hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

yajvan what fun can there be in only understanding that sleep is undifferentiated awareness if I cannot do anything with it; that I have to wait some 16 hrs. before I dive back into this undifferentiated awareness.
A reasonable question to ask is, why then do I wake up ? This Being is there in sleep , what is the reason (stimulus) to wake up ?

In a word , it is vāsanā-s - impressions within the mind; the present consciousness of past perceptions.

Upon awaking the ego is re-engaged and once again a day full of 'me' begins. Yet if one pays very close attention to that initial point of waking, going from slumber to just beginning to wake, one will find this very subtle feeling of 'I am'. It is like the first bubble that is arising from this sleep that begins to take form. It is 'I am' and not I am this or that or what ever one thinks one is, but just this simple feeling of 'I am' that most humans pass off. It is the closest feeling to Being that we can have before the mind becomes fully engaged in once again becoming 'me' for the day.

In the vijñānabhairava kārikā¹ it suggest their is value found just before one falls asleep - it talks of 'where sleep has not yet come, but wakefulness is over'. It is there says śiva , one can find para devī , or pure awareness.

So on both sides of sleep - before sleep and upon waking one may find (experience) a very subtle level of awareness. It is quite delicate and simple.

iti śivaṁ

words
  • vijñānabhairava tantra - 75th kārikā; this work belongs to the bhairava-āgamas which part of advitīya (~ non dual~, without a second) śaivism
    • kārikā = a concise statement