Self-Enquiry 6

Suddenly Awakened From Deep Dreamless Sleep

Suddenly being awakened from Deep Dreamless Sleep is regrettable.  Without thought, without a Body or World, we were happy in that state.  If allowed to drift right back into Deep Dreamless Sleep, we often will.  Dream is not quite as good, too much like this Waking Dream.  If waking up there seems to be repeated – that sense of Other, leaving Ego as what else.  Ego-referenced thoughts collectively seem a Mind, then Senses, Body, World.  To the Body is attributed Action, Motion, Doing. Birth, Life, Death.  Ego–"I" is identified with that Body image of Waking-state Mind, just as the Dream Personality had been identified with that Body image of Dream-state Mind.  Though both states feature Perception & Conception, the Real Self is not an Object of either Perception or Conception in either Waking or Dream.

The moment Ego is destroyed, there follows the direct experience of the Blissful Self.  Consisting solely of Ignorance, the Ego is destroyed by Knowledge alone.  Inquiring “Who am I ?”  with intensity, perseverance, & the most earnest desire to realize the Self is known, Ignorance vanishes, Bondage disappears, & Real Being, Ego-less & Bodiless, is self-revealed.