Theory of Re-birth

[Gregory Goode]

At 05:04 PM 2/12/98 -0330, Gummuluru Murthy wrote:

>   What I mean to say is, jeevanmukta still sees the body
>   going through the various stages (deep sleep, death etc) but considers
>   them to be unreal and not part of the Brahman which he/she is). This
>   particular viewpoint is supported by Shri RamaNa's quote given by Greg
>   earlier "death and sleep are the same, but the sleep is short and the
>   death is long".

[ ... ]

>   I wonder if Greg can give me the exact reference to Shri RamaNa's
>   statement, in what context it was made and where it appeared. I am
>   curious why death is considered long and sleep is considered short.

At home last night I forgot to look up the quotation in Ramana's TALKS.
But on further reflection, I believe the context was as follows:  a devotee
was asking Ramana the difference between the dream state and the waking
state.  Some texts say they're just the same, others cite a small
difference here and there(see NOTE below).  So Ramana said "Dream is short,
waking state is long."  So I think I mis-remembered and mis-quoted Ramana.
The notion of death wasn't part of the question to Ramana. I apologize!
I'll look it up this weekend and report.

NOTE:  About the difference between sleep and waking states, the best
analysis I've ever seen is given by Swami Nikhilananda in the Appendix Vol.
IV of his 4-volume set of collected Upanishads.  In this essay, Swami
Nikhilananda argues cogently that the two states are just the same.  His
technique is to give about 8 different arguments puporting to show why they
are DIFFERENT, then to show the invalidity of these arguments.

--Greg