Prasna Upanishad – 5

 Gargya’s question

The fourth chapter starts with the question asked by Gargya, the grandson of Surya, in Mantra 1, which is as follows:

Atha ha enam sauryaayanee gaargyah papracchha I Bhagavan, etasmin purushe kaani svapanti  kaani asmin jaagrati  katara eshah devah svapnaan pashyati  kasya etat sukham bhavati  kasmin nu sarve sampratishtitaa bhavanti iti II

Then Gargya, the grandson of Surya, asked the following questions: O Bhagavan! Which are the ones that go to sleep ?  Which keep awake in him?  Which is the Deity who “sees” (experiences) the dream? To whom occurs this happiness? In whom are all established? (4-1)

This question of Gargya has also five parts, the last one dealing with Athma swarupam. So this question marks the transition from Apara Vidya to Para Vidya.  Questions of next two disciples will be dealing in greater detail with the Para Vidya or knowledge of the Supreme Brahman. We can list the five parts of the question as below and treat them as separate questions.

1)   What are the organs that sleep?

2)   What are the ones that keep awake then?

3)   Who is the Deity that experiences the dream?

4)   Who experiences happiness in deep sleep?

5)   In whom everything is established?

The questions relate to swapna avastha, sushupthi avastha and Sakshi, the witness of all the three avasthas, the Athma.  Pippalada rishi starts with answer to first question in Mantra 2 that is as below:

Tasmai sah uvaacha I yathaa gaargya mareechayah arkasya astam gacchhatah sarvaa etasmin tejomandala ekiibhavanti I  taah punah punah udayatah pracharanti; evam ha vai, tat sarvam pare deve manasi ekiibhavati I Tena tarhi eshah purushah na shrinoti,na pashyati,na jighrati,na rasayate, na sprishate, na abhivadate, na adatte, na aanandayate, na visrujate, na iyaayate, swapiti iti aachakshate II

To him he (Pippalada rishi) said: O Gargya, just as all the rays of the sun that is setting return into the Sun, and become unified with it and then once again upon rising, they get dispersed as in a cycle; the same way, all the senses return into their higher deity, the mind and become unified with it (during sleep). Therefore, at that time this person does not hear, does not see, does not smell, does not taste, does not touch; does not speak, does not grasp, does not enjoy, does not evacuate, does not move and  then people say, “He is sleeping”.

Pippalada rishi says that in the state of sleep all the jnanendriyas and karmendriyas get withdrawn into the mind, the controlling organ, called here as higher deity and the powers of cognition and reaction active during the waking state become now dormant. This concept has been explained by the rishi with the example of the rising and setting sun. The rays of the setting sun look as if they are withdrawn and deposited in the sun’s orb for the night which again shoots up when the sun rises in the morning. So also in an individual his sense organs are withdrawn to the controlling organ (mind) temporarily during sleep and come out to the normal state of functioning when he awakes. Thus the period of experience in life when the mind of an individual has withdrawn its contacts from the jnanendriyas and karmendriyas is termed as sleep or we can say that when both karmendriyas and jnanendriyas are inactive the individual is said to be ‘asleep’. 

Sleep can be seen as two states; dream state and deep sleep state. The organs of perception and action are “asleep” in both the states of sleep.  Prana with the Upa-Pranas is awake in both the states of sleep carrying out the involuntary functions of breathing, inhalation and exhalation; circulation; digestion and maintenance of body warmth. But mind is asleep in deep sleep only being awake in dream state projecting and running a dream-world. This is described in Mantra 5 as follows:

atraishha devah svapne mahimaanamanubhavati | yaddrishhtam drishhtamanupashyati shrutam shrutamevaarthamanushrinoti deshadigantaraishcha pratyanubhutam punah punah pratyanubhavati drishhtam chaadrishhtam cha shrutam chaashrutam chaanubhuutam chaananubhuutam cha schchaasachcha sarvam pashyati sarvah pasyati ||

There, in dreams, that god, the mind, experiences glory. Whatever has been seen he sees again; whatever has been heard he hears again; whatever has been experienced in different places and quarters, he experiences again. Whatever has been seen or not seen, heard or not heard and whatever is real or not real - he sees it all. He sees all, himself being all. (4 – 5)

Pippalda rishi answers the third question i.e. ‘what is the Deva who sees the dream?’ in this Mantra. The answer is an exposition about the dream state. In the waking state one get the experiences of the outer world through one’s mind in the waking state. Similarly, the dream can be defined as the experience of its own projection by the mind in the dream state unfettered by the body and upadhis and free from the laws of physical sciences, based on past experiences, real and imaginary.  Mind itself, divides into two and becomes the experiencer, as well as, the experienced. So mind projects the dream world. And mind itself experiences but not the pure mind. Mind pervaded by Chaithanyam, Chaithanya sahitham mind is the ‘god’ that experiences the dream is the answer to the third question.

The fourth question is regarding the enjoyer of happiness in deep sleep, sushupthi sukham.  The very same mind, in dissolved condition, experiences the sushupthi sukham.  Dissolved mind, the karana sareeram with Chaithanyam, is called Prajna. So dissolved mind as Prajna is the enjoyer of sushupthi sukham.

Answer to fifth question is given in Mantra 7, which is as follows:

sa yathaa somya vayamsi vasovriksham sampratishthante | evam ha vai tath sarvam para aatmani sampratishtathe ||  

As a bird goes to a tree to roost, even so, O friend, all this rests in the Supreme Athma. (4-7)

Pippalada rishi starts answering the fifth question, the last and important segment of the main question i.e. “In whom everything is established?” with a simile in this Mantra and in next four Mantras 8 to 11. The answer is that all these organs are established in Athma, the unchanging Consciousness principle. An example from nature is also given to illustrate it.  The organs, like the birds that go back to their nests at nightfall, rest in their adhishtanam, the Athma, in the state of deep sleep, sushupthi.  Athma, the adhishtanam is unchanging and permanent, a constant witness and support of the changing states and is called avastha thraya sakshi.  Though it is support and witness It is by itself free of the three avasthas. 

Pippalada rishi says in Mantra 10 that whoever becomes free from all desires and realizes that the Athma, his true Self, is both immanent and transcendent, beyond mind and Prana, bereft of all qualities, names and forms and as being pure, resplendent and blissful, becomes one with Him and is as omniscient and as all-pervading as the Athma. Finally the teacher quotes a Vedic verse which declares whoever gains this knowledge about Athma becomes the knower of everything, Sarvajnaha and claims “I alone am appearing in the form of everything. I am all with different naama and roopa.”   Thus Athma  swarupam as avstha thraya sakshi is revealed in this fourth chapter.

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