Mandukya Karika Lecture 085 on 11 January 2023
Full Transcript
We have been studying the second chapter of the Mandukya Parishat. The second chapter is called Vaitathya Prakarna, means that which is an appearance, false. Not non-existent, but false. It is called Mithya. Let us not be confused by this word Mithya. Mithya means seeing an object upon some other object. So, there is something real, seeing it, there are certain resemblances with another object. And we mistake that original object as the second object. So, it is partial resemblance, meaning partial knowledge. So, it is not unreal. It is seemingly real, incomplete realness. At all times let us keep this in mind.
So, is the waking state Mithya? Yes, because its substratum is thurium. Is the dream State Mithya? Yes, its substratum too is thurium. Is the sleep state Mithya? Yes, that too. Thurium means the pure consciousness looks at itself in a mirror which only distorts its image. That is called these three states. Only these three States and no more of them. So, this was the subject we were discussing. In fact, this is the whole subject of Shankaracharya when he was asked the essence of what you have written Brahma Satyam. That means Brahman is the substratum, that is the only reality. Jagat Mithya, Brahman looked at through the prism of time, space, and causation. Which is another name for the mind appears to be the waking, dream, and sleep states successively one after the other. So, what we are seeing is not non-existent. What we are seeing is Brahman only. This is a fact we must always keep in our mind. Waking state, let us say is a partial manifestation of Brahman. Dream state is a partial manifestation of Brahman. Deep sleep state is a partial manifestation of Brahman. It is not a complete manifestation. This is being discussed in every scripture. But when the mind becomes purified, these limitations of the mind, which are called time, space, and causation, they get removed, and the mind becomes a completely neutral reflector. This is called Chitta Shuddhi or pure mind. As Ramakrishna says, then it doesn't limit what is in front of it, which is Brahman, which is me or I and reflects, then the person realises I am Brahman. This is what is called Yogaha Chitta Vrutti Nirodaha. Nirodaha doesn't mean suppression. It means make the mind completely remove all the limiting factors, which are time, space, and causation. It reflects the Atman Purushaha exactly as it is without any distortion. What does the mind, which is otherwise called, time, space, and causation do? It creates limitations, separates one from the other. This limitation or separating one from the other is called agnana or ignorance. So, when a person gets gnana this separating factor gets destroyed forever. Then, as long as the mind is working, still a person sees this world full of names, forms and qualities. But he doesn't mistake. Just tell when we see a drama or a cinema, a story, people, objects, mountains, trees, birds. But we enjoy them. That is called Leela. And at the same time, we know they are all made-up of only one material and that is called light. Light is the man which we see, the woman, the mountain, what is called living being and non-living being, of Fair complexion, black complexion, or mixed complexion, good, bad, everything is made-up of light. That is the realisation. Once we know the whole world becomes like a cinema, which is called Leela.
So, in our previous Gaudapada Karikas, he is trying to tell that there is no reality. Waking State is one kind of limitation, dream state is another kind of limitation, deep sleep is another kind of limitation. So, the goal in life is to get rid of all these limitations. These limitations are the playthings of the mind. It is the mind alone which creates even the deep sleep state through the causal state in the causal world called Pragnya called Karana Sharera creates Karana Prapancha, where the duality is not there. But it has not disappeared completely. It is there in seed form. That is why it is called Karana. After some time, it again manifests in all its power and glory as the waking and the dream state.
