#Ancient Culture ( Samskaram ) of Bharatham-4.7. : Swami Krishnananda.

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# OPINION : Thursday, August 13, 2020. 8:01.PM. - 2226.

#Chapter- 4.The Fourfold Aim of Existence and How to Achieve It-7.

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1.

So from the fact of memory subsequent to the experience of sleep, you conclude that consciousness must have been there in the state of deep sleep; otherwise, memory would not be possible. You existed in the state of deep sleep as consciousness, not as body, not as mind, not as any psychic function. Pure consciousness was your state, independent of any kind of relation to body and the mind. No social relation, no physical contact, nothing of the kind was there. You were not there as a person, as an individual. You were there as consciousness; but where was this consciousness? Was it inside or outside? The question of inside or outside does not arise for consciousness because the idea of inside arises only because of the fact that you associate consciousness with the physical body. “The Atman is inside, consciousness is inside,” etc., are statements you make in terms of the physical body. Now we are defining and trying to understand consciousness independent of the relation with the physical body because we cannot say the Atman is inside the body, that consciousness is within, inasmuch as in the state of deep sleep there was no consciousness of the physical body. So consciousness in the state of deep sleep was not inside. You cannot, therefore, call it outside also. That which is not inside is also not outside. That which is not inside, not outside, yet exists, has to be everywhere. This is a logical deduction that we are making from the fact of our consciousness in the state of deep sleep being neither inside something, nor outside something. A universality of consciousness must have been there which was shrouded in ignorance of certain types, ignorance caused by various factors. You did exist as consciousness. Because of the fact that consciousness has to be everywhere, limitation of consciousness cannot be conceived. It is absolute in every sense of the term.

2.

Your essential nature is consciousness, which is not inside or outside, or in any particular place. It has no particular location because location is a concept that arises because of physical existence, but physical existence is obliterated completely in the state of deep sleep. There was not even mental existence. It is super-mental and super-physical existence, pure consciousness which is everywhere. Because it is everywhere, it is absolute. There is nothing to condition it or limit it at that time. That is why your happiness in sleep is greater than the happiness of even a king or an emperor of the earth. Do you know how happy you must be when you are fast asleep? Not the best of delicious dishes, not the best appurtenances of comforts in life, not even kingship will be equal to the happiness of deep sleep. You get up rejuvenated. Even a sick person feels better after getting a good sleep. You have not eaten any good food in sleep, you did not possess any property, there was nothing worth the while, and you woke up with a joy of having got charged with some force which makes you feel healthier than you were earlier. How this is possible? Because you were yourself in the state of deep sleep. In the waking condition when you are physically conscious, you are other than what you are. You have changed your position, location, in the state of waking into what you are not. This consciousness which is therefore everywhere, which is yourself, is absolute freedom. The attainment of this experience is moksha.

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To be continued ...

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JAI HIND

JAI BHARATHAM

VANDHE MATHARAM

BHARAT MATHA KI JAI.

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