Reality, Eternal By Nature

Sri Ramana Maharshi

Q: For the jnani, then, there is no distinction between the three states of mind? 

M: How can there be, when the mind itself is dissolved and lost in the light of Consciousness? For the jnani all the three states are equally unreal. But the ajnani is unable to comprehend this, because for him the standard of reality is the waking state, whereas for the jnani the standard of Reality is Reality itself. This Reality of Pure Consciousness is eternal by its nature and therefore subsists equally during what you call waking, dreaming and sleep. To him who is one with that Reality, there is neither the mind nor its three states, and therefore, neither introversion nor extroversion. His is the ever-waking state, because he is awake to the eternal Self; his is the ever dreaming state, because to him the world is no better than a repeatedly presented phenomenon of dream; his is the eversleeping state, because he is at all times without the ‘body-am-I’ consciousness.

D: Should I then consider Sri Bhagavan as talking to me in a waking-dreaming-sleeping state?

M: Because your conscious experience is now limited to the duration of the extroversion of the mind,  you call the present moment the waking state, whereas all the while your mind has been asleep to the  Self, and therefore you are now really fast asleep. 

D: To me sleep is a mere blankness.

M: That is so, because your waking state is a mere effervescence of the restless mind. 

D: What I mean by blankness is that I am hardly aware of anything in my sleep; it is for me the same as non-existence. 

M: But you did exist during sleep.

D: If I did, I was not aware of it.

M: You do not mean to say in all seriousness you ceased to exist during your sleep! (Laughing). If  you went to sleep as Mr. X, did you get up from it as Mr. Y?

(To be continued)