screen

(183) THE SCREEN

Yesterday afternoon, a devotee approached Bhagavan and said, “Swami, for one who has realized his Self, it is said that he will not have the three states of wakefulness, dream and deep sleep. Is that a fact?”

Bhagavan said kindly, “What makes you say that they do not have the three states? In saying that ‘I had a dream; I was in deep sleep; I am awake’, you must admit that you were there in all the three states. That makes it clear that you were there all the time. If you remain as you are now, you are in the wakeful state. This becomes hidden in the dream state, and the dream state disappears when you are in deep sleep.

You were there then, you are there now, and you are there at all times. The three states come and go, but you are always there. 

It is like a cinema. The screen is always there. Several types of pictures appear on the screen and disappear. Nothing sticks to the screen; it remains a screen. Similarly, you remain your own Self in all the three states. If you know that, the three states will not trouble you, just as the pictures which appear on the screen do not stick to it. That means that the three states will not stick to you. On the screen, you sometimes see a huge ocean with endless waves; that disappears. Another time, you see fire spreading all around; that too disappears.

The screen is there on both the occasions. Did the screen get wet with the water or did it get burned by the fire? Nothing affected the screen. In the same way, the things that happen during the wakeful, dream and sleep states do not affect you at all; you remain your own Self.”

The questioner: “Does that mean that, although people have all three states, wakefulness, dream and deep sleep,

these do not affect the people?”

Bhagavan: “Yes, that is it. All these states come and go.

The Self is not bothered; it has only one state.”

The questioner: “Does that mean that such a person will be in this world merely as a witness?”

Bhagavan: “That is so. For this very thing, Vidyaranya, in the tenth chapter of the Panchadasi, gives as example the light that is kept on the stage of a theatre. When a drama is being played, the light is there, which illuminates, without any distinction, all the actors, whether they be kings or

servants or dancers, and also all the audience. That light will be there before the drama begins, during the performance and also after the performance is over.

Similarly, the light within, that is, the Self, gives light to the ego, the intelligence, the mind and the lower mind

(ahankara, buddhi, chitta and manas) without itself being subject to processes of growth and decay. Although during deep sleep and other states, there is no feeling of the ego, that Self remains attributeless, and continues to shine of itself. That is the meaning. There will be no doubts whatsoever if one finds out who one is and what one is by Self-enquiry.”

- Letters from Sri Ramanasramam.