[Advaita-l] Sleep, tamas and brahman

[Kalyan]

Namaste Sri Bhaskarji


// When
 the sushuptAvasthA has been observed from biased view of
 waking state sushupti is linked with tama.  When the same
 state has been witnessed without any prejudices and special
 preference  to waking state then in sushupti jeeva is
 mukta.//


I like your answer. Thanks.


//But that is not
 vedAnta siddhAnta hence bhAshyakARa says in both sushupti
 and samAdhi there is avidyA//


In BU 4.3, Shankara does not admit avidya in deep sleep. I request you to give reference for your statement.


Best Regards
Kalyan


--------------------------------------------
On Mon, 4/30/18, Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.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, 9:28 AM
 
 praNAms Sri Kalyan prabhuji
 Hare Krishna
 
 >  Surprising only one reply from Sri
 Venkat Sriram prabhuji, anyway my thoughts :
 
 The brihadaranyaka upanishad
 equates deep sleep with the highest state of brahman.
 
 >yes, not only
 bruhadAraNyaka in some other places in shruti and
 bhAshyakAra himself clarifies that sushupti is the state
 which is secondless and sushuptAtman is
 sarvOpAdhivinirmukta.  For that matter atra veda aveda etc.
 pertains to the state of sushupti which we often use as
 reference to muktAvastha.  
 
 Why is sleep then, associated with tamas in the
 bhagavad gita?
 
 >  When
 the sushuptAvasthA has been observed from biased view of
 waking state sushupti is linked with tama.  When the same
 state has been witnessed without any prejudices and special
 preference  to waking state then in sushupti jeeva is
 mukta.   In Advaita, contextually there is a provision to
 understand this in both ways.  
 
 Second
 question - vide the brihadaranyaka, can we say that sleeping
 is a sAdhana in itself?
 
 >  No, by going to  'sleep' one
 cannot attain jnana/mukti though that state is equated with
 bhUma.  If that is the case simha, vyAghra, pashu keta also
 experience gAdha nidra ( deep sleep) so without any effort
 those creatures also should get mukti.  But that is not
 vedAnta siddhAnta hence bhAshyakARa says in both sushupti
 and samAdhi there is avidyA.  To differentiate this state
 (anandamaya avastha) from jnana paripUrNa avasthA,
 tureeyAvasthA (ananda svarUpAvastha) has been introduced and
 as we know this is NOT a 4th state apart from jAgrat, svapna
 and sushupti.  jnAnAbhAva in sushupti ( which some
 traditionalists will call  mUlAvidyA or kAraNAvidyA)
 differentiates this avasthA from jnana paripUrNa Advaita
 siddhi.  So, to attain this state or to realize this
 state  (which is the state  all of us have without any
 knowledge in sushupti),   shravaNAdi shAstra vihita
 sAdhana  is required.  
 
 Hari Hari Hari Bol!!
 bhaskar