तत् यत्र एतत् सुप्तः समस्तः संप्रसन्नः स्वप्नम् न विजानाति एषः आत्मा इति ह उवाच एतत् अमृतम् अभयम् एतत् ब्रह्म इति सः ह शान्तहृदयः प्रवव्राज सः ह अप्राप्य एव देवान् एतत् भयम् ददर्श न अह खलु अयम् एवम् संप्रति आत्मानम् जानाति अयम् अहम् अस्मि इति न उ एव इमानि भूतानि विनाशम् एव अपीतः भवति न अहम् अत्र भोग्यम् पश्यामि इति
tat yatra etat suptaḥ samastaḥ saṃprasannaḥ svapnam na vijānāti eṣaḥ ātmā iti ha uvāca etat amṛtam abhayam etat brahma iti saḥ ha śāntahṛdayaḥ pravavrāja saḥ ha aprāpya eva devān etat bhayam dadarśa na aha khalu ayam evam saṃprati ātmānam jānāti ayam aham asmi iti na u eva imāni bhūtāni vināśam eva apītaḥ bhavati na aham atra bhogyam paśyāmi iti
"When a man sleeps — gathered, serene, seeing no dreams — that is the ātman. That is the immortal, the fearless, that is Brahman." Indra went away with a heart at peace — but before he had even reached the gods, he saw the danger: "But in that state he does not know himself — 'I am this' — nor does he know these beings. He has, as it were, gone into annihilation. I see nothing gladdening in this."
9ff5c7e01eb8 · प्रकाशित 26 जुल॰ 2026, 11:54:28 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The third lesson is deep sleep: consciousness "gathered, serene", without images and without anxieties. It is above the dreamer: here there are no imaginary assassins and no tears — pure peace; and we remember that in this state the soul "enters the light" and "is united with Being" (8.6.3; 6.8.1). Many schools would have stopped here: this is it, liberation — serenity without content.
But Indra, more sensitive than ever, sees the abyss beneath the peace: "in that state he does not know himself — 'I am this' — nor does he know the others. He has, as it were, gone into annihilation" (vināśam evāpīto bhavati). A peace bought at the price of consciousness and of relations is indistinguishable from non-being from within: there is no one left to enjoy such a salvation! This objection is a jewel of the whole Vedānta of bhakti: liberation as a pure dissolution, without knowledge of oneself and without "these beings" — without faces, without mutuality — is not a reward but a death under anaesthesia. The ātman is "fearless" — but he is also satya-kāma, of true desires (8.1.5); an emptiness has no desires. Indra rejects an impersonal extinction — and thereby opens the way to the fourth and final lesson.