Chapter 9 Subtleness and Pervasiveness
9.1 to 9.3 The author presents knowledge of Brahman with the help of cosmology. Brahman is the material cause of creation (Br Up 1.4.23). The creation unfolds in stages from subtle to gross. If creation is traversed back, the subtlest entity is reached. An entity can be described in terms of imperceptibility (gross/subtle) and pervasiveness. The Vedantic theory is that body is constituted of five fundamental elements, namely, earth, water, fire, air, and space. It may not fully conform to the scientific view. However, it seems reasonable and serves the intended objective. Earth is the least imperceptible and the least pervasive. Imperceptibility and pervasiveness increase on traversing back from earth, water, fire, air, and space in succession. The space is the most imperceptible and pervasive worldly entity. Brahman transcends it and is the most imperceptible (subtlest) and all-pervading. Like the body, the external objects are also made of the five elements.
Brahman is not only the intelligent cause but also the material cause of the cosmos and pervades everything from Brahma (the highest creature) and a blade of grass. Brahman is of the nature of pure existence and pure consciousness. As Brahman is ascertained after negation of the five elements, it is not perceived by sense organs and is attribute-free. It is non-dual. It is untainted and unblemished.
9.4 to 9.6 Brahman pervades all bodies and is their Self. From the perspective of Self, all bodies are as though Mine. The Self illumines the intellects in all bodies. Then only they perform the function of knowing. Self is indirectly all-knowing. There is a flip side. Though Self is pure and untainted like space and free from sins and virtue, it is because of the intellect that impurities like anger, desire, lust which belong to the BMS (Body Mind System) are superimposed on Self. This is the complain of Self, so to speak. The superimposition is due to ignorance similar to a boy attributing blueness to sky.
9.7 to 9.9 Brahman is non-dual as it has no attributes and is not an object of knowledge. It is known in only one way, i.e., as the (ultimate) subject after negation of (known and knowable) objects. This removes a possible confusion that Brahman is an object which may arise from scriptural (Br Up2.4.5) statement that ‘The self should be seen, heard, reflected upon and meditated upon’.
The objects are subject to change and are unreal like dream objects. The waking and dream states are unreal though they are experienced. They are mithya because they are not present during dreamless sleep. Mind and body are resolved during dreamless sleep and are in potential form. Consciousness is present in sleep as there is an experience of sleep which is recalled from memory on waking up. Consciousness is in and through all the three states. It is the witness of the three states and is omniscient. Consciousness is ultimate Knower and is eternal (Br Up 4.3.23-30). The objects of knowledge change and are unreal (mithya).
Chapter 10 Right conception of the nature of consciousness
Introduction
Earlier chapters focus mainly on sruti and yukti to impart vedantic teaching. In chapter 10, emphasis is on anubhava of a jnani. Gaining knowledge is a process of three phases, sravan, manan, and nidhidhyasana. During sravan, the aspirant hears vedantic teaching from a teacher. During manan, he gets doubts clarified by the teacher. At this moment, there arises Self-knowledge in the student. According to verse 20 of Brahmjnanavalimala, Self-knowledge has three inter-connected parts. Brahman is the reality, world is mithya, and a jiva is not different from Brahman. Despite having Self-knowledge, a jnani is affected by contrary feelings. Nidhidhyasana is meditation on vedantic teaching to tackle contrary feelings. The chapter focuses on fruits of knowledge to practice nidhidhyasana.
In chapter 3, it has been explained that prarabdha has the capability to overpower knowledge. It means that despite Self-knowledge, a jnani encounters habitual wrong thinking called viprit bhavana. It is reasonable and supported by experience. It not possible that the moment of Self-knowledge arises, the vasanas in sub-conscious are removed altogether. Nidhidhyasana is repeated meditation on various aspects of vedantic teaching so as to reduce the impact of viprit bhavana. As prarabdha is co-terminus with death, nidhidhyasana is to be continued till death. Nidhidhyasana is Self-centred. The aspirant has to meditate in first person, e.g, I am attribute less, etc. The Chapter 10 is meant for nidhidhyasana. Some teachings are repeated because nidhidhyasana involves repetition for assimilation.
