On Nov 3, 2005, at 7:37 PM, Peter wrote:
>
>
> --- Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
>
>>
>> Since integration of the senses with pure
>> consciousness is complete
>> in CC, one retains complete awareness of
>> surroundings during sleep.
>> That is, one would continue to hear sounds and feel
>> sensations, etc.
>>
>
> Lots of good stuff in your post, Vaj, but I have
> serious questions regarding the above. Awareness of
> surroundings, but not through the senses. The buddhi
> doesn't function on a gross level during sleep.
"The fourth", turiya, being really "beyond" the other three states,
when fully integrated beyond these three *still contains them and
retains access to their qualities.* Of course you are right on that
this contradicts the model we conceive of sleep. This also highlights
another unique function of unitary awareness, even at the level of
CC--it is possible to encompass more than one awareness. For example
someone who has integrated non-dual awareness 24/7 can simultaneously
"hear" several "objects" easily. In particualr I remember one yogi I
know who we would all go up after teaching and wait in line to talk.
I noticed he would always have two lines going at once. So naturally,
when I got up to talk I would pause when the person on the opposite
side would start talking and he turned away. He turned back to me,
said and gestured "continue", so I continued with my blab. At the
same time he turned away to another person who was talking at the
same time. I continued blabbing and eventually he turned back and
answered right as I finished, having heard eveything I said. So
that's what integration at a real deep level is like: no longer
trapped by linear sequences and unencumbered by simultaneity. The
inner mandala integrates all awarenesses.
Here's an old excerpt from one of the psychologists associated with
Sw. Rama that touches on this theme somewhat:
But this universal state is split off. It is experienced
separately. It is not remembered. The waking consciousness-even the
dreaming consciousness-are too limited to cope with it. It remains
unknown, a four-hour mystery that takes place each night, hidden
between our dreams leaving occasionally just a hint of "other-
worldliness."
Though this way of understanding dreamless sleep seems very
foreign to Western thinking, the Upanishads go even further. They
describe a fourth state. It is still more advanced than the third. It
is what results when the expanded consciousness is brought back from
dreamless sleep into dreaming and waking consciousness. This is
considered more evolved than the third state because it is the result
of a massive reintegration. The universality of deep sleep is carried
over into the other levels of consciousness. One maintains the all-
encompassing awareness, the serene and universal consciousness
constantly. He maintains contact with the brilliant light of cosmic
awareness while also remaining in touch with the usual levels of
waking consciousness. This "fourth state" is called turiya. It is the
perspective from which all can be observed, controlled and
integrated. It brings total awareness of all the compartments of the
mind, all the lower levels of consciousness.
For example, the dream state becomes totally accessible. A yogi
who is approaching this highest state of development can maintain
consciousness during the period that would normally be
dreaming. This explains how he might be able to practice continuous
deep sleep; how he would be conscious enough of the sleep cycle to
enter it where he wished and stay as long as he needed. It also
implies that one could maintain awareness of the external world even
while in the delta stages of sleep. If consciousness is truly
integrated, then from the vantage point of this higher level both the
dreamless sleep and the external world should be perceptible. This
contradicts all our customary ways of thinking about deep sleep, of
course. It is normally assumed that one is totally oblivious during
this deepest level of the sleep cycle, that he can be aware of
nothing around him.
In an experiment done with Swami Rama at the Menninger
Foundation, this usual conception of delta level sleep was found to
be inadequate.
After producing theta waves, the Swami said he knew exactly how
the inner states of awareness were arranged in respect to the brain
wave frequency bands. Then he said, 'tomorrow I will consciously make
delta waves for you.' I replied that I doubted that he would succeed
in that because he would have to be sound asleep in order to produce
delta. He laughed at this and said that I would think that he was
asleep but that he would be conscious of everything that occured in
the experimental room.
Before this test he asked how long I would like to have him
remain in the delta state. I said that 25 minutes would be alright
and he said he would bring himself out at that time. After about five
minutes of meditation, lying down with his eyes shut, the Swami began
producing delta waves, which we had never before seen in his record.
In addition, he snored gently. Alyce, without having told Swami that
she was going to say anything (she was in the experimental room
observing him during this test) then made a statement in a
low voice, 'Today the sun is shining, but tomorrow it may rain.'
Every five minutes she made another statement and after 25 minutes
had passed the Swami roused himself and said that someone with sharp
heels had walked on the floor above and made a click, click, click
noise during the test, and a door had been slammed twice somewhere in
the building and that Mrs. Green had said-and here he gave her
statements verbatim, except for the last half of the fourth sentence,
of which he had the gist correct though not the words. I was very
much impressed because in listening from the control room, I had
heard her sentences, but could not remember them all, and I was
supposed to have been awake.28
Yoga nidra can be considered "semi-samadhi" in which the
consciousness remains in an active state while the body, nervous
system and brain remain completely relaxed. This might be thought of
as voluntary, fully conscious sleep. The sleeper remains alert,
observing himself sleep. It is said that those who know the
techniques of yoga nidra, by slowly increasing the duration of their
meditation have reached the point where they no longer need the kind
of sleep that most people require. Advanced yogis consider spending
eight hours in sleep a waste of time. Gandhi made a practice of
determining before he went to bed exactly how long he would sleep-
averaging about two and a half hours. Napoleon Bonapart apparently
had a somewhat similar ability. It is said that he often slept while
on horseback, but that he was always fully alert the moment the
occasion demanded it.
This recalls the ancient Indian saying that a yogi should sleep
"like a dog naps": fully alert, though completely relaxed. His sleep
is under his control. Ordinary sleep is, by contrast, a state of deep
inertia. Yoga nidra, on the other hand, is a deep meditative state,
which approaches turiya, the state beyond
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