Aham and Aham-vritti # 5

[Guest guest]

D: Should I then consider Sri Bhagavan as talking to me in a waking-

dreaming-sleeping state?

 

M: Because your conscious experience is now limited to the duration

of the extroversion of the mind, you call the present moment the

waking state, whereas all the while your mind has been asleep to the

Self, and therefore you are now really fast asleep.

 

D: To me sleep is a mere blankness.

 

M: That is so, because your waking state is a mere effervescence of

the restless mind.

 

D: What I mean by blankness is that I am hardly aware of anything in

my sleep; it is for me the same as non-existence.

 

M: But you did exist during sleep.

 

D: If I did, I was not aware of it.

 

M: You do not mean to say in all seriousness you ceased to exist

during your sleep! (laughing) If you went to sleep as Mr: X, did you

get up fro it as Mr. Y?

 

 

D: I know my identity, perhaps , by and act of memory.

 

M: Granting that, how is it possible unless there is a continuity of

awareness?

 

D: But I was unaware of that awareness.

 

M: No. Who says you are unaware in sleep? It is your mind. But there

was no mind in your sleep? Of what value is the testimony of the

mind about your existence or experience during sleep? Seeking the

testimony of the mind to disprove your existence or awareness during

sleep is just like calling your son's evidence to disprove your

birth!

Do you remember, I told you once previously that existence and

awareness are not two different things but one and the same? Well,

if for any reason you feel constrained to admit the fact that you

exited in sleep be sure you were also aware of the existence.

What you were really unaware of in sleep is your bodily

existence. You are confounding this bodily awareness with the true

awareness of the Self, which is eternal.

Prajnana, which is the source of " I " -am " -ness " ever subsists

unaffected by the three transitory states of the mind, thus enabling

you to retain your identity unimpaired.

Prajnana is also beyond the three states, because it can

subsist without them and in spite of them.

It is that Reality that you should seek during your so-called

waking state by tracing the aham-vrtti to its source. Intense

practice in this inquiry will reveal that the mind and its three

states are unreal and that you are the eternal, infinite

Consciousness of pure Being, the Self, or the Heart.

 

From The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi...Shambala