This is the essence of this entire second chapter. I would say third chapter, fourth chapter, every chapter in every blessed scripture, every teaching of his age in the whole world. Now the opponent brings some objections. Opponent means our own mind which creates a lot of doubts, or misinformation, or wrong interpretations. This is called Purva Paksha or opponent and especially five objections he raises. What is the first objection? First, what is Gaudapada’s point? Every one of us have classes only in the waking state. And we have dreams. And then when we come out of the dream state, all of us 150%, we say that dream is just an imagination. But the waking is completely real. And Gaudapada is telling that is not true. The waking state is as unreal as the dream State. For that an example can be taken. Supposing I am having a dream. And when I am dreaming, I don't call it dream state, I call it waking. And then imagine I work very hard and then I lie down on the bed or on the sofa and sleep overtakes me. I then have a dream. So, in the dream state from the dream waking I enter into a dream dream, and then I wake up again, I find myself sitting in the sofa. Oh, oh, I dozed off and I had this dream! And then I say all that dream is nothing but my imagination, but what I am seeing in front of me, my sitting on the sofa, my watching the cinema or cricket or whatever this is all very real, but my dream is unreal. And exactly that is what we do upon waking up. The first dream for the first dreamer, the second dream is unreal, and the first dream is real so long as the dream is continuing. But when I wake up that entire first dream is also unreal, the second dream is also unreal, but I think this waking state is real. So, this is our doubt. How could you say? For that also one Swami was narrating an example. When the Swami, who was a pucca Advaitin, was arguing like this. A scholar who was a householder said all your arguments is completely wrong! Probably he was a follower of Ramanuja. The Swami asked, how am I wrong? Supposing I take a pot and then strike your head with that pot. Do you call it unreal? Swami said yes, I will call it unreal because no pot is ever going to strike me. Of course, that scholar could not understand the trend of what Swami wants to convey.
So, shall I do it? Yes, you can do it.
Will you not feel pain?
Yes, I will feel pain.
Then is not the pot striking you causing you pain?
No, the pot is not making me painful. It is the clay which is making me painful. Because all the pots are made of clay.
The Swami wants to say the whole universe in nothing but consciousness. Like in the dream somebody has come and beaten you black and blue, do you feel pain or not? Are you not crying out? Yes! Exactly in the same way, in the waking state also, whatever happens I will also cry out.
But suppose I get Brahmagnana and I wake up from this, what is called waking dream, then I will say it is Brahman only. Just as upon waking up a person that is being beaten in the dream doesn't feel any injury, there will not be even the slightest injury.
But you know, we have clever Fellows all over the world. What do they say when there is some injury? This knowledgeable person says that injury was not caused by the other person beating me, I was struggling in the dream to get out of that fellow. Then accidentally I fell on the floor and got injured. It is my own falling that has caused this injury, not that animal or that person. Anyway, what is the fact? We are not convinced; we are the objectors. There are five such objections. What are they?
The first objection is utility. So, in this waking world, I can drink, I can eat, my thirst is quenched, my hunger is appeased so I can have a Bank balance. But it is absolutely of no use in the dream! The answer is that in dream also, if you have hunger the dream food satisfies you, the dream water quenches your thirst, and that dream Bank balance can purchase anything that is an object available in the dream. But, of course, remember always when we are dreaming, we don't call it dream. It is absolute reality. When we wake up into another state then we say that it is of no use. So, the utility theory falls by the roadside. Because if you have not eaten here, you are starving, you go to sleep and you have a dream where there is plenty of food and you are eating there. Then you wake up, it doesn't create that utility of both the state of waking and dream are the same.
Then continuity. What is continuity? No man dreams the same dream the same way. But every time we wake up from a dream state, we see the same house. For that the short and to the point answer is do you have this doubt in the dream state or in the waking state? As a dreamer do you find this problem of continuity? Why did I find this same house? Why did I find the same parents?
Do you have any doubt about it? Absolutely not, it is the most natural thing. In dream also there was a baby, I grew up, I studied in such college, I am working now, I am prepared to get retired. The thought of continuity continues in the Dream State. You have no doubt otherwise you will be suffering, who am I! Because continuity is one of the things that gives us identity. So that objection falls by the roadside.
Then the third objection. There are certain unique experiences. I might have dreamt I have seen God. For that Gaudapada says suppose you read a book, a nice book about Ramakrishna's life, or Krishna’s life, Bhagavatam. And you go to dream, you find yourself in Brindavanam and you have sporting pleasures with Bhagavan Krishna. It has nothing to do with the dream. You may say, no, I never read Bhagavatam in this life. Maybe you have read in your past life, or maybe you heard it in your childhood. You don't remember now. So unique experience is no proof that dreams are real. This is the opponents's assertion that if I had some unique experience in dreams, that proves that dreams are real. No, there is no such thing. It all depends upon the mind. It is a play of the mind. It is the imaginations of the mind. That is the third objection is squashed.
