Question:

I’m practicing Swapna Nidhra Gnyana Sadhana. In the early hours of dawn, awareness of the body happened. As Ektaji had pointed out, it was so crystal clear that the body lay there, and the thought I’m awake rose from between the deep sleep and dream. I also realized that the mind stepped in and affirmed that I’m awake. So I’m that void, from which the thought I’m awake arose. Hope my understanding is correct.

Answer:

Do you have direct experiential proof that the waking body was there when the I-Thought arose from the deep sleep? This means there was a waking body and a sleep-darkness simultaneously. Is that possible?

Do you have direct experiential proof that the waking body was there when the I-Thought arose from the dream? This means there was a waking body and a dream body simultaneously. Is that possible?

Have you ever experienced two bodies at the same time?

• • waking body & dream body together OR
  • dream body and deep sleep darkness together OR
  • deep sleep, darkness, and the waking body together

Is it even a possibility?

If not, then it means that there is only one arising in any given instance. If the Waking Body is there, the Dream Body and Deep Sleep Darkness are not, and vice versa.

When the thought ‘I’m awake’ appears, it cannot be said to appear from the deep sleep or dream or anywhere in between. It appears, as you correctly pointed out, from the void, my dear. The Void is that which envelopes the Waking, Dreaming, and Deep Sleep States. It is within and without. It is not a dead space but an live undifferentiated emptiness that has the quality of ‘knowing’.

You are that Knowing Void. How do you recognize that you are the Void?

When the Waking body had disappeared, you were there. When the Dream body disappeared, you were there. When the Deep Sleep darkness disappeared, you were there. You are that continuous and permanent space in which these 3 states appear and disappear. You are the Void!

Everything rises from the continuous and permanent Void. Everything dissolves into the continuous void. All is known by the Void itself. Hence, you are right, the thought ‘I’m awake’ arose from the Void, not from the dream or deep sleep. In fact, dream and deep sleep arise and dissolve into the void. 

• • Dream is a thought.
  • Deep Sleep is a thought, a blankness thought.

These arise from the Void. Nothing can be said to arise from them because a thought cannot arise from a thought.

Don’t believe me blindly. Attempt to see it in your Swapna Nidra Gnyana Sadhana and prove it to yourself. May the luminous wisdom lead the way! 

Happy Sleep!

#AdvaitaVedanta #Non-Duality #AstavakraSamhita