12.209
The teacher spoke.
Whoever wishes to practice pure celibacy at all times must completely renounce sleep and be vigilant regarding the faults that arise from dreams.
In a dream, indeed, the embodied soul is overpowered by rajas and tamas; as if having obtained another body, it moves about with its memory gone.
For one who is awake through the practice of knowledge, inquiry immediately follows; but through absorption in higher knowledge, one remains ever awake at all times.
Here it is said: Who truly is this state, appearing as if possessed of objects in a dream? The embodied soul, with senses withdrawn, exists as if it still possesses a body.
Here it is stated: "As the lord of yoga, Hari, knows this, so too do the great sages describe it with established meaning."
The wise say that dream arises from the fatigue of the senses and is all-pervading; but they say that the various manifestations are due to the dissolution of the mind.
Even when awake, a mind absorbed in action forms intentions just as, in a dream, one enjoys the sovereignty of desires; similarly, whatever enters the mind becomes real to it.
He, the highest person, knows all that is hidden within the mind and may attain that which is the desire-nature of countless existences.
Beings praise whatever action, among the qualities, is present and known, just as the mind has conceived it.
Then the qualities of passion and darkness approach him, or the quality of goodness, according to the connection, with the immediate arising of the fruit.
Then, one perceives disconnected conditions arising after vāta, pitta, and kapha, due to states produced by rajas and tamas; this too is said to be difficult to interpret.
Whatever the mind, with clear senses, conceives, the mental vision perceives those very things even in dreams when the senses are at rest.
The mind pervades all beings and moves without obstruction. The gateway hidden within the mind, taking support of the body, is of a mental nature.
They know that spiritual quality as that which, being existent, non-existent, and unmanifest, sleeps in this example, abiding as the self in all beings.
Whoever desires by the mind a divine quality through resolve should know that it arises from one's own power, for truly, all deities reside within the self.
Thus, indeed, one endowed with austerity, like the sun beyond darkness, the embodied soul, who is the nature of the three worlds, by austerity attains that great Lord.
Austerity, presided over by the gods and destroyed by the asuras as darkness, is protected by both gods and asuras; this, they say, is characterized by knowledge.
The qualities of sattva, rajas, and tamas are known as the attributes of the divine and the demonic. Sattva is to be understood as the divine quality, while the other two, rajas and tamas, are considered demonic qualities.
Those whose minds are absorbed and who know the Absolute, that supreme, immortal, imperishable light to be known, they attain the highest state.
It is not possible to explain Brahman to this extent by reason and knowledge alone; but by withdrawal, the unmanifest Brahman can be known.