The fourth objection is that in this waking state, what I see through my sense organs is real and what I imagine about them in my mind is unreal. External is real and internal is unreal. Objective existence is real, subjective existence is unreal. Gaudapada squashes it saying in the dreams also you have internal and external. You are sitting in your room in the dream. And you look out through your window and some fellow who is haunting you is passing by. He might not have seen you, but you start getting haunted by the very thought. There also outside is real. That is objective existence is real. That means what your mind thinks about the external objects is unreal. Same experience, exactly like in the waking state. So, that argument is also completely squashed! I gave the example, if in your dream state, you have another dream. Upon waking up you say whatever I dreamt in the dream state. Of course, you don't say it is a dream state at that time, but that is your waking state. I dreamt and that is all my imagination. But now I woke up and this is all very real. The same thing happens in the waking state also. There is external and internal. Both are unreal. We must understand it clearly. Supposing you see a person and let us say that person is very friendly with you, or you maybe cross with that person. He may be a good person or a bad person. You may have two different interpretations and your interpretations makes your own world. It is a reality for you. It either makes you happy or unhappy. Each one of us are living in our own peculiar world. And that is what I want you to understand that none of us are really living exactly in the same world. Each one of us are living in our own private individual world. Just as our dream is private the external waking state is also private. Because whatever may be outside, but the way we look at it, and then think about it, come to understand it, makes our own private world. So, the fourth objection that objective existence is real and subjective existence is unreal, is also squashed.
Then fifth, waking state things are very clear, whereas in the dream state they are very vague. This is the last objection.
Then Gaudapada counters and says when are you talking about dream is vague? Are you talking when you are dreaming or are you talking when you are awake? Because waking state experiences are very clear. To whom? To the waking person. The dream state experiences are very clear. To whom? To one who is in the dream state. While you are in the dream state you don't say, Oh, things are very vague, I can't find out my way, it is all very unclear. Do you say that? No! You see everything crystal clearly to say that. And even in the waking state also are things very clear? Swami Dayananda gives a beautiful example. There is semi darkness, and you are walking. Suddenly you see a snake. You jump and try to run away, sputam. So, is this running away, seeing the snake very sputam or not? You say it's very clear. Is it clear? Bring the light and you will see it is only a harmless rope. Not at all a snake. So, you mistake some people also because of their voice because of their face cut, everything. How much of killing is done by the people! So, when many people went to Africa, these are not human beings, these are all animals and they were killed, they were captured. They were made slaves. The Western countries, especially America and UK, etc are full of these so-called human beings, whom they never considered human beings at that time. And I suspect even now, they do not give equal value with a white skinned person. Indians, by the way, are very proud. We are not treated like that. So, many incidents show that for a white skinned person anybody who is not having white skin is suspect. The waking state is very clear, and the dream state is not clear. That argument is also squashed. This we have discussed. I'm just reminding you.
With this we will go into the eleventh karika. So, what was Gaudapada saying? He is saying that the whole universe, Jagat, that we experience. And, in that universe we have the dream state. Just as we admit dream is unreal, seemingly real. This waking state is no different. It is also seemingly real. That means waking is also mithya and Dream also is mithya and by proxy deep sleep is also mithya. Then the opponent comes up. So, there must be somebody who is experiencing and knowing dream is unreal, waking is unreal, deep sleep is also unreal. There must be somebody who is different from the waker, who is different from the dreamer, who is different from the sleeper. Because to judge any change that takes place there must be an unchanging consciousness. Therefore, whom are you talking about? Because I experience waking and for me it is very real. I experience a dream and upon waking up I find it is only my imagination. So, this is the opponent. Remember opponent means all of us. All of us who cannot think deeply Bhagavan Gaudapadacharia brings out our own doubts, which might have come, which might be there right now, or which might pop up in the future. He is answering so that we don't need to waste time ourselves. So, he is raising the doubts and also squashing them telling that everything is a passing show. Of this statement there can be no doubt. Why? Because where the dream state comes it begins and comes to an end. The waking state begins and comes to an end when we start having dreams. When we come out of deep sleep state, the waking state starts may be at 5:00 o'clock in the morning. This is also another Maya as 5:00 o'clock in India is maybe morning in America. You