Sleep as a State of Consciousness in Advaita Vedānta

Notes

Notes Preface 1. Yogas¶tra I.6. Also see I.10. 2. See Satischandra Chatterjee and Dhirendramohan Datta, An Introduction to Indian Philosophy (Calcutta: University of Calcutta, 1950), p. 301–302. 3. Two other aspects of the discussion of sleep in yoga also seem relevant. Attention is drawn to them by Andrew O. Fort in The Self and Its States: A States of Consciousness Doctrine in Advaita Vedånta (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1990) as follows: (1) “Betty Heimann makes some interesting remarks about sleep and Yoga, arguing that the goal of yoga is exactly what occurs ‘naturally’ in sleep—the cessation of wishes, concepts, and the ‘I’. Such cessation brings wisdom and release, according to speculation in the older Upani∑ads. As is made explicit in Maitri VI.25, sleep’s ‘naturally’ blissful unity becomes the model for yogic unity. The difference, of course, is that the yogic reduction of perception and painful desires is done by controlled self-restraint, rather than happening ‘unconsciously ’ as in sleep. Thus, the yogin aspires to a permanent detachment from perceptions and desires which is only temporary in sleep. “This point-of-view is intriguing and partially convincing, yet I have found few references in Yoga texts to the blissful unity of sleep or sleep as a model of release; rather, it is referred to as tåmasic dullness. While in theory sleep might seem a promising model, yogic experience appears to have shown that in sleep ‘nothing happens’ (not No-thing happens)” (p. 63); (2) in Yogas¶tra I.10 “there was evidently some debate about whether or not sleep is a 139 v®tti, as one never ‘knows’ one is asleep. Vyåsa argues that sleep is remembered in waking, so some notion must be present. One cannot have a notion of absence as utter nothingness, so the notion must be of the absence of waking and dream. Sleep also may be objectless and ‘one-pointed,’ but it is this way due to being covered by tamas (dullness), thus it is far from (and must be restricted to reach) samådhi.” (p. 69, note 57). 4. Ibid., p. 8. 5. Ibid., p. 1. Introduction 1. D. B. Gangoli, The Magic Jewel of Intuition: The Tri-Basic Method of Cognizing the Self (Holenarasipur: Adhyatma Prakashan Karyalaya, 1986) p. 43. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid., p. 44. 4. Ibid., p. 45, emphasis added. 5. Ibid., p. 56. 6. Ibid., p. 58–59. 7. Ibid., pp. 93–94. 8. Ibid., p. 101. 9. Ibid., p. 98. Chapter One 1. Karl H. Potter, ed., Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies: Advaita Vedånta up to Ía‰kara and His Pupils (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1981) p. 7. Notice that this proposition implies deep sleep as evidence in support of Brahman as blissful pure consciousness . “Concerning this latter point, consider the fact that waking concentration is so tiring, and deep sleep so refreshing. Might it not be that approaching brahman in sleep enlivens one, while wallowing in waking’s superimposed conditioning is exhausting ?” (Andrew Fort, op. cit., p. 13, note 30). Andrew Fort also notes that “the first mention of sleep as blissful, not using 140 Notes to Chapter 1 senses and knowing nothing that I have found is Íatapatha Bråhma£a X.5.2.11–15” (ibid., p. 25, note 17). 2. Quoted in Eliot Deutsch and J.A.B. van Buitenen, A Source Book of Advaita Vedånta (Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii. 1971) p. 13. 3. William M. Indich, Consciousness in Advaita Vedånta (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1980) p. 97. 4. Andrew Fort, The Self and Its States: A States of Consciousness Doctrine in Advaita Vedånta (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1990), p. 8. For a criticism of this position from a transpersonal psychological perspective as offered by Charles Tart, see ibid., p. 118–119. 5. P. Sankaranarayanan, What is Advaita? (Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1970) p. 38. 6. Andrew Fort, op. cit., p. 7–8. Chapter Two 1. Thomas J. Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition (Belmont, California: Dickenson Publishing Company, Inc., 1971) p. 38, 45; Eliot Deutsch, Advaita Vedånta: A Philosophical Reconstruction (Honolulu : East-West Center Press, 1969) p. 5 note 4. 2. Thomas J. Hopkins, p. 39. 2A. Ibid., p. 40. 3. S. Radhakrishnan, ed., The Principal Upaniƒads (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1953) p. 262. 4. Thomas J. Hopkins, p. 40–41. 5. Ibid., p. 46–47. 6. S. Radhakrishnan, ed., p...