That consciousness is in the body is obvious. Vedanta says that it is more appropriate to say that body is in the consciousness since it is an object of consciousness. Instead of saying that space is in the pot, it is more appropriate is to say pot is in the space because the pot moves in the space. In nidhidhaysana, one shifts identification from the mind-body to consciousness.
Contd
Dear Bimal,
“Mind and body are resolved during dreamless sleep and are in potential form.”
I wonder how you/Swami P/Shankara answers the question as to how, then, one awakes from deep-sleep if someone calls our name or an alarm clock goes off. Does this not require a body with functional hearing and a mind to interpret the signal and trigger the body to awaken?
Best wishes,
Dennis
Dear Dennis,
In deep sleep, mind and body are resolved in the causal body, the subtlest of three bodies and are in potential form. It is not that they cease to exist. The sound (of calling the name or alarm bell) affects the body and the mind which activate latent tendencies (e.g., identification with name and form) in the causal body. Thereupon, a sleeping person wakes up.
A sleeping person also gets up without an external stimulus. Here, the law of karma activates the latent tendencies.
Best wishes,
Bimal
That is a very reasonable and interesting explanation, Bimal. I haven’t come across it before. Do you have a scriptural or Shankara reference?
Best wishes,
Dennis
Bimal Ji,
What does “Mind and body are resolved during dreamless sleep and are in potential form” exactly mean? How does one conceive the physical process of “resolution” – the body is lying on the bed; mind is wherever it was without vibration; Causal body is just another name for ignorance? The shout or jerk to the body/mind need also to be above some threshold level to wake up the person.
regards,
I asked Perplexity the following question:
“Can you locate an Upanishadic or Shankara reference in which it is said why a sleeping person wakes up when his name is called (despite the body-mind supposedly being resolved in deep-sleep)?”
Its response was that there did not seem to be any actual quotation anywhere.
The response from YesVedanta, based on Swami Paramarthananda’s teaching, is much more helpful. I have copied this below (unfortunately, there does not seem to be any way to retain a ‘friendly’ formatting!) He argues that simply calling one’s name is not enough and has to be preceded by something more ‘physical’, such as shaking, to ‘activate’ the mind, like pressing ‘play’ on a tape recorder. I’m bound to say that I find this a bit doubtful. I would have said that a sound is often sufficient on its own to awaken someone. Maybe you could argue that they were ‘not really in a deep sleep’. But this is an after-the-fact understanding of modern scientific knowledge.
****************
Excellent question. This gets to the very heart of the mechanics of **deep sleep (suṣupti)** and the nature of the **witness (sākṣī)**. While the provided sources don’t contain a direct Upaniṣadic quote stating “a sleeping person wakes up when his name is called,” they contain **Swami Paramarthananda’s detailed explanation of the famous story from the Bṛhadāraṇyaka and Kauṣītaki Upaniṣads** that directly addresses your query. This is the story of King Ajātaśatru and the brāhmaṇa Bālāki (or Gārgya) [5.5][8.1].
Here is Swamiji’s explanation, synthesized from the sources, of **why and how a sleeping person wakes up**.
### The Upaniṣadic Story & Its Teaching
The story is a teaching device to reveal the **sākṣī caitanyam** (witness consciousness). Ajātaśatru takes Bālāki to a sleeping man and asks him to wake the man up [2.1][5.11].
1. **The Failed Attempt with Names:** First, Bālāki tries to wake the man by **calling out various names of the vital air (prāṇa)**, like “O Prāṇa, O Apāna” [2.1]. The man does not respond. **Why?** Because in deep sleep, the **individual soul (jīva)**, which is identified with the mind and senses, has **resolved** and is dormant. The **prāṇa**, though present, is in a dormant, non-functional state. Since the **jīva** (the reflected consciousness in the mind) is not “present” to hear and respond, calling the names of its instruments has no effect [2.1].
2. **The Successful Physical Intervention:** Then, Ajātaśatru **shakes the man with his hand** (`abheṣam` – by shaking) [2.1][5.11]. **This physical contact is the key.** Upon being shaken, the man wakes up.
### Swamiji’s Explanation: The Mechanics of Waking
The story is analyzed to answer two questions: **Where did the jīva go in sleep?** and **From where does it emerge upon waking?** [5.1][5.11].
