Q: What is the state of turiya?
A: Turiya is mind in quiescence and aware of the true Self. It is the state when the mind with complete awareness has merged in its true source. Whether the senses are active or inactive is immaterial. For example, in Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the senses are inactive. They don’t come into play at all. If the senses are involved, it would imply that there is a subject and an object. To be aware of the Self means to be thought-free.
Q: Unlike the waking world, the dream world is not purposeful because we do not feel that our wants are satisfied.
A: You are not right. We can experience thirst and hunger in a dream as well. You might have had your fill in the waking state and kept the leftovers. Nevertheless, you feel hungry in your dream. This food does not help you and your dream hunger can be satisfied only by eating the dream creation.
Q: Why is that we remember dreams when awake, but not the reverse?
A: You are wrong. You are yourself in the dream and identify yourself as the same as the one now speaking.
Q: Is there any real distinction between ‘dreaming’ and ‘waking’?
A: There is only an apparent distinction, not a real one. The dream is for one who says that he is awake. Both are unreal from the absolute viewpoint. The ego rises when you wake up from sleep. In sleep you do not say that you are sleeping; you say it only when you wake up. But you are still there. You were not concerned with the body when asleep, so you can continue to be unconcerned. In the waking state, ego identifies itself with the physical body, and in dream, with the subtle mind. At that time the perceptions are also subtle.
Q: How do we sleep and awaken?
A: Just as at nightfall, the hen roosts in the nest with the chicks under her protection, at dawn, the chicks come out and so does the hen. In the same way, the mother symbolizes the ego which collects all the thoughts and goes to sleep. At sunrise they emerge again. Thus when the ego displays itself, it does so with all its components; when it sinks everything disappears with it.
