Question:

Didi, I noticed that sometimes before this body wakes up in the morning, there is a state where I’m aware that I’m still asleep, no sense of body, just some blurry broken pieces of ‘image’ (‘thought)… and then I wake up. Sometimes I wake up before the alarm rings, there’s a sense of awareness that kind of knows that it’s about time to wake up.

Didi, this is also a dreaming state, right? Just a passing state from deep sleep to waking up. Is my understanding correct?

Answer:

Waking dream, Sleeping dream, and Deep sleep states do not follow a Zero-Sum Law. Zero-Sum law would be either it is 0 or 1. But that’s not how it is. There are degrees of waking and dreaming. It moves like a transition slowly from waking to the dream. There is no ON & OFF switch. If this has not yet become clear to you, please experiment tonight while moving from waking to dreaming to deep sleep.

When this becomes clear, then you will see that it is the same ‘I’ that is projecting the waking dream film images, that is also projecting the sleeping dream film images. The film is not a single moving video but a series of images one after the other in a speedy continuity.

The transition of the images is gradual from the dream state to the waking state, not like a switch dear. It changes gradually from one state to another just like temperature changes in degrees.

Secondly, this transition varies on a daily basis. Because it varies, only you can know whether the happenings/thoughts/images are of the dream state or waking state.

How to start seeing this experientially? 

Be more aware all day. When you remain as the witness during the day, the witnessing automatically slips into the dream state. When you are more aware, you will be able to distinguish very clearly that ‘this was a dream’ and ‘that was the waking state’.

When you start recognizing the difference as well as the similarities, you yourself will be able to tell me whether you were looking at the clock in your dream state or had woken up already.

So start turning inwards more. Develop a keen interest in noticing how you are the witness, moment to moment. Keep looking in the direction of the witness instead of turning outwards toward thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions. As your interest develops, it will become very clear to you, that the body-mind transition between the dream and waking state, not you-the-awareness.

Keep exploring within!

#AdvaitaVedanta #Non-duality #MandukyaUpanishad