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(continued from Part 2)

-------------------------------------------------------
The 3 states of human experience


The Mandukya, at the outset, opens our eyes to the
fundamental truth that to human beings there are only
three natural planes of experience available viz. the
Waking, the Dream and the Sleep states. (There are
other states known to man perhaps, such as the drunken
state or the drug-induced states of mind, but they can
never be regarded as natural at all. It is for this
reason why many of the findings in Aldous Huxley's
famous book, "The Doors of Perception", about "mystic
states" induced by the drug, mescaline or LSD, can
only be regarded as spurious, even dangerous
experimentation, and never genuine experience in the
true Upanishadic sense). 


"vaishvAnara"


The Mandukya calls the Waking-state as 'jAgruti'. This
is the plane in which all of us experience this world
through perception via the medium of each of our
sensory faculties 'turned outward' (viz. sight,
hearing, smell, taste, touch, mind, intellect,
intuition and ego). It is within this plane of
'jAgruti' that we live and experience all the gross
objects of the external world -- including thoughts,
desires and passions arising out of them as well as
the resulting feelings of joy and pain. The welter of
all such gross sensory experiences is what the
Upanishad calls "vaishvAnara". These experiences are
common across all humanity; in other words, since
everyone has the same set of sensory organs, everyone
perceives objects in the same way; and, normally,
objects too arouse the same experiences in everyone.



"taijasa"


The second plane of experience is "swapna" -- the
Dream-state into which we slip when we go to sleep. In
this state all our sensory apparatus are 'turned
inward'. They continue performing their respective
functions of apperception but do so in an exclusively
"introverted mode" i.e. none else other than the
dreamer himself can experience his dream. No two
persons can dream alike since the respective
experience of it is uniquely his own.


Furthermore, in the 'swapna' state, it is not the
gross objects of the Waking world that is experienced
but their subtle impressions or images as imprinted
upon our subconscious. We do not carry with us into
the dream-state all of the objects of our desire and
hope, passion or fear as they exist in "jAgruti". Only
a residual few -- the strongest and most intense of
desires -- follow us into the "swapna" state and they
manifest there either as (a) subtle, and often very
strange image or (b) as oracular, sometimes even
clairvoyant message. The anger of one's waking
moments, for example, might manifest itself as a
hideous viper in the dream-state. Similarly, repressed
lust in the 'jAgruti' state might unexpectedly surface
as carnal dream-images. And sometimes our dreams
foretell or in some vague way anticipate events yet to
happen in the Waking world. 


It is the state of such "swapna", the netherworld of
suggestive dreams, which the Mandukya recognizes as
reality and as an inalienable part of human
personality and experience. The sum-total of such
subtle experiences is called "taijasa". (What the
Mandukya recognized long, long ago became, centuries
later, in the hands of Dr.Sigmund Freud, the
pioneering science of Psycho-pathology and
Psycho-therapy: the theory and method of treating
psychological disorders through clinical
interpretation of dreams). 


The experiences of both "jAgruti" and "svapna",
although very different in character, substance and
duration, have one thing in common -- Desire ("kAmA").
Our desires in the Waking-state are multitudinous and
multifarious indeed. However, when we cross over in
sleep from the Waking into the Dream state, we do not
carry with us all of such longings and latent
yearning. On the journey from "jAgruti" into "taijasa"
we take with us as subliminal baggage only the most
deeply rooted elements of our "kAma" and with which we
have identified ourselves so inseparably that it
continues to cling to us like a shadow. We cannot, or
rather we do not want to shake it off. 


"praj~nya"


The 3rd plane of human experience is what the Mandukya
calls "truteeyah: pAdah:". (The word "truteeya" in
Sanskrit means "Third" and "pAda" means, "part"). In
the celebrated 5th and 6th stanzas, the Upanishad
gives us great insight into the real and mystical
nature of Sleep-experience which it calls "praj~nya".


The experience of "praj~nya" is not the same as
ordinary "nidra" that we experience fitfully during
daily sleep -- i.e. it is not our nocturnal shuttling,
in and out, between "jAgruti" and "svapna". The
Upanishad says "praj~nya" is experience of sheer
unending 'Atmic' bliss readily available at a certain
exclusive "spot" or "station" en route the journey of
sleep. The "spot" is called "sUshUpta-sthAna" -- a
virtual locus of mystical delight to be found beyond
the first and second states of Waking and Dreaming.


In "praj~nya", unlike "taijasa" or "vaishvAnara",
there is no trace of "kAma". The residual but
deep-seated desires of our Dream-state do not and
cannot infiltrate into this blessed region. Since
there is no "kAma" here, there is no work left, and
hence no use for, our sense organs which therefore
withdraw and retract into the mind. The mind itself
then lies absolutely still. The resultant state of
experience is "Praj~nya", says the Upanishad. It is
subtle mass of pure consciousness unconditioned by the
senses. It is quite unlike any sensory experience and
hence cannot be described in words. It is composed
wholly of 'Atmic' bliss... "praj~nAnaGhana
EvA-nandamaya..": 


"yatra sUptO na kamchana kAmum kAmayatE 

na kamchana svapnam pashyati tat sUshUptam I 

"sUshUpta-sthAna Eki-bhUthah: praj~nAnaGhana
EvA-nandamayO 

hyAnanda-bhUkchEthO-mukha: prAj~nyas~truteeyah:
pAdah:" II 


"The third state is called Praj~nya, of deep sleep

In which one neither dreams nor desires.

There is no mind in Praj~nya, there is no

Separateness; but the sleeper is not

Conscious of this. Let him become conscious

In Praj~nya and it will open the door

To the state of abiding joy." 
(translation: E.Easwaran "The Upanishads")



"Esha sarvEshwara Esha sarvagnya EshO'antaryAm-yEshu
yOnih:sarvasya prabhAvApyayow hi bhUtAnAm II


"This one (i.e. the "sUshUpta-sthAna") is the Lord of
All. This is omniscient, this is the inner controller
of all; this is the cause of every other thing; this
is the place of origin and the end of all beings".

(translation: N.S.Anantha Rangachar: "The Principal
Upanishads")



(to be continued)


dAsan,

Sudarshan


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