by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 34
December. 2003

ATTEMPTS TO DESCRIBE BRAMHAN - Part 8

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

The basic difference between the waking state and dream state is that, in the waking state all the five senses and our mind, intellect and egoself (the indriyas, manah, viveka and ahamkaara) are active. Ofcourse the divine element jivaatmaa is also ever present, but that remains only as a witness, without actively taking part in whatever we are doing. But when we reach the dream state, the five senses of ours become dormant. Only the mind, intellect and the egoself remain. We do not see, hear or smell the physical world around us while dreaming. It is like a simulated state where the influences of our indriyas have been overcome. We have so to say gone beyond the indriyas.

Let us not forget that to reach the dream state one has to be first in the waking state. One can not straight away go to the dream state, bypassing the waking state. The waking state is the starting point. A in AUM is also the starting point. At the end of AUM the Bramhan is realised. So also at the end of jagarita, swapna and susupti, Bramhan is realised. That is how A represents the waking state.

Now we shall discuss in detail the significance of the dream state, which is represented by the next letter U. So let us explore the next stage where the senses are eliminated and made dormant or withdrawn. Only mind, viveka and ahamkaara remaining, we dream.

The egoself decides let us go to London, or to the top of the mountains, or any other place of desire. The viveka agrees that 'yes it can be a worthwhile experience', and then the mind transports us to that state of experience instantly. We start experiencing all emotions. This is all happening within us, inside the mind. The outside has been cut off. It is all an internal experience. Mandukya explains this state like this:

Svapnasthaanah antah prajnah ..praviviktabhuk taijasah dvitiya paadah

The stage after the waking stage is known as the taijasah or dream state, a stage illuminated or recognised only by sub conscious intelligence. The sense organs having been subdued we can not experience the gross world anymore. We have only the mind, the intellect, and the ahamkaara present and they experience the subtle world of mental consciousness. We have closed the door to outside world. Only the internal world borne out of our mental impressions remains. We are antahprajnah or internally conscious in a world of Taijasa, the world illuminated by mental consciousness. Nothing is gross or physical here. There is only a subtle impression of mind. It is pravivikta, dwelling in subtleness.

It is the stage where there is a strong desire to search out the truth, but yet we do not know what it is. This world of desire is the intermediate stage - like the 'u' after 'a' .

In this state also we derive a lot of satisfaction, but this also does not last. You can not hold on to it. What happiness the mind has projected it is incapable of sustaining it for long. No dream is everlasting. And when the mind can not sustain it and it depletes, unhappiness again grips the jiva. Again the question crops up- 'is it happiness if it is invariably followed by unhappiness?' We said that what the jiva seeks is a state of total bliss, the state of satchidananda. It realises that it is not within the powers of the physical mind to give it the happiness it desires.

We have seen that even after subduing the senses of ours, the true and sustained happiness is still beyond our grasp. So something else has to be sought. The jiva strives to ascend still higher. We seek now beyond the intermediate dream state for that illusive Bramhan. What lies beyond is going to be our next topic of discussion.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

" FOR QUESTION AND ANSWERS PLEASE SEE NEXT PAGE "