cannot even say it is morning. You have to say in every country waking state is different, but one thing is common. Waking starts and ends, dream starts and ends, deep sleep starts and ends. We have day, we have night and we have offices everything in this world. Everything is changing, my body is changing, my mind is changing, every blessed object in this world is completely changing. Whatever is changing is unreal. Trikala Abaditam alone is Satyam. That which never undergoes any change alone is real, Satyam, the Truth. That definition we must keep in mind. Therefore, even to know that something is changing there must be an unchanging consciousness. Who is that unchanging consciousness? That was the question the opponent raises. For that Gaudapada in the 12th karika gives an explanation, Kalpathi Atma Atmanam Atma Devaha Somayaya sayeva buddhyate bedam Vedanta Nischayaha. Gaudapada gives a crystal-clear categorical answer. I'm not telling I'm only reflecting on the essence of the scriptures, Vedanta Nischayaha. That means, every Vedantic Scripture, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Brahma sutras, Puranas everything is telling that God creates. This is what is called Leela. Now the idea of Leela comes. So, when the opponent asked then who is it that knows the waking, dream, and deep sleep, as if he is witnessing a drama, a cinema? Because anything that changes can be called a drama or a cinema. Who is it? Just in case you think you don't understand it just imagine a daydream. We all know daydreams. That we have after a heavy lunch also. Not necessarily, but after a light lunch also we lie down and suddenly we go into a half dreaming state. Not completely dreaming, not completely awake, but in between there is a state when we imagine I have become a big officer and so many people obey me. My salary has increased by 1000 fold, my business has become successful. Every stupid fellow, (Sorry to use that word!) before marriage, thinks that I will be in heaven after marriage. After marriage he comes to know that he wanted another heaven, not this kind of Heaven!
Anyway, so, there is a utility for all Grihastha life also. Because only through Grihastha life we become Vanaprastha and through Vanaprastha, after some time, we become Sannyasins, but we have to wake up from this so-called dream. There is this understanding that everything is changing. How do we know everything is changing? For that there is a law. What law? There must be somebody who is unchanging. Then only we can know what is changing. You must be standing there without moving if you want to count how many cars passed in front of you. If you also start moving, then you will never be able to count. You will not know how many cars, in each minute, have passed in front of you. For one minute at least, for example, you must stand completely still and go on counting cars which pass from left to right, right to left, from back to front, front to back especially if you stand at a signal. So, this is something which we must understand. Only an unchanging somebody consciously, unchanging conscious being alone can witness and understand what is changing. It is not difficult to understand that every single day every living creature is experiencing waking dream as well as deep sleep state. And they're all changing one after the other, one state changes into the other state. And whatever is changing is a changing object. As we discussed elaborately every object requires a subject who is unchanging. And that unchanging subject must be conscious, one without a second, unborn, eternal. Then only it can witness life after life what is happening in this body mind etc. So, this was the question. What was the question? Who is that conscious being, who is unchanging, who is eternal, who is one? That is a simple equation, Atma. But the Purvapakshi is not using the word Atma. But Gaudapada puts it into his mouth There must be somebody, so that somebody must be unchanging. There is only one thing in this world which is unchanging and that is Atma. The whole universe consisting of waking, dream, as well as a deep sleep it. It is this one Deva. Deva means he who is endowed with pure consciousness. It is by his Maya he created his own mind which is called Ishwara. He created his own Maya, which is called Maya or Prakruti, that is to say time, space and causation. He is imagining just sitting as we are watching a cinema. In the Puranas, it has been explained in a crystal-clear manner. This is called Bhagavat Leela, Krishna Leela, Ram Leela. That is, even in Advaita Vedanta, they have to say they cannot escape. So, Kalpa Ithi Atma Atmanam, Atma Devaha Swa Mayaya. And then he creates himself as he imagines himself as the Jiva, as the waking state, as the dream state, as the deep sleep state. He himself is the creator, he himself is the created, he himself is going through all these three states. Then sometimes he becomes tired and says I don't want to imagine now. I want to be just myself, which is called Thurium. This is the short answer. So, the self-effulgent Self, a pure consciousness which is illumining itself as well as everything else, called Atma, imagines itself by the power of its own Maya. This is the definite conclusion of Vedanta. This is what Vedanta tells as the sport of the Brahman, Brahma Lila. So, in this stanza Gaudapada is answering the question that pure consciousness gets itself deluded by its own delusion, and by itself projects how this pluralistic world, which is nothing but itself, it being the all-pervading and eternal. A very peculiar world!
