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VIVEKACUDĀMANI
dissolved like darkness in the light of the sun etc., in that non-dual supreme Truth, how can any difference arise? As has been said: vibhedajanake 'jñāne nāśamātyantikam gate, ātmano brahmano bhedam asantam kaḥ karisyati 11 "When the ajñāna which produces sense of difference has been completely destroyed, who will make the non-existent difference between the atman and Brahman?”
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एकात्मके परे तत्त्वे भेदवार्ता कथं भवेत् । सुषुप्तौ सुखमात्रायां भेदः केनावलोकितः ॥४०४॥
How can there arise any talk of difference in the Supreme Reality which is unitary? Who has experienced difference in the state of dreamless sleep characterised by pure bliss?
The śruti says: yadvai tanna paśyati, paśyan vai tanna paśyati, natu taddvitiyamasti tato'nyad vibhaktam yat paśyet (Brh.): "He who says that (in dreamless sleep) he does not see anything, says so even while seeing. There is none other than and distinct from him which he could see".
The fact that one does not see the world in dreamless sleep is not to be understood in terms of the Tärkika theory that the ātman does not see anything then as it is non-sentient (jada). For in dreamless sleep there is the self-effulgence of the ātman which is ever of the nature of jñāna. But the truth is that the ātman will see something only if there is an other to it; but a second does not exist in that condition. Even if ajñāna exists in dreamless sleep, yet, it does not exist as an entity distinct from the ātman as there is identity between the sakti and the saktimat, the power and its possessor. Hence the two words as 'anyat': other, and 'vibhaktam': separate, in the śruti. It is only the caitanya which is affected by the upādhi or ajñāna that can be the witness (sāksi) in dreamless sleep. Ajñāna is imagined on its substratum itself and there is no difference between the imagined super-imposition and the substratum of that super-imposition.
Though this feature of the negation of the world (nisprapañcatva) is common to the states of waking and dreamless sleep, yet, in the latter, all the factors making for effectuation get merged. Therefore, the negation can be better understood in it and it is taught in relation to dreamless sleep to convey it better to the hearers.
