because they are illumined by consciousness. Although consciousness is different from Visva, it appears to be related to external objects because of ignorance. In this sense, consciousness is said to be turned outward.
Visva experiences the waking world through nineteen instruments. They are the five sense organs, the five organs of action, the five vital forces, the mind, the intellect, the memory, and the ego.
Virat, the cosmic gross body, is the cosmic counterpart of Visva. It has seven limbs. Shankaracharya relates these seven limbs to the Agnihotra sacrifice. Heaven is the head, the sun the eyes, air the vital force, space the middle part, water the bladder, and earth the two feet (Ch. Up. 5.18.2). The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 10) also describes the cosmic form of the Lord. This imagery serves as an aid to meditation by expanding the mind. The Self is the experiencer through the pair Visva-Virat in the waking state. This is the first quarter.
Mantra 4
In the dream state, the Self is associated with the dreamer. It is the second quarter, called Taijasa. Its field of experience is the dream state, in which the sense organs are non-functional and external objects are absent. The dream objects are subtle and exist only in the mind. Here consciousness is said to be turned inward.
Like Visva, Taijasa has seven limbs and nineteen instruments, because the dream state is similar to the waking state, except that the dream objects are projected from the impressions formed during the waking state. In dreams there is no external light, such as sunlight. The dreamer is called Taijasa (“the luminous one”) because the dream world is illumined by consciousness alone.
Hiranyagarbha, the cosmic subtle body, is the cosmic counterpart of Taijasa. The dream is private because it is experienced only by the dreamer.
Mantra 5
The third quarter, called Prajna, is the Self associated with the sleeper. Its field of experience is the state of deep sleep, in which there are neither external objects nor desires for them. The sleeper does not know himself; that is, he remains ignorant of his true nature. There are no dreams. Nevertheless, consciousness is present, as evidenced by the experience of bliss, which is recollected upon waking. One says, “I slept well.”
Everyone loves deep sleep. In that state, both the objects of experience and the corresponding distinct knowledge are resolved into an undifferentiated mass of consciousness. When objects and experiences are resolved, the problems associated with them are also resolved. The Taittiriya Upanishad explains that the bliss experienced in deep sleep is experiential bliss and not the original bliss, i.e., the very nature of the Self (Consciousness).
The deep-sleep state is the gateway to both the waking and dream states. The cycle of experience is: waking → deep sleep → dream → deep sleep → waking.
Mantra 6
Mantra 6 elaborates on Mantra 5. At the end of each cycle of creation, the universe dissolves and remains in a potential form in Brahman, that is, the Self. This unmanifest universe is the maya power of Brahman. At the appropriate time, the universe manifests once again. Isvara is Brahman associated with maya. Therefore, Isvara is both the material cause (maya) and the intelligent cause (Consciousness) of creation. Wielding the power of maya, Isvara is omniscient.
The deep-sleep state is the individual counterpart of cosmic dissolution. Everything exists in a potential form. Prajna is the individual (vyashti) counterpart of Isvara, the total (samashti) causal principle. It is the inner controller because both the waking and dream states emerge from it. Thus, the Prajna-Isvara pair constitutes the third quarter of the Self.
Karika 1-5
As explained earlier, Visva is the Self associated with the waking state. In this state, the mind-body system (MBS) borrows consciousness from the Self, becomes sentient, and experiences the external world. Although Consciousness is all-pervading, it is said to be outwardly turned because of its association with the experience of the external world.
Taijasa is the Self associated with the dreamer, and its field of experience is the internal dream world. Here consciousness is said to be turned inward. In deep sleep (Prajna), there is no experience of either the external or the internal world. Prajna is described as a mass of consciousness. Thus, the same Self is known in these three forms.
Shankaracharya comments:
“The transcendence of the three states by the Self, Its unity, purity, and unrelatedness (to anything) are proved by the fact of Its existence in the three states in succession and of Its being interlinked by memory as ‘I’. This is borne out by the illustration of the great fish and others in the Vedic texts. [‘As a great fish swims alternately to both the banks (of a river), eastern and western, so does this infinite being move to both these states—the dream and waking states’ (Br. IV. iii. 18). ‘As a hawk or a falcon flying in the sky becomes tired, and stretching its wings is bound for its nest, so does this infinite being run to this state, where, falling asleep, it craves no desires and sees no dreams’ (Br. IV. iii. 19).]”
(Translation by Swami Gambhirananda, Eight Upanishads, Advaita Ashrama)
The three quarters are distinguished by three different types of experience. Visva experiences the gross material world, which is composed of the five elements and is available in every waking state. The dreamer cannot contact this gross world because the sense organs are inactive. Instead, the dream world consists of mountains, rivers, and other objects that are merely thoughts projected from the vasanas stored in the subconscious mind. Thus, the dream world is subtle and vasana-based.
Both the waker and the dreamer undergo pleasurable and painful experiences, whereas the sleeper experiences only happiness. During deep sleep, all the sheaths except the vital sheath and the bliss sheath are resolved. Deep sleep corresponds to the causal body. The mind remains dormant, and Prajna is the experiencer of happiness alone.
One who understands the three states of experience and their respective experiencers is a knower of the Self. Such a person knows that the Self is distinct from the three states and that he is that Self. Therefore, although he continues to experience the waking, dream, and deep-sleep states, he remains unaffected by them.
Contd