Deep Sleep is not enlightenment

Every night you enter deep sleep. the mind disappears. The ego disappears. The world disappears. No stress. You I and disappear. No Wife. No Lover. No status. No Bank Balance. Zippo. Gone with the wind. Elvis has left the Stage. Yet, when you awaken, the ego returns. The Wife returns. The mistress returns. Stress returns. Status returns. So, one’s status is only worth 14 hours a day. Transient as water mirage in a desert. If deep sleep is so blissful, why are we not enlightened? This question reveals one of the deepest enigmatic truths in Vedanta. Deep sleep is not liberation. why? I will tell you. Because ignorance remains. Even though the mind is absent, the seeds of karma remain laden and latent, like an apple tree sleeping inside an apple seed. When morning comes, the mind returns, the ego returns, the I-thought returns, simultaneously with it, the world returns. Name and form return. The one who falls asleep as Dippack awakens again as Dippack—not as someone else. The latent tendencies remain unchanged. Death, however, is different. The body falls away. Yet the karmic stream continues. According to Vedanta, rebirth follows the momentum of karma—the preference of the ego. This is the mystery of death. What then determines the next birth? The writer answers: Pandora’s box, Sanchita Karma—the accumulated store. Prarabdha Karma—the portion now bearing fruit. Agami Karma—the karma created through present action. But, Nirvikalpa samadhi appears similar to deep sleep. Here, the mind is silent, viz., thoughts cease, imagination cease, chatter cease. Time and Space cease. With the Seer, the Seen and seeing cease. Experience cease. But there are profound differences. In deep sleep, there is no conscious recognition, but Nirvikalpa samadhi happens in full awareness in the waking state. For many seekers, there is a period of profound inwardness. Thoughts become quieter. The fascination with the world begins to fade. Silence deepens. Yet the final breakthrough comes as grace. Preparation arises beforehand as dream cease, chatter cease, thoughts cease. The attraction of possessions begins to fade. The taste of profound samadhi arises beforehand. Then, sudden grace of pure awareness shines by itself, not as a person or individual consciousness, not as a thinker nor as a seer, but as the Self. This realization lies beyond thought, language, and religious identity. Whether one is called Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, or Muslim, Truth itself does not change. Only the words used to describe it differ. Only the ones who have been in this state know. Such a state cannot be fully described. It can only be known by direct realization. Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi explained that even Nirvikalpa samadhi is not the final state, nor the ultimate attainment. Only by the grace of the Self, one may enter it and one may leave it. But anything that begins and ends cannot be the highest reality. Nor the ultimate attainment. The self is always present, whether the mind is active or silent. However, reminiscence of this state removes ignorance. Thus, the wise trample blissfully through life, for the subtle aura of the Sahaja state surrounds everything. Therefore, the highest realization is Sahaja samadhi. The natural state. Effortless. There is no need to withdraw from the world. One walks, speaks, works, loves. Yet, inwardly, remains established in the Self. This is freedom from ignorance. Or Bliss. Or Moksha. Or Nirvana whilst living. Sahaja samadhi is like a vast sunrise over a still ocean, merging into brilliant white light, i.e., into pure Awareness. Although deep sleep gives us rest, Nirvikalpa samadhi reveals the Self as pure awareness. Sahaja samadhi is to abide or live as the Self or Awareness every moment. The goal is not to escape the world and run-off to a forest solitude or ashram. It is to be in the world right where you are and discover the timeless reality, the solitude that you naturally are, that has never been separate from you. Know that and be free and blissful.