Swamaya Swaeve buddhyate kalpayate. He who imagines. The name of the Atma is Devaha, the self-effulgent. One; Atmanaha, through its own mind; Atmanam, it itself is the subject, it itself is the object. With the help of Swamayaya, its own mind he thinks I have become the Jagat, I have become the Panchabhutas, I've become the Jiva and Jagat. The individual cells as well as the experienced objects, everything I have become; Swayeva Buddhyate, that Deva or Atma becomes all the differences: This is with life, this is without life, this is a mountain, this is a river, these are two human beings, this is an Indian, this is a non-Indian, this is white skinned, this is black skinned, brown skinned, yellow skinned, whatever skinned etc, this is a man, this is an animal, this is a bird, this is a plant, these are mountains, rivers, etc without any consciousness. He himself is imagining and he gets deluded, Swamayaha. The question is Atman is pure consciousness. That is Brahman is pure consciousness, Shuddha Chaitanya. Shuddha, Nithya, Mukta Swaroopaha. Can it get really deluded? No! Like a poet, he comes and writes, I'm flying in the sky, I'm a huge bird and both my wings are spanning huge expanses, I am travelling at thousands of mph, I'm moving to other planets, other worlds. He sits in his easy-chair and goes on imagining. Is he conscious? He must be conscious. Because we imagine also, there must be an imaginer and he must be conscious. If he is sleeping, that means if he is unconscious, he cannot even imagine. Not only that, he is completely aware, just as we are aware of this world, though we don't take notice of it. This is the greatest discovery of the modern psychology. The mind is divided into three layers, the subconscious, the unconscious and the conscious. We are barely aware of the conscious. With great difficulty we become a bit aware of the subconscious, what I ate yesterday. But even ten days back what I ate is not easily rememberable, not to speak of what happened in my last birth or in my childhood. And unconscious, so many impressions are completely accumulated from Jenma Jenmantra, I am not at all conscious. But this being like a poet he is weaving poems after poems. In fact, Swami Vivekananda says Bhagawan is writing poems. This universe is nothing but the unending poem of the creation of Bhagavan as a poet. By the way, Brahman is called a poet also. So, this is what it's telling. What is the point? In reality Brahman never becomes deluded. It is impossible for the consciousness to become unconscious. Therefore, the Puranas prefer to call it Brahma Lila. That is a marvellous subject which we get in the third chapter of the Keno Upanishad. So, everything is my divine mother's Lila.
That is what Sriramakrishna says. So, whatever the imaginer imagines it only an imagination. It looks like real imagination. Have you heard this word real imagination? There is nothing called real imagination. Either it is real or it is imaginary. But we all want to have daydreams as our imaginations, we wish to create all those things. So, the imagination is unreal, and the imaginer alone is real. That is what we will say. The consciousness is illumining everything in this world. It illumines the waking state otherwise the Vishwa cannot experience. It is illumining the dream world otherwise Taijasa cannot experience the Swapna Avastha. And as Pragna is illumining completely the deep sleep state, otherwise he cannot experience it. Just see the paradox of it! I hope you are getting the paradox of it. The paradox is if the Pragna is completely aware, then why can't we remember that as Pragna? We are remembering. Yes, that is the speciality of Pragna. I don't want to wake up as if I know everything. I want to wake up as if I don't know. But he is saying I know everything. And what I pretend I do not know is the power of imagination of the Pragna. That is why he says I only slept. And I am very happy. That is wonderful! Now, how does this person do? Continuing the above answer, so how does the Lord imagine? Really there is no answer because you have to go to the Lord and say how did you manage to imagine all those things? Simply he will smile. But you know what happens? When you go to God there is no world. And when there is no world the question of how did you imagine the world doesn't arise at all. All these questions and answers are from our ignorant point of view. Because it is from our ignorant point of view there can be no answer. Even in our dream state or deep sleep state we never put these questions. It is only in the waking state that we put all these questions. Generally, we put all these questions because we are profoundly unhappy in the waking state. If I had been there, I would have created a better world. By the way, this is an argument that comes if I was the creator. I, the Brahman, is the creator of the waking state etc. I would have imagined myself in a much better way. In fact, the answer is, you imagine yourself in this manner, so I want to be unhappy. It is your earnest desire you are the creator of this profoundly unhappy state and that is why you made that a reality. And now you're thinking that it is a reality, thinking that I'm very unhappy is nothing but pure imagination. Just like in your dream, somebody is beating you and then you are feeling the pain. And then when you wake up, you'll understand nobody is beating you, but rather you are beating yourself. So you wake up from that state to escape that beating state. So, you wake up from this waking state and then you don't need to attend any more of this Mandukya Karika classes. And then you will be happiest person on earth! I may be unhappy you are not listening to my classes!
