The mind which is inclined towards sleep prior to the state of sleep gets later dissolved into the state of sleep itself, and while, in this introverted inactive condition it had experienced only a slight reflection of the Bliss of Brahman, it now experiences in deep sleep the same Bliss in a completely withdrawn condition of oblivion and forgetfulness of the world. As there is no ego functioning in the state of deep sleep, one does not feel this experience personally. The personal consciousness is possible only when the ego is active as in the waking state. The Mandukya Upanishad mentions that in the condition of the deep sleep the Jiva is unified as it were, and becomes a mass of Consciousness, enjoys the Bliss of Brahman through the inactive psychoses of the mind, and itself becomes the embodiment of Bliss there. All its ramifications as thoughts, feelings, etc. get unified into one, and, as several grains may be unified into a lump of paste made out of them, all the variegated mental modifications of the waking condition become heavy laden when they get reduced to a harmonious state, as different drops of water may gather into one mass forming mist or snow. This is the medium of the manifestation of the Sakshi-chaitanya, or the Witnessing Consciousness, and it is Bliss itself, as has been explained already, and not merely a state of the absence of pain. It is an experience of positive delight. But with all this experience of Brahmananda in the state of deep sleep, the Jiva hastens back to the waking condition due to certain Karmas working to fulfil their demands in a different state of consciousness. It is on account of these unfulfilled Karmas that one does not continue to exist for long in any particular state of consciousness. There is a constant change of states on account of the change in the manifestation of the Karma forces. When there is waking up due to this reason, the Jiva, for a few minutes, after having experienced sleep, continues to remember the Bliss it experienced there, and retains this conscious condition as a faint recollection of the Bliss of Brahman manifested in sleep.

After the experience of deep sleep, there is a return of the mind to the waking world due to the activity of the Karmas not yet worked out. These Karmas direct the mind of the Jiva in certain particularised channels of activity, which is the business of the waking world. The Bliss of the Absolute experienced in sleep is forgotten by the Jiva instantaneously, because of the sudden switching on of the consciousness to something quite different from what was experienced previously. However, there is an inclination of the mind towards this Bliss experienced prior as well as posterior to the state of deep sleep. This is the reason why there is an unequalled happiness immediately just before and after deep sleep. This, however, does not mean that any inert condition of the personality has any spiritual significance because, here, in an ordinary inert state, there is not even a consciousness of the state in which one is at the time. It is essential to have a vigilant consciousness of the condition in which one finds oneself in order that it may be converted into a step in the spiritual ascent. If one knows very well that the silent condition of the mind without thoughts of objects is the conscious condition of oneself, then, naturally, it would have spiritual value. It is not enough if one is merely silent and sits quiet without doing anything. It is essential also to maintain a steady consciousness in that silent condition of the mind. This is exactly what differentiates between Nidra (sleep) and Samadhi (Super-consciousness).

Mere informative understanding also is not of any significance here. What is essential is experience by an actual living in it, and this cannot be possible unless one lives a dedicated life under an able preceptor and studies the scriptures with faith and devotion. Else, it would be like a person who said that he knew that the Vedas are four, and demanded the present promised to one who knew the four Vedas. Intellectual information is bare featureless description. It does not enter into one’s life and cannot affect one’s position. A mere reading of words is one thing and the understanding of their meaning is another, and even if there is correct understanding, actual realisation is far above and beyond it. Until actual realisation is attained, it is necessary to serve a preceptor who is established in true wisdom.

