Swami Sarvapriyananda
Swami Sarvapriyananda Quotes about Sleep
If you are Turiya, pure consciousness, you don’t have problems. If you have problems, then in some sense you’re still identified with the body and mind … Problems are always there in the three states, but in the one reality beyond the three states there is no problem … Realizing yourself as that, then live your life in the waking state, in the dream state, and in the deep sleep state—you are not affected by any of it.
Consciousness alone is the reality and that which we take to be the non-conscious—matter, time, space, bodies, this world—these are appearances in consciousness, not apart from consciousness. Just like a dream when you go to sleep and dream—all the things that you see in the dream have no existence apart from your own mind. In the same way, this entire universe which we experience has no existence apart from consciousness … There is no reasonable, logical answer within the dream for a dream.
To think that I am this waking body and mind, this person, is an error based on ignorance of Turiya, my real Self … You think of yourself as this person—this seems to be the indubitable truth for us. What Vedanta claims is if you investigate in this method of the waking, dreaming, and deep sleep, you will come across the real you—not this person but the witness of this person, the Turiya in which this person is arising, shining, and falling again.
You are not really the waker. You are not really the dreamer. You are not the deep sleeper … Waking, dreaming, and deep sleep keep coming and going throughout our days, but behind it is one common consciousness, one common awareness.
You the Self are the witness of the three states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep … All of the three states (waking, dreaming, deep sleep) are appearances—they appear and disappear in one consciousness which is the Turiya, your real nature.