[Advaita-l] The Foundations of Adhyāsa - 8 (The Three States)

[S Jayanarayanan]

H S Chandramouli hschandramouli at gmail.com wrote:
 
> I hope I have understood you correctly. My query was whether the Realized person ever experiences any of the
> three states, waking/dream/deep sleep, subsequent to Realization. And your response is that he never again does so.
> Assuming that my understanding is correct, how to reconcile it with the following observation made by you.  
> 
> << Ramana Bhagavan has talked about this in "Day by Day with Bhagavan" (5-1-46):
> 
>   "...as a matter of fact, our real state is what is sometimes called
>   turiya or the fourth state which is always as it is and knows nothing
>   of the three avasthas, viz., waking, dream or sleep. Because we call
>   these three avasthas we call the fourth state also turiya avastha.
>   BUT IT IS NOT AN AVASTHA, BUT THE REAL AND NATURAL STATE OF THE SELF.
>   When this is realised, we know it is not a turiya or fourth state,
>   for a fourth state is only relative, but turiyatita, the transcendent
>   state called the fourth state." >>.  
> 
> Sri Ramana Maharshi is considered to be a Realized person. From your above observation, is it not clear that
> he was back to the waking state after Realization ?  
> 
 
These are subtle questions that can be answered only after attaining true Jnana!
 
But here is a rough explanation from Ramana Maharshi Himself:
 
Day by Day with Bhagavan, 19-3-45:
 
"I remembered that some people once wanted to know if a
jivanmukta can have dreams. The doubt is natural, because we
believe jnanis have no sleep like ordinary men. So they may not
have dreams. I therefore asked Bhagavan about this matter, and
he said, “If the jnani can have a waking state, what is the difficulty
about his having a dream state? But of course as his waking state
is different from the ordinary man’s waking state, so his dream
state also will be different from the ordinary man’s dream state.
Whether in waking or in dream he will not slip from his real
state which is sometimes called the fourth or turiya state.”"
 
So it appears that although a Jnani may have so-called "waking" or "dream" states, there is a
big difference in his case that the UNDERLYING Turiya state is never "forgotten". In other
words, the Jnani does not have the *Adhyasa* of confusing the "waking" or "dream" to be real!
 
Ibid., 19-11-46:
 
“You are under the impression you are the body. So you think the
jnani also has a body. Does the jnani say he has a body? He
may look to you as having a body and doing things with the
body, as others do. The burnt rope still looks like a rope, but it
can’t serve as a rope if you try to bind anything with it. So long
as one identifies oneself with the body, all this is difficult to
understand. That is why it is sometimes said in reply to such
questions, ‘The body of the jnani will continue till the force of
prarabdha works itself out, and after the prarabdha is exhausted
it will drop off. An illustration made use of in this connection is
that of an arrow already discharged which will continue to
advance and strike its target. But the truth is the jnani has
transcended all karmas, including the prarabdha karma, and
he is not bound by the body or its karmas.”
 
This is from "Be as you are" by David Godman:
 
"The radio sings and speaks, but if you open it you will find no one inside.
Similarly my existence is like the space; though this body speaks like the radio,
there is no one inside as the doer."
 Regards,Kartik