When there is the feeling of the possession of a desired object, there is also a temporary cessation of that desire, and the quality of Rajas in the mind which propelled the desire outwardly comes to a cessation. The Rajas having ceased for the time being, there is a quick introversion of the mind and a revelation of the stability of Sattva brought about as a consequence, which occasions a sudden reflection of the Bliss of the Atman within, which makes one happy at the time. Sensual happiness, therefore, is not something imported from the object outside, but really belongs to the Atman within, though, on account of ignorance, the Jiva does not know that this is the fact. The object merely acts as an outward agent causing a temporary cessation of Rajas in the mind and an accidental manifestation of Sattva, wherein the Atman is reflected perspicaciously. Thus, it becomes clear that every sensory happiness of the world is ultimately a distorted expression of Brahmananda. Yet the mistake here lies in the Jiva’s wrong notion that the pleasure has come from the object, and its consequent clinging to the object. It is this clinging that causes the sorrow of the Jiva, and its transmigratory life is occasioned by its desires due to love for pleasure. In this world there are only sense-pleasures of various kinds, but the true Bliss of Brahman is never felt at any time except during the short duration of the interval lying between the cessation of a thought and the rise of another. Broadly, we can classify happiness into three groups: 1) Bliss of Brahman experienced in direct realisation; 2) Impression or the Vasana, of it, experienced immediately after waking from deep sleep, etc; 3) Sensory happiness which is the reflection of Brahman Bliss through the psychological organs. Other than these three types, there is no happiness anywhere. However, it does not mean that there are three independent kinds of happiness; the latter two are only manifestations of Brahmananda, or Absolute Bliss. The Bliss of Brahman is manifest in the state of deep sleep in the way explained, and the mind and intellect, working in dream and walking, distract it by the operation of Rajas, externally. The same thing, in fact, appears as the cause in sleep and as effect in the other two conditions. These changes in the states of the Jiva are due to the working of the Karmas of the past, lying hidden as latent forces ready to germinate when suitable circumstances are provided. During the waking state, Consciousness pervades the whole body and is said to be specially active in the right eye; in dream it operates in the region of the throat, and in deep sleep it resides in the heart. There is a gradual widening of the field of Consciousness as it moves from sleep to waking. It is due to the identification of Consciousness with the objects in the waking state that one begins to feel that one is a human being, and so on. Such feelings are connected with bodies and are not relevant to Consciousness as such. The individual is, accordingly, happy, or unhappy, or indifferent, as and when the forces of the Karmas begin to work differently in the different stages of evolution. When there is a complete cessation of both happiness and sorrow, it means that the Karmas are not actively operating. By contact with physical objects, and also by generating of imaginary ideas, happiness and sorrow are possible, but when there is neither of these experiences there is joy which is not born of sense-contact, and in this condition of silence of the mind true spiritual bliss is revealed.

On account of there being a generality of egoism (Ahamkara) in these experiences, the Jiva  does not have actual experience of Brahman then, but only the inferential glimpse of it. Egoism is of two kinds, gross and subtle. The gross one is that by which one refers to oneself as “so-and-so”, meaning thereby that oneself is a body. The subtle ego is the simple feeling of “I am”, without any other association, such as the body, etc. The subtle ego-consciousness prevails even when there is an experience of spiritual happiness, when there are no thoughts of anything in particular, and there is silence of mental activity. Just as we can infer that cool water is in a pot by the feeling of coolness outside the wall of the pot, so can we infer that there should be an Absolute due to the very fact that there is cessation of thought and individuality-sense. In proportion to the forgetfulness of the ego by the practice of Yoga does one gain an insight into the spiritual happiness revealed through the development of a subtle vision within.

The Kathopanishad succinctly describes Yoga as a resting of the senses in the mind, the mind in the intellect, the intellect in the Cosmic Intelligence, and the Cosmic Intelligence in the Supreme Purusha. This is the way of what is called Nirodha-Samadhi, or Super-Conscious State achieved by complete annihilation of all psychic functions. The ego, in this condition, having been transcended and absorbed into larger dimensions of being, the Yogin ceases to be a person any more. The Lord Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavadgita that Brahmananda is the state where there is neither the perception of duality nor experience of sleep. The Lord exhorts us that by the intellect endowed with fortitude, the mind should be gradually brought under control, and when it is once subdued well and fixed in the Atman, one should think nothing at all. Whenever the mind moves astray due its fickle nature born of Rajas, then and there should it be brought back as one does horses with reins. The mind should, thus, be fixed in the Atman. That rare, purified soul whose mind has been purged of Rajas, that Yogin who has become veritably Brahman due to freedom from the impurity of desires, reaches the Bliss which is supreme, wherein, having been controlled by the practice of Yoga, one experiences the Atman by the Atman, and is immensely delighted thereby, wherein is found the absolute supersensible happiness to be visualised only by the higher rarefied intelligence, wherein established one does not shake, or oscillate from Truth at any time, by obtaining which one does not think that there is any gain other than that, and having rooted oneself in which one is not affected by even the most tormenting of sorrows - that is to be known as Yoga, the dissociation of oneself from union with pain. This is to be achieved by firm conviction in this spiritual ideal, without yielding oneself to despondency on the path. Thus constantly practising the Yoga of the Atman, the Yogin contacts the Bliss of Brahman and exists as Brahman, all his senses having been trained out and absorbed. But such control of mind is hard and may be compared to the difficulty of bailing the ocean with a blade of grass, uprooting the Meru mountain, or drinking fire.

