Tripura Rahasya

Sage Dattatreya

KING JANAKA said:

This conclusion is admitted by the wise. Sleep is the first born from Transcendence and also called the unmanifest, the exterior, or the great void. The state prevailing in sleep is the feeling 'There is naught'. This also prevails in wakefulness, although things are visible. But this ignorance is shattered by the repeated upspringing of thoughts. The wise say that the mind is submerged in sleep because it is illuminating the unmanifest condition. The submersion of mind is not, however, peculiar to sleep for it happens also at the instant cognition of things. 

I shall now talk to you from my own experience. This subject is perplexing for the most accomplished persons. All these three states, namely, samadhi, sleep and the instant cognition of objects, are characterized by absence of perturbation. Their difference lies in the later recapitulation of the respective states which illumine different perceptions. Absolute Reality is manifest in samadhi; a void or unmanifest condition distinguishes sleep and diversity is the characteristic of cognition in wakefulness. The illuminant is, however, the same all through and is always unblemished. Therefore it is said to be Abstract Intelligence. 

Samadhi and sleep are obvious because their experience remains unbroken for some appreciable period and can be recapitulated after waking up. That of cognition remains unrecognized because of its fleeting nature. But samadhi and sleep cannot be recognized when they are only fleeting. The wakeful state is iridescent with fleeting samadhi and sleep. Men when they are awake can detect fleeting sleep because they are already conversant with its nature. But fleeting samadhi goes undetected because people are not so conversant with it. O Brahmin! Fleeting samadhi is indeed being experienced by all, even in their busy moments; but it passes unnoticed by them, for want of acquaintance with it. Every instant free from thoughts and musings in the wakeful state is the condition of samadhi.