The Self...

AVASTATRAYA



In sleep, in trance, in absent-mindedness there is no differentiation. Is that which then was absent now? The difference is due to mind. The mind is sometimes present and at other times absent; there is no change in the Reality. The same person who was in sleep is now too, in waking. The Self is the same all through.



Limitation is only in the mind. The same Self is here and now, in the wakeful state, as in deep sleep when no limitation is felt. There was no mind in sleep whereas it is now active. The Self exists in the absence of mind also.



Q. Why is there no meditation during dream? Is it possible?



A. Ask it in dream. You are told to meditate now and ask who you are. Instead of doing it you ask such question. Dream and sleep are for the same person as waking. You are the witness of both—they pass before you. Because you are out of meditation now, such questions arise.



What happens to the consciousness of a Realised one in sleep? Such a question arises only in the minds of unrealised beholders. He has but One state, which is unbroken throughout the 24 hours, whether in what you call sleeping or waking. As a matter of fact the majority of people are all asleep, because they are not awake to the Self.



In the deep sleep state we lay down our ego (Ahankara), our thoughts and our desires. If we could only do all this while we are conscious, we would realise the Self.



The best form of Dhyana or Meditation is when it continues not merely in waking but extends to dream and deep sleep states. The meditation must be so intense as not even to give room for the consciousness of the idea "I am meditating." As waking and dreaming are fully occupied by the Dhyana of such a person deep sleep may be considered to be part of the Dhyana.



Sanyasa is the giving up of the ego; even though a person may be living as a householder in the family circle, the various occurrences of the world will not affect him if his ego is surrendered. Thus dream experiences do not really affect us. The dreamer as he quietly lies in his bed, dreams he is in water, but his bed is not really wet. On the other hand, a person though remaining in a Sanyasa ashrama who has still attachment to the body, is a karmi, (man of action, not renunciation).




Conscious Immortality
Conversations with Ramana Maharshi
edited by Paul Brunton