Buddhi Is The Object In the Dream State

May 18, 2002

Jaya Guru Datta,

Here is today's saying:

“In lesson 10, we saw as to how the buddhi attains the wakeful state and how it

is falsely imposed upon the Atman. How long does the same wakefulness last? We

have dealt with this question in the 4th lesson. Let us recall it . . . the

three states (wakeful, dream, and deep sleep) are caused as a fruit of our past

actions. It means that as long as the karma required for the maintenance of the

wakeful state is present, the wakeful state will also be present. As soon as

that effect diminishes, the buddhi slips to another state.

As the karma responsible for the wakeful state becomes diminished and as the

karma responsible for the dream state comes to play, the buddhi, being

influenced by the different objects it had seen in its previous state, will

continue to see them although they are not actually present even in the dream

state. Thus, it assumes the dual role of Drashta (seer) of the objects and the

Drishya (object).

How is this possible? Imagine a flower basket. We always keep flowers in it.

It has become such a permanent habit that as soon as we see such a basket, the

thought of flowers immediately comes to our mind even though we are seeing an

empty basket. Similarly, the buddhi, in the proximity of the Atman, gets

motivated by factors such as avidya (ignorance), kala (time) and poorva karma

(past action). Therefore, by the mere influence of samskara, it appears as

though it assumes the role of the object also. In other words, the buddhi gets

modified as the object. This itself is the svapnapvastha (dream state). In

this state, we will be 'seeing' the objects even though our sense organs are not

actually functioning."

Sri Swamiji

Lessons in Vedanta - 11 part I

Sri Guru Datta,

Swamiji Says

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