Chapter 216

“Bhishma said, ‘The yogin who wishes to always practise sinlessBrahmacharya and who is impressed with the faults attaching to dreamsshould, with his whole heart, seek to abandon sleep. In dreams, theembodied soul, affected by the attributes of Passion and Darkness, seemsto become possessed of another body and move and act influenced bydesire.[766] In consequence of application for the acquisition ofknowledge and of continued reflection and recapitulation, the yoginremains always awake. Indeed, the yogin can keep himself continuallyawake by devoting himself to knowledge. On this topic it has been askedwhat is this state in which the embodied creature thinks himselfsurrounded by and engaged in objects and acts? True it is that theembodied being, with its senses really suspended, still thinks itself tobe possessed of body with all the senses of knowledge and of action. Asregards the question started, it is said that that master of yoga, namedHari, comprehends truly how it happens. The great Rishis say that theexplanation offered by Hari is correct and consistent with reason. Thelearned say that it is in consequence of the senses being worn out withfatigue, dreams are experienced by all creatures. (Though the senses aresuspended) the mind, however, never disappears (or becomes inactive) andhence arise dreams. This is said by all to be their noted cause. As theimaginings of a person that is awake and engaged in acts, are due only tothe creative power of the mind, after the same manner the impressions ina dream appertain only to the mind. A person with desire and attachmentobtains those imaginings (in dreams) based upon the impressions ofcountless lives in the past. Nothing that impresses the mind once is everlost, and the Soul being cognisant of all those impressions causes themto come forth from obscurity.[767] Whichever among the three attributesof Goodness, Passion, and Darkness is brought about by the influence ofpast acts and by whichever amongst them the mind is affected for the timebeing in whatever way, the elements (in their subtile forms) display orindicate accordingly (in the way of images).[768] After images have thusbeen produced, the particular attribute of Goodness or Passion orDarkness that may have been brought by past act rises in the mind andconduces to its last result, viz., happiness or misery. Those imageshaving wind, bile, and phlegm for their chief causes, which men apprehendthrough ignorance and in consequence of propensities fraught with Passionand Darkness, cannot, it has been said, be easily discarded.[769]Whatever objects again a person perceives in the mind (while wakeful)through the senses in a state of perspicuity are apprehended by the mindin dreams while the senses are obscured in respect of theirfunctions.[770] The Mind exists unobstructedly in all things. This is dueto the nature of the Soul. The Soul should be comprehended. All theelements and the objects they compose exist in the Soul.[771] In thestate called dreamless slumber (sushupti), the manifest human body which,of course, is the door of dreams, disappears in the mind. Occupying thebody the mind enters the soul which is manifest and upon which allexistent and non-existent things depend, and becomes transformed into awakeful witness with certainty of apprehension. Thus dwelling in pureConsciousness which is the soul of all things; it is regarded by thelearned as transcending both Consciousness and all things in theuniverse.[772] That yogin who in consequence of desire covets any of thedivine attributes (of Knowledge or Renunciation, etc.) should regard apure mind to be identical with the object of his desire. All things restin a pure mind or soul.[773] This is the result attained to by one who isengaged in penances. That yogin, however, who has crossed Darkness orignorance, becomes possessed of transcending effulgence. When darkness orignorance has been transcended, the embodied Soul becomes Supreme Brahma,the cause of the universe.[774] The deities have penances and Vedicrites. Darkness (or pride and cruelty), which is destructive of theformer, has been adopted by the Asuras. This, viz., Brahma, which hasbeen said to have Knowledge only for its attribute, is difficult ofattainment by either the deities or the Asuras. It should be known thatthe qualities of Goodness, Passion and Darkness belong to the deities andthe Asuras. Goodness is the attribute of the deities; while the twoothers belong to the Asuras. Brahma transcends all those attributes. Itis pure Knowledge. It is Deathlessness. It is pure effulgence. It isundeteriorating. Those persons of cleansed souls who know Brahma attainto the highest end. One having knowledge for one’s eye can say this muchwith the aid of reason and analogy. Brahma which is indestructible can becomprehended by only withdrawing the senses and the mind (from externalobjects into the soul itself).'”[775]