Yesterday in one of our Vedanta discussions, the Swami Tyãgãnanda (of the Rãmakrishna Vedanta Society of Boston) said that at sleep we lose track of our senses and the feeling of our body.
But still there is the mind and that is why we dream (Swapna). In yet another stage of deep sleep (sushupti),the consciousness of mind is also gone; only the sub-concious mind stays alive. This is when we have a very 'sound' sleep even without dreams.
But Jnãnis have another state of sleep, which is beyond these two states - the state called Turya, where in even the sub-conscious mind is beaten down.
Sri Ramana Maharshi sometimes says that every night during sleep (just before getting awake in the morning), all of us get to experience that ãtma Sãkshãtkãra very momentarily. Infact Ramana himself used to have a very sound sleep in his childhood, and nothing on earth could disturb him during his sleep. He was strong as a youth, and none dared to touch him when he was awake. They would vent all their anger at him at night when he was fast asleep, beating him and playing all pranks on the child Venkatarãman; it seems that they even used to draw fake moustache on his face using charcoal ! But the boy did not have the least sense of what was going on when he was asleep.
I remember that Guruji also often talks about this Turya state of the ãtma Jnãni's, and his mentioning that that is the reason why the very first darshan of the Jnãni's is so bountiful with grace.
He also quotes instances of Aandãl in her Tiruppãvai verse ,where she says
"vellatharavil thuyil amarndha vithinai
ullathu kondu munivargalum yogigalum
mella ezhundhu Hari endra paer aravam
ullam pugundhu kulirndhaelor empaavaai."
ullathu kondu munivargalum yogigalum
mella ezhundhu Hari endra paer aravam
ullam pugundhu kulirndhaelor empaavaai."
Guruji also says that Sage Nãrada became such a Bhakta and Jivan Mukta partly because he used to have the first darshan of the day of Yogis and Mahãns who visited his village.
Sri Tyãgãnanda Swãmi also says that if we can experience the same feeling when we are totally conscious, then that is enlightenment.
There is an interesting Upanishad, Mãndukya Upanishad (not to be confused with 'Mundakopanishad). This upanishad is one of the shortest, most crisp and most succinct upanishad of the Atharva Veda, with just 12 verses, and it talks about sleep, its different states etc. There have been different opinions over why it has been called Maandukya (sanskrit term for 'Frog'). Mahãswãmi Sri Paramãchãrya Sri Sri Chandrashekarendra Saraswati Swãmigal of Kãnchi Kãmakoti Mutt seems to be giving the most apt explanation for that, which has been widely accepted and the most sensible and logical one:
Our mind is like a frog which leaps here and there and it is during the sleep that the frog leaps here and there, and hence the name.
So folks who usually experience deep sound sleep sans dreams, beware !! You may be quite close to realization !! Just a bit of effort away ! But of course, not without a Guru's divine grace and blessing !
