Ramana Maharshi says It is the ego which has come between deep sleep and waking state

[Guest guest]

D -- Devotee

B - Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi

 

D.: I don’t know whether the Self is different from the ego.

 

B.: In what state were you in deep sleep?

 

D.: I don’t know.

 

B.: Who doesn’t know? The waking self? But you don’t deny that you existed

while in deep sleep?

 

D.: I was and am, but I don’t know who was in deep sleep.

 

B.: Exactly. The waking man says that he did not know anything in the state

of deep sleep. Now he sees objects and knows that he exists but in deep

sleep there were no objects and no spectator.

 

And yet the same person who is speaking now existed in deep sleep also. What

is the difference between the two states? There are objects and the play of

the senses now, while in deep sleep there were not.

 

A new entity, the ego, has arisen. It acts through the senses, sees objects,

confuses itself with the body and claims to be the Self. In reality, what

was in deep sleep continues to be now also. The Self is changeless. It is

the ego which has come between. That which rises and sets is the ego. That

which remains changeless is the Self.

 

B.: Waking, dream and sleep are mere phases of the mind, not of the Self.

The Self is the witness of these three states. Your true nature exists in

sleep.

 

D.: But we are advised not to fall asleep during meditation.

 

B.: It is stupor which you must guard against. That sleep which alternates

with waking is not the true sleep. That waking which alternates with sleep

is not the true waking. Are you awake now? No. What you have to do is to

wake up to your true state. You should neither fall into false sleep nor

remain falsely awake.

 

Source: The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi in His Own Words book

 

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Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prasanth Jalasutram