[Advaita-l] Sleep, tamas and brahman

[Kalyan]

// The Upanishad only gives deep sleep
 as an analogy to the liberated state //

I would disagree here. The upanishad literally equates deep sleep to the highest state. It is not a mere analogy.


//If the latter were meant by
 the shruti, everyone will, with zero effort, become
 liberated by just going to sleep.//


This is exactly what the upanishad suggests. Everyone gets liberated in deep sleep, without any effort.


//This is because in sleep there is no
 room for sattva (knowledge/deliberation/sadhana) and
 activity, karma, rajas. //


Ok. But I feel that there is a contradiction in equating deep sleep to tamas and highest state respectively.


//Shankara has pointed out that
 in sleep the jiva 'merges' in saguna brahman and not
 the nirguna brahman.//


At least in the brihadaranyaka, it is mentioned that the individual is embraced by the supreme Self (becomes one with supreme Self), aka nirguNa brahman, in deep sleep. 


//If the latter, he says, the jiva will
 not emerge from sleep as that will be liberation: //


Shankara infact asks a similar question but bypasses it in the brihadaranyaka.


On a related note, the brihadaranyaka and mandukya seem to be giving different teachings. For the former, deep sleep is as good as nirguNa brahman. For the latter, there is a fourth state turiya above deep sleep, which is nirguNa brahman.


--------------------------------------------
On Mon, 4/30/18, V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Sleep, tamas and brahman
 To: "Kalyan" <kalyan_kg at yahoo.com>, "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
 Date: Monday, April 30, 2018, 1:57 AM
 
 
 
 On Sat,
 Apr 28, 2018 at 7:34 PM, Kalyan via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
 wrote:
 Namaste
 
 
 
 The brihadaranyaka upanishad equates deep sleep with the
 highest state of brahman. 
 
 The Upanishad only gives deep sleep
 as an analogy to the liberated state because there is no
 experienceable duality, no identities of jivas as so and so,
 no misery, there is explicit peace and hence the state is
 called samprasaada.  The comparison is only instructional,
 to enable the aspirant to get an idea of the liberated
 state.  Vidyaranya says in the Panchadashi, on a different
 context, the negation/sublation of jagat means only the firm
 conviction that it is mithya and not its disappearance from
 one's vision/experience.  If the latter were meant by
 the shruti, everyone will, with zero effort, become
 liberated by just going to sleep.     
 
 
 Why is sleep then, associated with tamas in the bhagavad
 gita?
 
 This is because in sleep there is no
 room for sattva (knowledge/deliberation/sadhana) and
 activity, karma, rajas.  In fact the 6th chapter of the
 Gita prescribes moderate sleep and moderate waking for the
 Yogi.  This is because, without the required quantum of
 sleep, even as modern physicians, etc. agree, one cannot
 pursue sadhana properly. The body needs a certain amount of
 sleep.  The cosmic correspondence with individual sleep is
 pralaya. This is a must since what has been created has to
 come to a resolution, dissolution, so as to enable the next
 cyclical creation.  That is why pralaya is also a tamasic
 function of Brahman.  
 
 
 Second question - vide the brihadaranyaka, can we say that
 sleeping is a sAdhana in itself?
 
 No. Sleep is not a sadhana in
 itself. As shown above, sleep, in moderate amount, is
 required for conscious sadhana; therefore sadhana is a
 conscious, wakeful activity. Shankara has pointed out that
 in sleep the jiva 'merges' in saguna brahman and not
 the nirguna brahman. If the latter, he says, the jiva will
 not emerge from sleep as that will be liberation: yad gatvaa
 na nivartante ...of the 15th chapter of the Gita. So too, in
 pralaya the jivas/bhutas merge in the saguna brahman, only
 to emerge later in srishti.  
 regardssubbu
 
 
 Regards
 
 Kalyan
 
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