So, continuing, how does he imagine? That means by what way. In the 13th Karika it is being said,
Vikaroti Aparan Bhavan Antaschitte Vyavastitha Etamsa Bahirchitte Evam Kalpaithi Prabhuhu.
The Lord manifests diversely the mundane things existing in the mind. Turning the mind outwards he creates what we call this waking world. Turning inside he will also create the dream world. And after some time, he says, now I want to be free not from the samsara but from this unnecessary labour of imagining. He goes into the deep sleep state. Very profound and at the same time it looks unbelievable naturally so! So, let us take the Lord manifests diversity.
Vikaroti Aparan Bhavan Antaschitte Vyavasthita.
That means, whatever thoughts are going on. Dream also is an internal state of the mind.
Vikaroti Antar Bhavan - Inside the mind; Aparan Bhavan - some type of thoughts
Because every object is a thought even in the external world, you see a tree, but you don't know.
But when you see a tree a thought in the form of that tree enters your mind. That is, you know only about that object you choose to call a tree through your thought. If the thought disappears the entire tree also disappears. We are doing it all the time. That is what we call waking state is also my imagination and the dream state is also my imagination. The Lord himself, in this case, is imagining that I am the world, I divide myself into the living and non-living. What we call Adhyathmika, Adhibhoutika, Adhidaivika, everything is all my imagination. Evam Kalpayate Prabhuhu. Prabhuhu means that Brahman, that pure consciousness imagines. Don't ask why did God create the world, why is he imagining like that. Don't ask because there is no answer. That is what Bhagavad Gita also reflects,
Mayadhyaksena Prakrtih Suyate sacaracaram
Hetunanena kaunteya jagadviparivartate
I will be the supervisor, I by myself have created the Prakruti. So, the mixture of myself and Prakruti is called Ishwara. When there is no Prakruti I am called Brahman. I imagine I have created a Prakruti, or Maya, that is called Ishwara; Ishwara, the creator and sacharacharam, the moving and non-moving, the living the non-living; Mayadhyaksena, because without consciousness, nothing, even imagination is not possible! But it is all created just as we create our entire dream state. This is the creation of the Divine Lord. So, because of that Kaunteya, O Arjuna; jagadviparivartate – all in the world are acting and moving and being run only because of my presence in this way. That is what the Divine Lord says. So, here we must imagine Maya. The Universal mind is called Maya, the individual Maya is called the mind. So, as we do and create our dream with our own individual mind, so also the Bhagawan creates all those.
