Sleep as a State of Consciousness in Advaita Vedānta

Preface

Preface Advaita Vedånta is a well-known philosophical system of India. One of the well-known doctrines associated with Advaita Vedånta is that of avasthåtraya, or of the three states of consciousness: waking (jågrat), dreaming (svapna), and deep sleep (suƒupti). Out of these three states of daily experience, Advaita Vedånta often draws on that of deep sleep to validate an argument, point a moral, or even adorn a tale. Despite this heavy reliance on the phenomenon of deep sleep in Advaita Vedånta, no broad-based study of it seems to have been undertaken from an Advaitic point of view. (If such an investigation has indeed been undertaken, I am not aware of it). This monograph is an attempt at such an analysis . As it tries to bring together several viewpoints under one cover, it is also an attempt at synthesis. There are, I believe, good reasons for undertaking this exercise. It might be of interest to those who work within Advaita Vedånta. It might also be of interest to those who work more broadly in the field of Vedånta. The doctrine of avasthåtraya and the associated catuƒpåda doctrine, although important for Advaitic thought, are not confined to it. They are shared by other schools of Vedånta. The monograph may also be of interest to those who work even more generally in the field of Hindu philosophy, for some of the differences among these schools turn on their analysis of deep sleep. The system of Yoga, for instance, speaks of nidrå or sleep as one of the five cittav®ttis or cognitive mental states.1 Moreover, the vii viii Preface argument it employs for postulating some form of continuous consciousness is also similar to the one employed in Advaita.2 However, while in Advaita the argument ultimately points to the reality of åtman (or more precisely the åtman as såkƒ¥), which is ultimately “without a second,” in Yoga it points to the reality of the puruƒa, of whom there are many.3 The relevance of a work such as this on Advaita Vedånta may even extend beyond the confines of Hindu philosophy, to those of Indian philosophy. The apparent cessation of consciousness in sleep serves to illustrate Buddhist ideas of a discontinuous but connected flow of consciousness, while it points in an opposite direction in Advaita. It is illuminating that some Buddhists even consider this difference a minor error (alpåparådha) on the part of Advaitins, apparently something not worth losing sleep over. Beyond Indian philosophy, this exercise may interest those who work in philosophy in general, as well as those who don’t work within it but attend to it. For it lifts up for consideration the relationship between philosophy and physiology. One might propose, for instance, at the risk of sounding reductionistic , that all, or most, of philosophical speculation has a physiological basis, that philosophizing about death is based on fear of death; that thirst for knowledge is merely the philosophical expression of a psychological drive, or that the concept of objectless consciousness is only the philosophized version of sleep. Alternatively, one might turn the tables and maintain, like the Advaitin, that the phenomenon of sleep is only a physiological earnest of a metaphysical reality. After all, empirically one cannot hope for absolute intimations, only intimations of the Absolute. The exercise may also not be without relevance for the comparative study of religion. An investigation of the nature of sleep, and deep or dreamless sleep in Advaita Vedånta may also illumine prevalent Western assumptions about consciousness states and “reality”. To our “common sense”, it seems absurd to argue that sleep reveals the true nature of things while waking is at bottom delusive. To ix Preface advaitins, however, the blurring of inner (“psychic”) appearance and outer (“physical”) appearance in dream (and the total collapse of such distinctions in sleep) reveals a fundamental truth (non-duality), not a lessened grasp on reality. From a different “common sense”, dreams suggest a “reality” (taken to be the external physical world) which is merely a mental creation. As dreamers believe their dreams are real (and not merely their mental creations ), we now believe waking is real, and not such a creation. From waking state, we “know” dreams aren’t real; in the same way, once we become brahman, we will know waking...