Sushupti is the pure state
Mr.C. sat near the Maharshi couch and read aloud the following verse from Vivekachudamani :
“The blissful sheath (Anandamayakosha) has its fullest play in deep sleep, whilst in the dream and waking states it has only a partial manifestation, occasioned by the experience of agreeable objects.”
Bhagavan commented:
“In sushupti (deep sleep) one enjoys a whole ocean of bliss like a king; whereas in the other two states the range of bliss is as wide as are the classes of men, from the king down to the penniless.”
Mr. C. Sushupti is often characterised as the state of ignorance.
Bh. No, it is the pure state. There is full awareness in it and total ignorance in the waking state. It is said to be ajnana (ignorance) only in relation to the false jnana (knowledge) prevalent in jagrat. Really speaking jagrat is ajnana and sushupti prajnana (wisdom). If sushupti is not the real state where does the intense peace come from to the sleeper? It is everybody's experience that nothing in jagrat can compare with the bliss and well being derived from deep sleep, when the mind and the senses are absent. What does it all mean? It means that bliss comes only from inside ourselves and that it is most intense when we are free from thoughts and perceptions, which create the world and the body, that is, when we are in our pure Being, which is Brahman, the Self. In other words, the Being alone is bliss and the mental superimpositions are ignorance and, therefore, the cause of misery. That is why Samadhi is also described as sushupti in jagrat, the blissful pure being which prevails in deep sleep is experienced in jagrat, when the mind and the senses are fully alert but inactive.
Recorded by S. S. Cohen in Arunachala’s Ramana Volume VII p. 263, 28th June 1948.
“The blissful sheath (Anandamayakosha) has its fullest play in deep sleep, whilst in the dream and waking states it has only a partial manifestation, occasioned by the experience of agreeable objects.”
Bhagavan commented:
“In sushupti (deep sleep) one enjoys a whole ocean of bliss like a king; whereas in the other two states the range of bliss is as wide as are the classes of men, from the king down to the penniless.”
Mr. C. Sushupti is often characterised as the state of ignorance.
Bh. No, it is the pure state. There is full awareness in it and total ignorance in the waking state. It is said to be ajnana (ignorance) only in relation to the false jnana (knowledge) prevalent in jagrat. Really speaking jagrat is ajnana and sushupti prajnana (wisdom). If sushupti is not the real state where does the intense peace come from to the sleeper? It is everybody's experience that nothing in jagrat can compare with the bliss and well being derived from deep sleep, when the mind and the senses are absent. What does it all mean? It means that bliss comes only from inside ourselves and that it is most intense when we are free from thoughts and perceptions, which create the world and the body, that is, when we are in our pure Being, which is Brahman, the Self. In other words, the Being alone is bliss and the mental superimpositions are ignorance and, therefore, the cause of misery. That is why Samadhi is also described as sushupti in jagrat, the blissful pure being which prevails in deep sleep is experienced in jagrat, when the mind and the senses are fully alert but inactive.
Recorded by S. S. Cohen in Arunachala’s Ramana Volume VII p. 263, 28th June 1948.