Three states of consciousness, death, and liberation || Acharya Prashant, on Raman Maharshi (2019)

Questioner: Ramana Maharshi says, “There is no difference between the dream and the waking state except that the dream is short and the waking state is long.” Further at another place he says, “Just before waking up from sleep there is a very brief state free from thought. That should be made permanent.” What does Ramana Maharshi mean here? Are these two states of dream and waking the same or different? What is this brief state between dreaming and being awake, and how to make that brief state permanent in daily life?

Acharya Prashant: If you are someone who is identified with fragmented consciousness, then the two states are indeed different, as they are to most people. Most people, when they see a waking man, will immediately know the difference between the waking man and the sleeping man. Nobody would say that the waking man is in the same state of consciousness as the sleeping or the dreaming man, correct? So, most people indeed see a clear difference between waking and dreaming.

It’s almost like being inside a house. When you are inside a house, you clearly see the difference between being in one room and being in another room of the same house, correct? You say, “This fellow is in the drawing room, and that fellow is in the bedroom.” So, there is a difference, because you yourself are contained in the house.

Now, shift the frame of reference; consider someone who is standing outside the house. To the fellow who is standing outside the house, the only possible distinction is: are you in the house or outside the house? The house has three rooms and a lawn. The ones who remain confined within the house are surely going to be found either in one of the rooms or in the lawn. You cannot be found simultaneously in two rooms, or can you? If you are within the house, you will be found in one of the three rooms or in the lawn. That’s the situation of the normal mortal being. He is either awake, or dreaming, or sleeping without dreaming—these are the three rooms—or he is dead—that is the lawn. All this happens within the boundaries of the house.