Fwd: Maharaj's words on waking, dream and deep sleep

[Guest guest]

advaitin , Ganesan Sankarraman <shnkaran

wrote:

 

 

 

Dear friends,

Recently I made a cursory glance of the mere

titles of the book, " I am That, " by Maurice Frydman. It is a long

time since I read that book. The following words of Maharaj arrested

my attention, and I stopped reading the book in utter bewilderment.

Since I don't want to eulogize Maharaj, and find it relevant only to

pay attention to the words of illumination, I am quoting these small

extracts to the advantage of the seekers, whatever their path be.

 

 

11. Awareness and Consciousness Questioner: What do you do when

asleep?

Maharaj: I am aware of being asleep.

Q: Is not sleep a state of unconsciousness?

M: Yes, I am aware of being unconscious.

Q: And when awake, or dreaming?

M: I am aware of being awake or dreaming.

Q: I do not catch you. What exactly do you mean? Let me make my

terms clear: by being asleep I mean unconscious, by being awake I

mean conscious, by dreaming I mean conscious of one " s mind, but

not of the surroundings.

M: Well, it is about the same with me, Yet, there seems to be a

difference. In each state you forget the other two, while to me,

there is but one state of being, including and transcending the

three mental states of waking, dreaming and sleeping.

Q: Do you see in the world a direction and a purpose?

M: The world is but a reflection of my imagination. Whatever I

want to see, I can see. But why should I invent patterns of

creation, evolution and destruction? I do not need them and have

no desire to lock up the world in a mental picture.

Q: Coming back to sleep. Do you dream?

M: Of course.

Q: What are your dreams?

M: Echoes of the waking state.

Q: And your deep sleep?

M: The brain consciousness is suspended.

Q: Are you then unconscious?

M: Unconscious of my surroundings -- yes.

Q: Not quite unconscious?

M: I remain aware that I am unconscious.

Q: You use the words 'aware' and 'conscious'. Are they not the

same?

M: Awareness is primordial; it is the original state,

beginningless, endless, uncaused, unsupported, without parts,

without change. Consciousness is on contact, a reflection against

a surface, a state of duality. There can be no consciousness

without awareness, but there can be awareness without consciousness,

as in deep sleep. Awareness is absolute, consciousness is

relative to its content; consciousness is always of something.

Consciousness is partial and changeful, awareness is total,

changeless, calm and silent. And it is the common matrix of every

experience.

Q: How does one go beyond consciousness into awareness?

M: Since it is awareness that makes consciousness possible, there

is awareness in every state of consciousness. Therefore the very

consciousness of being conscious is already a movement in

awareness. Interest in your stream of consciousness takes you to

awareness. It is not a new state. It is at once recognised as the

original, basic existence, which is life itself, and also love and

joy.

Q: Since reality is all the time with us, what does self-

realisation consist of?

M: Realisation is but the opposite of ignorance. To take the

world as real and one " s self as unreal is ignorance. The cause of

sorrow. To know the self as the only reality and all else as

temporal and transient is freedom, peace and joy. It is all very

simple. Instead of seeing things as imagined, learn to see them

as they are. It is like cleansing a mirror. The same mirror that

shows you the world as it is, will also show you your own face.

The thought 'I am' is the polishing cloth. Use it.

 

 

with warm regards,

yours ever in Bhaghavan Ramana

Sankarraman

 

 

 

 

 

 

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