Who Is It That Wakes Up- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

A passage from The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (translated by Swami Nikhilananda):

(Ajatasatru) took Gargya by the hand and rose. They came to a sleeping man. (Ajatasatru) addressed him by these names: Great, White-robed, Radiant, Soma. The man did not get up. (The king) pushed him again and again with his hand till he awoke. Then he got up. (II.i.15)

Ajatasatru said: "When this being full of consciousness (identified with the intellect) was thus asleep, where was it then and whence did it thus come back?" Gargya did not know the answer. (II.i.16)

Ajatasatru said: "When this being full of consciousness (vijnanamaya) is thus asleep, it absorbs, at that time, the functions of the organs through its own consciousness nd rests in the Supreme Self (akasa) that is in the heart. When this being absorbs them, it is called svapiti. Then the organ of smell is absorbed, the organ of speech is absorbed, the eye is absorbed, the ear is absorbed, and the mind is absorbed." (II.i.17)

When the self remains in the dream state, these are its achievements (results of past action): It then becomes a great king, as it were; or a noble brahmin, as it were; or attains, as it were, high or low states. Even as a great king, taking with him his (retinue of) citizens, moves about, according to his pleasure, within his own domain, so does the self, taking with it the organs, move about according to its pleasure, in the body (II.i.18)

Next, when the self goes into deep-sleep- when it does not know anything- it returns along the seventy-two thousand nerves called hita, which extend from the heart throughout the whole body, and remain in the body. As a baby or an emperor or a noble brahmin lives, having reached the summit of happiness, so does the self rest. (II.i.9)

As the spider moves along the thread (it produces), or as from a fire tiny sparks fly in all directions, even so from this Atman come forth all organs, all worlds, all gods, all beings. Its secret name (Upanishad) is "the Truth of truth". The vital breaths are the truth, and their truth is Atman (II.i.20)

My friend, Sri Sankarraman has some interesting thoughts on this particular passage, and I would like to take it up in the next post.