Namaste Didi,  As I understand, during the dreaming state, the witness is witnessing a dream, and the mind is in a semi-conscious state. But towards the end, the mind becomes fully conscious, and then it gets identified with the dream character and all those projections (sweating, fear, falling, running) are experienced in the physical body. How does this happen? Please guide. 

Answer:

A semi-conscious or conscious mind cannot be proven to exist continuously and consistently through the three states of Waking, Dreaming, and Deep Sleep. The ideas of the conscious Waking mind or semi-conscious Waking mind are limited to the Waking state.

• • The Waking mind cannot claim to be the Dreamer mind.
  • The Waking mind cannot claim to be the Sleeper mind.

The Waking mind only has a fragmented memory of the Dream as if it were borrowed; it cannot prove that it was the Dream mind.

The Waking mind appears after the dream has ended. It can recall, interpret, and narrate only fragments of the dream, but not the entire dream. Hence, it cannot be proven that it was present as the Dreamer’s mind during the Dream. Therefore, its claim, “I was dreaming,” is only a post-dream assumption, not an absolute certainty.

Then who carries the memory of the Dream? 

Only that which is present commonly between Waking and Dreaming can truly carry the memory. That is the Witness Consciousness. Hence, it is the Witness that actually knows the Dream and lends it to the Waking mind. The Waking mind is in the form of thought only, and a thought is not conscious enough to know. Hence, the Waking mind is not the knower. It is the known.

Who knows the Waking Mind? Can the Waking Mind know the knower?

The Witness Consciousness is the knower. The Waking mind is the known. The Dream mind is the known. The Waking mind cannot know the Witnessing field. 
The Witness is conscious, and its consciousness is superimposed on the body and mind. That gives the feeling that the mind knows. But look carefully at a thought. Say it out loud: 2+2=4. Does the thought know you? Or do you know the thought? Is a thought conscious enough to know? 

You will see that just like the body is inert, so is thought and feeling.

How to recognize the knower?

Simply stand as the Witness of the eyes reading this post. Notice that the body, the computer, the room, etc are in the witnessing field.

• • You-the-Witness know the thoughts arising and falling.
  • You-the-Witness know the feelings arising and falling.

With this constant practice, you will arrive at a point where you recognize yourself-the-Fourth [Turiya] completely separate from the first [waker], the second [dreamer], and the third [deep sleeper].

Then dawns the realization that: 

• • You are the conscious Fourth [Turiya], which is ever-present even in the absence of the body and mind.
  • The mind cannot be semi-conscious or fully conscious; the mind is only an inert thought or a feeling. A thought or feeling by itself is not conscious.
  • The sense of being conscious is only borrowed from the Turiya, like a phone borrows power from the electrical outlet.
  • During the dreaming state:
    • ‘I-the-Witness’ only know the dream-thought [dream mind]. Sometimes, I-the-Witness, forget my true nature of witnessing, and indulge in the dream scene by falsely identifying with the dream character and its projections(sweating, fear, falling, running). This is all assumed to be experienced in the dream body-mind, while they are merely inert dream thoughts.
  • When the Waking state appears in the form of a Waking sensation, ‘I-the-Turiya’, having forgotten myself, I assume to be the Waker that was asleep and was dreaming [indulging in imagination in a semi-conscious mind]. Now this is seen as an illusory assumption.
  • Superimposition of a ‘Waker’s mind-inside-a-dream world imagination’ on the reality of ‘Awareness’ is revealed. ‘I-the-Turiya’ carry the imaginations of sweat and fear or superimpositions from the Dream to the Waking. 
  • The Waking mind only throws out the borrowed, fragmented thoughts of sweating, panting, etc.

Swapna Nidra Gnyana Sadhana, or Wake-Dream-Sleep exploration, reveals the above SEEING after intense effort. Begin the journey with humility, ‘I am not there yet, but let me begin with sadhana’. The following books might help your journey: 

Books on Amazon USA:
● Spiraling Avenues: Waking, Dreaming, Sleeping, Being: Swapna Nidra Gnyana Sadhana I: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQT1L9GL
● Beyond the Veil of Sleep and Dream: Swapna Nidra Gnyana Sadhana II: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQF5BXY1