In the Maitrayani Upanishad, Sage Sakayanaya instructs that when all the modifications of the mind subside, it reverts to its Source even as fire is extinguished when it is devoid of feeding material. Such a mind which seeks only Truth, which has gone back to its Source and which has turned away from all the objects of sense, sees this world of action as essenceless. The mind alone is Samsara (bondage) and, hence, it is to be enquired into. Whatever one deeply thinks, that one becomes. This is the eternal secret. By gaining tranquillity of mind, the effects of Karmas are overcome and there is the experience of the Atman by the Atman, of Bliss imperishable. If one’s yearning for objects due to confusion of mind were to be directed to Brahman, one would attain liberation at once, opines the Sage. The mind is twofold in nature - pure and impure. The impure one is enmeshed in desires while the pure one is that which is free from desires. The impure mind is the cause of one’s bondage, and the objectless mind is the way to Moksha. The Bliss of Samadhi which comes out of a total rise of the mind from Rajas and Tamas, by the establishment of itself in the Atman, is ineffable in nature.

A person of faith recollects the Bliss of Brahman experienced by him during the intervals of thoughts and feelings. There arises also the determination that all the variety of the world is spiritual, too. Once there is an insight of this nature, there can never again be any confusion in the mind in regard to the true nature of things. Nevertheless, this happiness which arises during the cessation of Rajas in the mind, is a manifestation of Brahman’s Bliss through the Sattva mode of the mind, and so it cannot be a perpetual condition of experience. All modes of Prakriti are transient. They change there position constantly like a wheel that is rotating. Knowing this, the seeker ignores even this happiness and tries to enter into the primary Bliss of the Atman, uncontaminated by the changes of Prakriti. A person who is well established in this state lives in the world unconcerned, yet perform his duties like anyone else, in the same manner as one who is serving under a master may do appointed duties as a routine and still be thinking in his mind what is really and inwardly cherished by him. Living in this world, and yet being conscious of the Divine Being, the hero attains internal peace, because of the fact that he is unconnected with what is happening either outside or inside. True heroism is the capability to subdue the senses and concentrate the mind on Brahman alone, even when the senses are impetuous and violent. As a person who throws down a load from his head feels that he has got rid of fatigue, one throws down the load of Samsara by conscious dissociation from it, and attains inner tranquillity. Happiness and misery do not affect him in the least, and it becomes immaterial to him whether there is a positive occasion for exhilaration or a negative one of grief, or whether he is indifferent. He is averse to anything that is an opposing factor to spiritual meditation, as a person is averse to adorning the body and looking beautiful in other’s eyes when there is an imminent chance of being swallowed up in the conflagration of a fire. The consciousness of the seer moves between the happiness of the world and the Bliss of the Absolute as and when occasion demands it, just as the power of perception in a crow moves between the two sockets of its eyes. Like a person who knows two languages, the seer experiences world-consciousness and also the spiritual consciousness of Brahman successively. He is not, as before, grieved or upset, due to his present novel perception, and is not annoyed or irritated by the pains of the world. He has a double experience simultaneously of world-life and Godliness, as a person standing waist-deep in the cool waters of the Ganga may experience coolness below and heat above from the Sun. In this manner, the seer recognises the Bliss of Brahman even in the waking state of Consciousness, not merely in the state of deep sleep. When he is established in such a state, he manages to retain this vision even in the dream state, but inasmuch as, together with the power of his spiritual experience, his past Karmas also work parallelly, he may have a twofold experience of spiritual Bliss and worldly pain. There is all this struggle between the inner and the outer, between the present and the past, between the power of Sadhana and the forces of Karma, until Jivanmukti is attained, where the two are reconciled. (Verses 1-134)