न वक्ति देहोSहमिति प्रसुप्तौ

न कोSपि नाभूवमिति प्रवक्ति

यत्रोदिते सर्वमुदेति तस्य

धियाSहम: शोधय जन्म देशम् – २५

na vakti dehaH aham iti prasuptau

na kaH api na abhUvam pravakti

yatra udite sarvamudeti tasya

dhiyA ahamaH shodhaya janma desham – 25

na = does not; vakti = says; dehaH = body; aham iti = “I am”; prasuptau = in sleep

na = does not; kaH api = no one; na abhUvam = “I was not”; yatra udite

= upon the rise of which; sarvam udeti = everything rises; dhiyA janma

desham shodhaya = through the intellect discern the birthplace of ‘I’.

The body does not say, “I am”. No one says, “I was not” in deep sleep.

Through the intellect, discern the birthplace of ‘I’, upon the rise of which

everything rises.

The body does not claim, “I am”. It does not have the sentiency to say so. Also,the AtmA does not say, “ I am”, since such a statement is an action, and action  is a modification. AtmA is beyond the realm of change, hence, AtmA does not say, “I am”. Who then claims this? It is the ahankAra. This ahankAra is dormant in sleep.

On waking up, the ahankAra is manifest and it starts functioning. When it is dormant,the door to the exterior world is closed. On its activation, the gross and subtle worlds are known. This ahankAra alone makes claims of ‘I-ness’ and ‘mine-ness’. The oscillating ahankAra, changing all the time cannot be the absolute truth. The basis on which it exists, is the truth. This basis, is the AtmA. This alone is to be known. This is ‘be-ing’.

The very body conscious-ness is resolved in deep sleep. The notion of “I am the body” is not there. There is, as it were, no connection with the world. The utility and tangibility of the world has no meaning for one. The body itself has lost its exaggerated status briefly. The five senses do not capture information, nor is the mind awake to any exterior disturbances.

Moreover, on getting up, no one says “I was not”. Though the interactions with the  outside world were not there, the existence  of the individual continued in sleep and is known to the individual too. He knows he was there before sleep. He also knows he ‘was’ in sleep. Hence, he sleeps as a Mr. X and gets up as Mr. X alone. There is a continuity of Mr. X. It does not cease in sleep. He is what he was before sleep.Hence, there is a basis upon which the mind resolves, such that the Mr. X continues.

This basis, which ‘oversees’ all these changes to the mind and senses, is the consciousness. The different states of sleep, dream and waking toggle over this substratum, as though. The consciousness available in the waking state is called the waking consciousness. Similarly, the consciousness bestowed on the dream, where the partially resolved mind creates the dream world out of its own accumulated stuff, is the dream consciousness.

In deep sleep, the mind is completely resolved. Yet, there is the self, ever existent. In deep sleep all external differences get merged. Hence, object cognition is also not differentiated. All names forms, duality get merged in sleep. Hence, one experiences unadulterated happiness in sleep. In this state of deep sleep, only registration takes place. A very subtle vrittI (thought), is available through which the sleep is also registered. This is the reason why, on waking up, one is able to recollect the experience of having slept well. How does one know? There is the basis, the consciousness, ever present amidst all the three states.

Initially, the split second when one awakens, on careful observation, is a time when there is nothing, but the presence. A very alert mind is needed to discern and apprehend this. Soon, the ‘I’ thought gets ignited and with it cascade the plethora of ‘me’ and ‘my’. The agenda, accomplishments, failures, pleasures etc. all take the front seat. The vital truth is lost sight of.

If one were to inquire into the source of this ‘I thought’ one verily knows oneself. The Kena upanishad has declared, it is this very consciousness, alive behind every thought.

Simple things can be easily known, but in our haste and lack of sagacity, we complicate the process to arrive at a solution and most often than not, miss either the goal or the opportunity. Hence, it appears as if the simple things are hardest to be known.

The goal of the teachings is to point out that one is verily sacred. One is not away from the goal that is sought. One IS already the sought. However much scholarship one attains in recondite knowledge, sacred or secular, if one does not appreciate this truth as a fact, one has not achieved THAT on achieving which all else is achieved.