Article Index

Class notes from April 20 - July, 2014

Seeding Future Lives
Q: Vedanta says that the waking state seeds the dream state.  But we also hear that the realm of the waking state is projected by the mind as it moves from the deep sleep state to the dream state.  This sounds like a chicken and egg situation.  Can you explain how we should understand these two seemingly contradictory statements?
Babaji:  When we say that the waking state seeds the dream state, this is stated from the standpoint of the individual, vyasti.  Basically, these two states, waking and dreaming, are the same, only one is gross and the other is subtle. What we experience in the waking state, we take back with us into the dream state, only we are then using subtle senses and subtle elements.  But seeding the dream state is one's own business.  No one else seeds our dream state.  People ask me how to make the dream state lucid.  That can only be done by making the waking state lucid.

Now, when we say that the waking state is projected from the deep sleep and dream states, this is stated from the standpoint of the collective, samasti.  Vaishvanara is Consciousness in the state of an individual.  Taijasa and Prajna are Consciousness as the collective and cosmic/causal.  The deep sleep state (i.e. causal) is a mass of indeterminate cognition, as the seers have described it.  It is eternally seeded — it is all seeds — seeds for creating karma, samskaras, for life, for love, for compassion.  You have to see and know these seeds.  At the dreaming level, called Taijasa, Consciousness at the collective level works together with these subtle seeds to project all the various realms down to the physical worlds we experience in the waking state.  So there is no contradiction here.

Deep sleep is like a bed of seeds you walk on in the spring, and you do not even know they are there.  There are enough seeds underfoot to generate generations of forests.  The deep sleep state gives rise to the dream state, and that gives rise to the waking state; then it all involves, carrying fresh seeds with it to deposit.  And if you get tired of being a constant gardener, there is a way out of rebirth as well.  That is termed, "Turiya."

As one enters the sabija (with seeds) state of mind, it is like walking on the forest ground full of seeds.  There, one must be careful to germinate the right seeds, the good samskaras.

The deep sleep state is like walking in a dense forest whose floor is covered in seeds.  That is the causal state – the worlds and all beings and all actions are there in seed form.  The masterful soul who is headed for embodiment picks and chooses only certain seeds to germinate.  This is called a "conscious birth," and it is followed by a conscious death, i.e., knowing when to burn these seeds in samadhi prior to the body's demise.

In deep sleep you taste nothing, see nothing, think nothing, and you feel great.  But deep sleep is like a forest of seeds.  Vibrating minds will eventually and generally germinate and sprout them.  Therefore, the seers advice that you move beyond deep sleep to Turiya, or Samadhi.
Go to top