deep sleep is bliss?

[seekinganswers]

i read that deep sleep is the closest we get to being our true nature as one. and that we actually are aware during deep sleep its just we don't attach any false identifications to "I" but is this state literally blissful as in an emotional experience? it sounds like annihilation. and lets just say we really are one, how do i know the illusion of this body existing won't accidentally happen again? :cool1: i understand these are complex questions with no easy answer but i am just interested in hearing the advaita viewpoint on this.

thank you very much :)

[wundermonk]

i read that deep sleep is the closest we get to being our true nature as one. and that we actually are aware during deep sleep its just we don't attach any false identifications to "I" but is this state literally blissful as in an emotional experience? it sounds like annihilation.

Annihilation of what? Cognition is usually of something - that is, it is intentional in the waking state. But when there is no object of cognition, consciousness "rests in itself", its own swarupa.

When we do get up, how are we able to say "Ah, I had a great sleep, my intellect is clear now."?

[silence_speaks]

Dear SeekingAnswers,
:) Very nice question.
This is a significant question and this is how one proceeds in understanding by rationally inquiring into things.

Ok, here lets perform a thought experiment...

Lets say you are in deep sleep.
And a friend comes and wakes you up.
what do you say?
"You disturbed my sleep! "

and you distinctly recognize that your "Bliss" is what you have missed!
Now ... when was that bliss being experienced ? It cannot be now... coz you are complaining that you lost it! So that means you were distinctly experiencing Bliss in Deep Sleep!

Please delve on this for some time.

Regards
Udai Shankar

[silence_speaks]

Dear SeekingAnswers,
:) Very nice question.
This is a significant question and this is how one proceeds in understanding by rationally inquiring into things.

Ok, here lets perform a thought experiment...

Lets say you are in deep sleep.
And a friend comes and wakes you up.
what do you say?
"You disturbed my sleep! "

and you distinctly recognize that your "Bliss" is what you have missed!
Now ... when was that bliss being experienced ? It cannot be now... coz you are complaining that you lost it! So that means you were distinctly experiencing Bliss in Deep Sleep! Because you remembered it!

Please delve on this for some time.

Regards
Udai Shankar

[realdemigod]

Deep sleep can't be bliss due to the very fact that you wouldn't know when you enter and come out of a deep sleep. But bliss anyone can experience consciously...pure joy :D

[shiv.somashekhar]

Deep sleep can't be bliss due to the very fact that you wouldn't know when you enter and come out of a deep sleep. But bliss anyone can experience consciously...pure joy :D

Yes. Deep sleep does not equate to bliss as there is no recognition of it. People feel good about it after they wake up based on how they feel when they wake up and not on how they felt during the actual sleeping phase.

Nyaya, etc., do not see Moksha as acquiring bliss. Rather, it is simply absence of pain.

[wundermonk]

@All,

Look above and see which folder this question has been posted in - it is Advaita.

That being the case, please provide the Advaita view if you know about it. If the OP wants the Nyaya view, (s)he will ask for it.


Yes. Deep sleep does not equate to bliss as there is no recognition of it.

Define "bliss".

Please prove that consciousness is always intentional - i.e. of an object that is different from itself.

[dhyandev]

describe deep sleep ,how do you feel in deep sleep & then i will tell you if it is bliss or not:)

[wundermonk]

Here (http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Sleep-as-a-State-of-Consciousness-in-Advaita-Vedanta.pdf) is a metaphysical analysis of sleep in Advaita Vedanta that is likely to provide a more knowledgeable take on the issue.

[mile83]

Is it true that in deep sleep I experience Bliss unconsciously? well, according to Ramana Maharshi,

but for example Nisargadatta Maharaj says that there is no unconsciousness in deep sleep only a lapse in memory??

I started a thread here a while ago asking what the 'difference' between deep sleep and turiya is, I stll don't quite get it to be honest :(.

[Kismet]

I can understand why sleep would be compared to bliss. There is no incompleteness in deep sleep. There is no consciousness of lack or fear or any other unsettling emotion. It is an expression of nihilism or nothingness, true, but at the same time it is a negation also of everything painful, of everything which could possibly harm you. It is like an eternal peace.

A little bit of both I suppose, as paradoxes go.

[c.smith]

Hari Om!

One of the Yog Nidra CD's that I use states that extreme bliss is felt in the deep sleep state that is Yoga Nidra.

So, do you mean regular bliss or extreme bliss? :laugh: