The Three States

Hare Krishna, Namaskarams

Written below are some excerpts on the subject of avastAttraya vichAram.

From the book The Upanishads by Swami Nhikilananda on Mandukya Upanishad.

Chapter 1. Verse 5.:"In deep sleep all the diversified experiences of waking and dreaming, which are nothing but the activities of the mind reach the state of non discrimination, without however, loosing their peculiar characteristics-just as the various objects perceived during the day lose their diverse appearances when enveloped by the darkness of the night. Known as the causal state, one finds the experiences of waking and dream states merge in this deep sleep state. This unified experience of deep sleep is different from the unity experienced from the knowledge of Brahman; for in the waking and dream state that follows it, one again takes multiplicity to be real. In deep sleep no specific knowledge is present. It is a state of ease and repose and the friction caused by subject-object relationship is absent. All efforts disappear and one in deep sleep experiences bliss, said to be happy. This bliss is quite different from that of Brahman."

From my notes on the same Upanishad - class by Swami Paramarthananda:

"In sushhupti, a nirvikalpa rUpa everything gets resolved into one, an experience through kAraNa sharIram. In this state the jAgrat and svapna states are negated and jIva is ignorant of himself in that state. The basic difference is that in nidityAsanam he is aware of himself as "aham brahma asmi". In fact in jAgrath avastha also he is asleep to his nature. The kshetraGYa is same in all the three states. Even though the pramAta, prameyam and pramANam are not experienced they get resolved as unmanifest condition –a mAyA aspect. There is no absence since they come back again on waking up. It is saturated with AnandA associated with the experiencer –kAraNa sarIram, where duality, rAgadveshha-s are all resolved. The very experience of absence of experience in which there is sukham the triputi-s are not clearly defined/felt. It is also to be understood that in all the three stages there involves withdrawal and entry in to the stages."

The deep sleep state is just a nitya praLaya taking place in a person's life where everything gets resolved and manifests again on waking up. Even though the substratum turIam is available all through the three states the jIva is not aware of it covered by ignorance at various levels in the states. While discriminating faculty is available in waking state, in dream state it is a world projected by your own mind where you have no control over what you dream. In fact I have seen myself flying over the cities, perching on rooftops and trees probably because of reading the book "The Third Eye" by a lama whose name I do not remember now. It is the knowledge of Brahman attained through studying scriptures under a Guru and then contemplating on him through sravana manana nidityasanam that one becomes like a clean mirror to reflect the self in its full glory. Even then what could one write about that unity with Brahman who is beyond words and unknowable.