Yoga

MANOMAYA KOSA OR THE STATE OF DREAMLESS SLEEP

1.69 When consciousness ceases to play the dual role of the subject and the object and withdraws itself entirely to itself, it is known as complete sleep or susupti. Here the cogniser becomes devoid of all contents, support and relation to objects.

1.70 It is called the seed of the universe where everything is merged in consciousness in the form of latent impressions which in the state of wakefulness give rise to the world of differentiated perceptions.

1.71 It is the microscopic equivalent of the state of universal destruction where all experiences of the realm of diversity melt into one or sameness.

1.72 Although the same cognising subject, as present in waking and dreaming states, persists here also, he appears to be absent on account of the absence of the object and the means of knowledge, with which he formerly identified himself.

1.73 In this state, the impurity of individuality continues to have infested the consciousness, leaving it in a state of abysmal emptiness. The individual consciousness in this state is called sunyapramatr.

1.74 In this state, manas is set at rest leaving only prana to function.

1.75 Here memory and its objects remain in the latent form.

1.76 For the yogin, the state of dreamless sleep lies quite close to the integral consciousness, as distinct from the waking and dreaming, since here the subject alone exists. It is called rupastha or restored to its original form because the Cogniser, as the creator of forms, lies in its pure form in this state.

1.77 While an average human being understands this state as one of absence of consciousness, for a yogin it is a kind of samadhi in which he is free of distinction between the subject and the object.

1.78 It is also known as the state of mahavyapti, the state of complete pervasion of consciousness in comparison to the dream state where the pervasion is partial.

1.79 Dreamless sleep, susupti, also has four phases.

1.80 When one is about to enter the state of deep sleep, there is a vague awareness akin to that of wakefulness, as it is potent with the residual impressions of the objective world.

1.81 This is called the emergent, udita, state – a state of susupti-jagrat or waking in dreamless sleep.

1.82 When latent impressions begin to proliferate, subtle traces of perception appear as one with one’s own true nature. This leads to greater self-awareness and brings one closer to higher consciousness. This is the state of susupti-svapna, dream in deep sleep. It is also known as vipula or extensive.

1.83 When residual traces of objective experiences get completely subsided, one has subtle and uninterrupted awareness. That is the state state of susupti-susupti and is also known as santa, tranquil.

1.84 On waking from this state, what the subject has lingering in his mind is a faint experience of sheer blessedness.

1.86 Repeated entry into the bliss of the state of deep sleep within deep sleep makes the experience more and more intense and vivid.

1.87 Finally one reaches the fourth state in deep sleep, susupti-turiya, which is a sub-state of transcendent consciousness and is highly blissful, suprasanna.

1.88 If the individual continues to dwell in this sub-state fully aware of his subjective being and its nature, it has the potentiality of getting matured into samadhi or the state of blessedness.

1.89 Normally, in the case of an individual, manas follows senses in their getting entangled with objects. But in the state of manomaya, the order is reversed inasmuch as here the senses follow the manas.

1.90 It results in further intensification on the focal point of consciousness leading to complete elimination of obstructions in the course of the flow of consciousness. This is vijnanamaya, the state of pure or higher consciousness.

1.91 If an individual were able to retain his awareness on the point between waking and sleeping, he is sure to have the experience of the supreme bliss of Consciousness.

1.92 It serves as the point of entry into the fourth state of consciousness, known as turiya.

(To be Continued….)

PRANAMAYA KOSA OR THE STATE OF DREAM

1.41 The dream state is the result of interiorisation of consciousness when tending to take rest inside after having moved outside for a certain duration.

1.42 In this state of rest, consciousness withdraws itself inward having dissociated itself from the world of organs of sense and action.

1.43 Here the individual consciousness, ceasing to be the perceiver, turns towards ideation on the basis of mental impressions formed in his consciousness by objects of the external world in the state of wakefulness.

1.44 This state occurs not only while one is asleep but also during the phase of perception in which the external object is represented by its ideas.

1.45 The impurity of karma persists here only as traces while the objects perceived inwardly are illusory creations generated by consciousness in the mind and hence are confined to the dreamer in regard to their perceptibility.

1.46 From the point of view of yoga, this state is higher and subtler than the state of waking consciousness and, as such, it is easier to rise from this to higher states of consciousness.

1.47 On account of this feature of it, it is called, established in itself, padastha or vyapta, pervasive.

1.48 It corresponds to the autonomous cognitive awareness, which is free to pervade everywhere, and is no longer conditioned by the object of knowledge.

1.49 Prana and manas, however, remain active in the state of dream, which has four sub-states.

1.50 First one of these sub-states is svapna jagrat, waking in the state of dream.

1.51 It is the state of vikalpas – ideas, fancies, reveries – independent of the external world and confined only to the dreamer.

1.52 It is also experienced when one is overcome with grief, passion, fear or madness, in which state the dreamer mistakes his mental projections for actual objects.

1.53 In this state, the individual is at times caught in the flux of objective perceptions and at others by the waves of his own mental impressions without being able to differentiate between the two.

1.54 This world of dream appears as real on account of acceleration in the action of the prana and apana. On account of its flexibility, this sub-state is also called gatagata, coming and going or rather one of blinking of consciousness.

1.55 The second sub-state of the state of dream is known as svapna­-svapna, one of dreaming in dream.

1.56 It begins with the dream becoming hazy, disorderly and vague.

1.57 Here the dreamer remains afloat in the flux of consciousness where one thing may be transformed into another without looking strange. As such, it is also known as suviksipta, the sub-state of complete dispersion.

1.58 The third sub-state in this row is known as svapna-susupti, dreamless sleep in the state of dream resulting in enjoyment of peaceful sleep on the part of the dreamer.

1.59 In this state, the subjectivity or pramatrbhava of the cogniser is intense and he is able to examine the situation he find himself in and realise that the objects before him are not really a part of the external world since he is only dreaming.

1.60 Put in this state, the dreamer exercises better control over the series of his dreams by eliminating any incongruity or inconsistency in the motifs of his dream. While lying in this state, he He is able to experience a subtle touch of integrated consciousness. As such, it is also known as sangata or consistent.

1.61 When the dreamer remains fully aware throughout the whole phantasmagoria of dream and knows that he is only dreaming, the sub-state is known as one of witnessing or integrated consciousness, svapna-turiya.

1.62 It is also called the state of witnessing consciousness or integrated consciousness – samahita.

1.63 While the common man considers all these states together as one of simply dream and views various vikalpas of him as lacking in contact with the external world as a whole, the yogin experiences the state of dream as pervaded by his own consciousness.

1.64 The state of dream can be transcended through pranavayu-sthana-kalpana or prana-sandhana. It lies in the fixing of consciousness on the exhalation and inhalation of breath from the centre of the body.

1.65 While breathing-in and out, the individual is advised to maintain his awareness continuously at the meeting point of the incoming and outgoing breaths inside the body.

1.66 Alternatively, he can direct the focus of his consciousness to the point where the expiring and inspiring breaths stop for a split of a second outside the body.

1.67 This sadhana brings subtlety and refinement to the process of breathing with the result that manas or mind becomes cooled down.

1.68 Once one is settled down mentally and the prana becomes refined, one feels as if one were going into the state of sleep or torpor. That, however, is not really so. It is rather the beginning of entrance into the manomaya, the state of consciousness of deep sleep.