Now the opponent is also coming with some objection, which we already discussed. Gaudapada uses some peculiar words which lead to much confusion for us to understand the fourteenth Karika. This is what he is telling. But it is very easy for us to understand. Things that exist internally as long as the thought lasts, and things that are externally related to two points of time are all imaginations. Their distinction is not caused by anything else excepting our imagination. Gaudapada wants to say that whether it is a dream state or waking state they are both exactly not real, mithya, seemingly real, limited reality. For that he uses peculiar words, Chittakala and Dvayakala. What is Chittakala? Supposing you're sitting on your easy-chair, and you are imagining I am in a beautiful hotel, I am being served by beautiful beings. How long is it real? So long as your imagination lasts. After that when you wake up from that imagination everything disappears. This is what he calls chittakala. Chittakala means so long as your thought, Chitta, lasts. So long as your thought lasts, that imagination is seemingly real and when you destroy that thought then the imagination becomes destroyed. Remember these are the objection raised by the opponent, which I already mentioned earlier. What is inside, my Subjective experience is unreal. My objective experience, what I see outside in the waking state, that is real. How does he say about that? What I imagine inside is unreal. That is called Chittakala because every object in my mind lasts only as long as that thought of that object lasts. But outside you see a baby. This baby was born ten years back. Now he is a young boy. I had seen him at the time of his birth. I see also him after ten years. This is the second time. First time when he is born and the second time when I am experiencing him. You can extend it and say when he dies. There is a date of birth and there is also a date of death. What they call shelf life. That is manufacturing date and when the usefulness ends. This is called dvayakala. The objection is that the waking state we have two times, but dream has only one time, that is so long as the thought lasts. For that Gaudapada must laugh aloud and say when you are here in the Dream State you are also measuring. You see a baby, I know this baby, I saw him ten years back. Now he's grown up and become a bright student and has become a youth. O Papa! He met with an accident and died. I know the time when he was born. I was his neighbour and I know the time when he died. So, I'm aware of beginning time, I'm aware of the death time. In the dream also, exactly like in the waking state, you can have both times. In fact, every object has got both times when you are aware of that object, a point of time in the beginning, which is the birth of the object and when another thought comes that is the death of that object. After that until you re-remember there is absolutely no existence. So, this is the answer. That is your thought is no indication. Both dream and waking are absolutely the same.
Now the last objection, Sputa and Asputa. I have already discussed about it. The opponent comes and says it's continuing. I just mentioned. Sputa means very clear, Asputa means not at all clear. What is the object as viewed? Everything that I experience in dream is not at all clear. You wake up, you try to recollect, and it is not at all clear. In fact, 99.999% of our dreams, we do not recollect at all. If at all, maybe some exceptional dream which gives deep impression in our minds, we might remember vaguely. This is what the opponent wants to say. The dream experience is very vague, it is not at all clear. Therefore, that is the criterion of unreal. What is the criterion of reality? The waking state. Why? Because in waking state you remember everything very clearly. Gaudapada gives a devastating blow and says, suppose you met somebody 50 years back. And that person comes and stands in front of you. Do you remember very clearly this is that person whom I have seen 50 years? Most often not at all! You don't even remember what you yourself did when you were young. And you are daring to claim that everything is crystal clear. Even the crystal is not very clear if you don't clean it properly.
Avyakta eva e alpastu. Whatever thoughts are there within the mind. That means is referring specifically to Dream State. Avyakta - not at all very clear. That which we experience in the waking state is crystal clear like daylight. Supposing you are walking in semi-darkness. Do you see everything very clearly. Not at all, because if you can see, you will never have accident. You will never see any snakes. Everything will be very nice. But that is not so. So, if you behave irrationally that is called asputa. If you behave rationally and still are unhappy that is because of sputa. Poorvajanmaka – do we know what we did in the Poorvajanma? Nothing is very clear. A person sometimes laughs at us, very smiling at us, and frowning at other times. Why our own mind behaves in such peculiar ways at any given moment we don't know.
Nothing is clear, neither in the waking state nor in the dream State. The crystal-clear answer is for the person who is in the dream state, everything is clear. He doesn't say it is not clear. For the person who is in the waking state, he says everything in the waking state is clear. At least the waking state person says the dream state is not clear. But if you ask the dreaming person, he says, what are you talking about waking state? Is there something called waking state? That is not at all there. So, this objection, clarity, and vagueness, are not definitions of reality and unreality. There is no difference. Whatever the mind experiences clearly in either waking or dream is clear. What it doesn't experience clearly is unclear. Even if the mind experiences everything very clearly in the waking state, that from the Vedantic point of view, is nothing but Mithya. Mithya is that which we do not understand clearly, that is very clear! If I know this is Mithya, this is a seemingly real snake, I will never become afraid. If I know this in the waking state to be clearly Mithya then there is no bondage at all. Only a realised soul knows this is only an imagination. So, Gaudapada squashes the last objection also. We will talk about continuation of the subject who is the ‘experiencer’ of all these mithya vastu, whether it is waking, dream or deep sleep state. That is called Jiva.
This Jiva himself is real or unreal? These are the subjects we will talk about in our next class.