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Waking is waking... until it is proved
dreaming, hallucination etc.
A dream is a set of objectifications that
is always acknowledged by remembering in the
waking as having occurred in the past. Only when
the objectifications are remembered and acknowledged
in waking do they constitute a dream. Otherwise, they are only
waking with reference to the actual temporal context of their
occurrence. It is not possible to conceive the actual temporal
context of their occurrence (i.e. a present tense for dreaming)
because no one is able to make statements like "I am dreaming
now" or "I am not awake now". It is always "I
dreamt" or "I was dreaming" etc. – in
the past tense – after waking. Dreams have no validity
if we do not awake.
Sleep is an experience of not experiencing anything,
always acknowledged by remembering in the waking
as having occurred in the past. Since there are
no active objectifications in it, it cannot be
termed waking (like dream above) in the temporal
context of its actual occurrence. While asleep,
no one says "I am sleeping now" or "I
am not awake now". It is always "I
slept" meaning "I didn't know anything" after
waking, where the absence of objectifications
is clearly remembered in waking. Sleep has no
validity if we do not awake.
Although we can have experiences of fainting,
hallucinations, psychedelic episodes, deep inebriation
etc., Vedanta considers only waking, dream and
deep sleep because these are the three incidents
common to all and happening to us in our daily
life.
As a rule, therefore, from paragraphs 1 to 3
above, it is derived that dreams and sleep need
waking to validate them. Without waking, they
are not validated.
From the language point of view, we can argue
that waking also cannot exist without dream or
sleep because one can awake to wakefulness only
from a dream or deep sleep. But, that argument
cannot stand closer scrutiny if we understand
wakefulness as a state of being aware, i.e. of
active objectifications. In that sense, at least
theoretically, one can be awake all the time
without the incidents of dream and deep sleep.
What is unravelling in front of our eyes, therefore,
is a magnificent collage of wakefulness drawn
on a canvas of infiniteness that changes in detail
every micro-micro-second. In fact, the elements
of the collage are the fabric of the canvas itself
and not external to it. Mountainous, rocky objectifications
of the `waking', resonating and vibrant with
life, are there interspersed with glittering
`dream' lakes of immense beauty. Amidst all the
colour, brightness and cacophony, there are ominously
motionless dark patches of `deep slumber' that
do not show any details.
Yet, observe the shifting scenery closely – the
infinite canvas cannot be missed. Its fabric
is very much visible on the rocky peaks as well
as in the sheen of the lakes and, lo! even across
the blackness of slumber. The canvas exists through
every bit of the collage and, therefore, the
collage is.
I am wakeful to every bit of the collage. I
am aware of the collage. I am collage-Awareness.
I am the Witness of the collage. Without me,
the collage cannot be. I am, therefore, the canvas
of infiniteness that is every bit of the collage.
I exist through and through infiniteness because
I am very much infiniteness. I am the Witness
of the collage as well as the soul of it.
If that is the Truth, then I am always awake.
I am awake in waking, I am awake in dreams and
I am equally awake in sleep. I am always wakeful
to myself. Wakefulness is my nature.
So, where is the one who thought he dreamt, snored
and awoke in a seemingly unending circle? He has
never been.
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