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I am the Soul
passed. But that did not happen. The transitory states were of the inanimate not of the spirit. The inanimate is perishable and the animate is non-perishable. Hence the jiva has to leave the company of the inanimate -
ay विनाशी तुं अविनाशी;
3rd fant ant famret; वपु संग जब दूर निकासी,
तब तुम शिव का वासी आप स्वभाव में...
Vapu that is the body is a perishable nature and atma is non-perishable. Only when the jiva leaves the company of the body will it become ‘shiva' - liberated. Thus it is totally different from the body.
Just as it is different from various states of the body, it also remains different in and from the three states of sleeping, dreaming and awakening.
Even during deep sleep, the atma knows that the body is sleeping. That is how when we wake up, we say, 'I had good sleep today. Never realised when it was day. I had very sound sleep'. The atma has experienced good sound sleep and therefore it remembers after awakening.
Indeed, when we dream in the sleep, we say so on awakening. That is the one who dreamed and remembered it is the atma. Dreaming is a different state and the one remembering it is also different. Even in the state of awakening, the witness to all happenings of every moment is the atma again. Thus it is in all the three states and different from all of them.
Therefore, the Gurudev says here - O Disciple! The one who remains apart from all these states, and knows them is the atma with the characteristic of spirit - chaitanya. This indication of its spirit, the ability to know, always remains with it. The characteristics of the inanimate may change, may get destroyed, may even get lost but the indication of the spirit always and
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