Br^hadAraNyaka IV.3.14 (fwd)

[Srinivas Sista]

Gummuluru Murthy wrote:
>
> It is a new concept to me that the astral body (even for an ordinary jeeva
> without any yogic powers) can wander out of the physical body and can get
> back into it. So, is my understanding correct then
>
> (1) that during a dream process, the astral body is out of the physical
> body and creates a world of its own (the sense organs are quiet, but the
> mind is active and is the creator and venue of this dream world)
>

That would be an advanced lesson :-)
The beginners are taught that the different astral worlds are real and that
the astral body visits them during sleep. Just like our waking world is real
and that we go through its experiences. Slowly they learn to create different
realities and realize their unreality.

>
> (2) that during deep sleep state, the astral body is within the physical
> body, with the sense organs and the mind all folded into Atman.

Probably. I cannot say much on this subject. I didn't read any material on
deep sleep state, except whatever is said by Ramana Maharshi.

>
> On a matter arising out of this, I have difficulty also with the last
> sentence in that quote from Swami N. above ("... Therefore, through
> this popular belief one can understand the self-luminosity of the Atman
> in dreams."). I have no difficulty in seeing the self-luminosity of the
> Atman, in the waking state, in the dream state or in the deep sleep state.
> But, the above-discussed popular belief does not say anything about the
> self-luminosity of the Atman during the dream process. The Atman remains
> the same in all the three states and the above, I think, cannot be taken
> as a proof of the self-luminosity of the Atman. That can never be
> *proved*. It has to be accepted as shruti vAkya (YAjnavalkya talks of the
> luminosity of the Atman with King Janaka in Br^hadAraNyaka u.).
>

I agree with you. That popular belief cannot be used to deduce the
self-luminosity of the Atman in dreams.

regards,
Srinivas Sista.