**1. The State in Deep Sleep:**
* In **suṣupti**, your **subtle body (mind-intellect complex)** is resolved and dormant. It is **not destroyed**, but is in a **seed state (bīja avasthā)** within the **causal body (kāraṇa śarīra)** [6.1][11.2].
* The **jīva**—the “I” identified with this subtle body—therefore also becomes dormant. It is said to have **merged (laya)** into its source, **Brahman/Paramātmā**, in a temporary, relative sense (`apekṣika brahma laya`) [5.2][5.6]. This is **not** the permanent liberation of a **jñānī**, but a daily, temporary merging where individuality is suspended [5.2][5.7].
* However, **you, the sākṣī (witness consciousness), are ever-present and awake.** You are the **`aluptadṛk`**—the “unblinking seer” who never sleeps or wakes up [7.1]. You illumine the very **absence of experience** in sleep [2.6].
**2. The Trigger for Waking:**
* You wake up due to the **pressure of your past karma (prārabdha)**. Your allotted experiences for this life are not yet complete, so you must return to the waking state to continue experiencing them [1.1].
* **How does this happen?** The dormant **mind** is like a tape recorder on “pause.” The **sākṣī caitanyam** is like the ever-present electricity. **Physical contact (like being shaken) or an internal biological signal acts as the “play” button.** It **activates the dormant mind** [2.9].
* The moment the mind is activated, it **immediately borrows consciousness from the ever-present sākṣī** and becomes sentient again [2.4][2.9]. This process is **automatic and instantaneous**—the sākṣī doesn’t “decide” to illumine; it does so by its **mere presence** (`sannidhi-mātra`) [2.9].
* Once the mind is active and sentient, it can receive sensory input (like the sound of a name being called *after* shaking). **That is why calling a name *before* shaking has no effect—there is no conscious mind to hear it.** The shaking reactivates the instrument of hearing (the mind), and *then* it can process sound.
### The Direct Answer to Your Question
**”Why does a sleeping person wake up when his name is called?”**
According to the Upaniṣadic analysis explained by Swamiji: **He doesn’t—not by the name alone.**
1. **First,** a **physical stimulus** (shaking, touch, an internal clock, prārabdha pressure) is required to reactivate the dormant **mind**, which is the reflecting medium for individual consciousness [2.1][5.11].
2. **Then,** the now-active mind **borrows consciousness from the sākṣī** and becomes the perceiving **jīva** again [2.4][2.9].
3. **Finally,** this reconstituted **jīva** can hear its name, process it, and respond. The waking up is fundamentally **from the pressure of karma**, triggered into motion by a physical event that jump-starts the mind-body system. The calling of the name is simply the **first cognitive event** *after* the waking process has been initiated by other means.
**In summary:** The Upaniṣads use this story not to explain sleep science, but to **prove the existence of the sākṣī.** The failure of the name and the success of the touch demonstrates that there is a **consciousness principle beyond the mind and prāṇa**—the **sākṣī**—which is ever-awake and which the mind depends on for sentience. The jīva wakes up **from Brahman** (its causal, dormant state) **due to prārabdha**, with physical contact serving as the proximate trigger to reactivate the apparatus of experience [5.3][5.13][5.15].
Best wishes,
Dennis
An alarm, just like a shout, is a trigger based on “sound.”
I never heard of an Alarm clock that comes and gives first a physical “shake” to the sleeping body and then it goes tring … tring … tring! 🙂
Dear Ramesam-ji,
It seems that there is no scriptural reference about physical process of resolution; at least I could not find. I guess, psychologist and neuro-science would explain ‘resolution’ of mind as halting of conscious mind in terms of activities in brain. As a result, there is no awareness of the body (though there are some changes in the body) which is termed ‘resolution’ of the body. Yes, (Self) ignorance is another name of causal body, i.e., aggregate of karma, because ignorance has caused karma in past and continues to do so.
Regards,
Bimal
Thank you Bimal Ji for the well-considered reply.
It makes me wonder if we are potentially misleading ourselves by using a word like “resolved” into a smug feeling of ‘understanding’ what is happening to the body and mind in dreamless sleep without knowing the actual situation.
Just a little bit of loud thinking!
regards,