abhāva-pratyayālambanā vṛttir-nidrā Deep sleep is the mental state where
there are neither thoughts, as in the three previously mentioned mental states,
nor dreams and memories. So Vyāsa, in speaking about this particular sutra,
says that since we are able to... or we can remember when we wake up that we have
been sleeping - number one - and the sleep was perhaps a good
sleep, or I didn't sleep very well, or I did sleep well; the fact that
we can recollect or think this, indicates that the state of sleep... any form of
sleep... is actually a mental modification, or a vṛtti. There is also
a state... and we'll perhaps deal with that a little further on... of dreamless
sleep. And if one is not having any dream, then the question is, "Well how do
we know that anything has occurred at all?" Vyasa... he is advised that sleep is
actually regarded as a particular kind of mental state, and
we should aim to shut out this mental state like other cognitions. And
that is achieved through concentration and practice. So this is
quite an extraordinary idea; that if we are trying to shut out all the vṛttis,
what does it mean to to shut out sleep or the effects of sleep?
This is something that is we should be careful not to speculate about.
Don't forget that throughout this study, and throughout our
journey towards the goal of yoga, we are going to have a tendency to to think of
things; see things and understand things that have been altered by filters. The
filters are the state or the nature of our consciousness, and as one makes
progress spiritually - as these filters begin to thin out as it were, and
eventually to become removed - then one sees with increasing clarity to the
state of full enlightenment, or full self-realization.
So because of this condition, we can easily misunderstand things and I can
recall when I was a brahmacari - began living as a monk - and one of my
associates had made mention to me that our spiritual master had said at one
point, that when a person progresses spiritually then they see people... they
see persons, everywhere. And when I heard that I was kind of like, 'What!" I
was...it completely blew my mind, and then I began speculating, "What does that
mean?".. you know. Like I'm just going to suddenly turn, and in the doorway
I'll sort of see a person there, or I look down under the desk or something,
and there's going be a person there...And I was like in a
state of great confusion, and because maybe the statement was not passed to me
with enough accuracy or care, I failed to grasp what was actually being passed on.
And that was, that all life... life is a symptom of the presence of a puruṣa or
ātmā; that material energy has no life. In this world in which we exist,
there are only two fundamental types of energy: one is the material energy and in
a myriad of forms and evolutes, and the other is a spiritual energy which is
the ātmā, or the puruṣa - or 'dṛṣṭa' or seer. And the nature of the living being; the
nature of the source of life - for that which is emanating life - is that it is a
puruṣa which can be stated as being the the person. And therefore, as someone
spiritually develops, we don't just look upon other life forms and not see that
there are living beings present within them; that they have taken on -because of
their... as a result of karma and of desire, they have taken on different forms, and
are occupying different types of bodies. But even though we may look upon a tree
or some grass, or a bird or a dog, as simply being a lower life-form, an actual
yogi perceives the reality of the actual living being that is present, and so
they see all living beings with an equal vision.
So in relation to you know... the discussion here on sleep... I just wanted
to share with you a couple of verses from the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, that speaks
about the nature of sleep and how it is a vrtti also, to perhaps enhance some
understanding. So in this particular verse it says: 'When the living entity is
in deep sleep, when he faints, when there is some great shock on account of severe
loss, at the time of death, or when the body temperature is very high, the
movement of the life air is arrested. At that time the living entity loses
knowledge of identifying the body with the self'. So even when the living being
experiences any of those kind of conditions, and loses all awareness of
the body and of their own self, it does not mean that either of these things
have actually disappeared or ceased to exist. There is simply a moment of
temporary loss of consciousness about them. And even in that condition, as it is
also with deep sleep, where there is no dreaming, the ahankara - the false
conception of ourself; that very first covering of the atma or the purusha; the
one that is completely distorting everything in creating material
consciousness - still remains. And when one comes out of that condition,
then once again one will experience the reality that they are still completely
covered, and in a state of material consciousness.
So there's also a a second verse in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa that states this - which
is very interesting. And here it speaks about three different states
of awareness that are often spoken of in the broader Vedas. And it says:
'Waking, sleeping and deep sleep are the three functions of the intelligence (or buddhi)
and are caused by the modes of material nature. The living entity within
the body is ascertained to possess characteristics different from these
three states, and thus remains as a witness to them.' So if you just take a
little time to perhaps read through that and consider it, it's very... a
profound thought, and it's a very... it's like what I mentioned with the
previous verse. By understanding what is not spirit; what is not spiritual, and what
is material - such as the vṛttis, then one can distinguish that if I am in a
certain state; if I'm experiencing something...if my consciousness is in a
certain way, this is material consciousness - it is not spiritual
consciousness. And so there's going to be something that we will deal with
in more detail later and it's been raised here, about the three
modes of material nature - the three gunas. And the understanding that
the material energy is functionally unconscious and inert, but due to
the
influence of these subtle energies, they are stimulating material nature; they are
stimulating the coverings - both the gross and subtle bodies of the living beings -
and produce a variety of different thoughts, desires, ideas and modes of
of acting. And when the living being is is existing in a materially conditioned
state, then it's as if you are in a car and the car is on autopilot, and while
nothing is literally happening to you since you are just sitting in a chair... on
a seat in a car, because the car is sometimes driving wildly here and
there, then we are experiencing that and reacting to it, and and... you know... becoming
a little bit overwhelmed. Almost like the same example that we've used in
the movie house earlier. So there is one other thing I'll just make mention of
here, but without any detail... and we will deal with later... that there is something
akin to dreaming by a spiritualized mind, where the mind can become absorbed
in a state of what may seem to be dreaming, where there's a deep absorption
in that which is spiritual. And this is not one of the vṛttis, but is
something which is having a positive or an enlightening effect upon the living
being or the puruṣa.