आराममस्य पश्यन्ति, न तं पश्यति कश्चन ॥ इति ।
तं नायतं बोधयेदित्याहुः । दुर्भिषज्यं हास्मै भवति यमेष न प्रतिपद्यते । अथो खल्वाहुः, जागरितदेश एवास्यैष इति; यानि ह्येव जाग्रत् पश्यति तानि सुप्त इति; अत्रायं पुरुषः स्वयं ज्योतिर्भवति; सोऽहं भगवते सहस्रं ददामि, अत ऊर्ध्वं विमोक्शाय ब्रूहीति ॥ १४ ॥ārāmamasya paśyanti, na taṃ paśyati kaścana || iti |
taṃ nāyataṃ bodhayedityāhuḥ | durbhiṣajyaṃ hāsmai bhavati yameṣa na pratipadyate | atho khalvāhuḥ, jāgaritadeśa evāsyaiṣa iti; yāni hyeva jāgrat paśyati tāni supta iti; atrāyaṃ puruṣaḥ svayaṃ jyotirbhavati; so’haṃ bhagavate sahasraṃ dadāmi, ata ūrdhvaṃ vimokśāya brūhīti || 14 ||14. ‘Everybody sees his sport, but nobody sees him.’ They say, ‘Do not wake him up suddenly.’ If he does not find the right organ, the body becomes difficult to doctor. Others, however, say that the dream state of a man is nothing but the waking state, because he sees in dreams only those things that he sees in the waking state. (This is wrong.) In the dream state the man himself becomes the light. ‘I give you a thousand (cows), sir. Please instruct me further about liberation.’
Everybody sees his sport, consisting of the impressions of villages, cities, women, eatables, etc. conjured by the self, butnobodysees him. What a pity that although the self is totally distinct from the body and organs and is present before their very eyes, people are yet unfortunate enough not to see it, notwithstanding its capacity of being seen! This is how the Śruti is sympathising with mankind. The idea is that in dreams the self becomes altogether distinct and is itself the light.
They say, ‘Do not wake him up suddenly.’ There is also a popular belief that proves the self to be distinct from the body and organs in dreams. What is that? Physicians and others say, ‘Do not wake up a sleeping man suddenly or violently.’ They say so only because they see that (in dreams) the self goes out of the body of the waking state through the gates of the organs and remains isolated outside. They also see the possibility of harm in this, viz. that if the self is violently roused, it may not find those gates of the organs. This is expressed as follows: If he does not find the right organ, the body becomes difficult to doctor. The self may not get back to those gates of the organs through which it went out, taking the shining functions of the latter, or it may misplace these functions. In that case defects such as blindness and deafness may result, and the body may find it difficult to treat them. Therefore from the above popular notion also we can understand the self-luminosity of the Ātman in dreams.
Being identified with dreams, the self transcends the forms of death; therefore in dreams it is itself the light. Others, however, say that the dream state of a man is nothing but the waking state —that the dream state, which is the junction between this world and the next, is not a state distinct from either of them, but identical with this world, i.e. the waking state. Supposing this is so, what follows from this? Listen. If the dream state is nothing but the waking state, the self is not dissociated from the body and organs, but rather mixed up with them; hence the self is not itself the light. So in order to refute the self-luminosity of the Ātman, these people say that the dream state is identical with the waking state. And they state their reason for taking it as the waking state: Because a man sees in dreams only those things, elephants etc., that he sees in the waking state. All this is wrong, because then the organs are at rest. One dreams only when the organs have ceased to function. Therefore no other light (than the self) can exist in that state. This has been expressed by the words, ‘There are no chariots, nor animals,’ etc. (IV. iii. 10). Therefore in the dream state the maṇ himself undoubtedly becomes the light.
By the illustration of dreams it has been proved that there is the self-luminous Ātman, and that it transcends the forms of death. Since it alternately moves between this world and the next, and so on, it is distinct from them. Likewise it is distinct from the nests of the waking and dream states. And Yājñavalkya has proved that since it moves alternately from one to the other, it is eternal. Hence, to requite the knowledge received, Janaka offers a thousand cows. ‘Because you have thus instructed me, I give you a thousand cows, sir. You have permitted me to ask any question I like, and I want to ask about liberation. What you have told me about the self is helpful for that; as subserving that end, however, it is only a part of what I want. Hence I request you to instruct me further about liberation, so that I may hear the decision about the whole of my desired question, and through your grace be altogether free from this relative existence.’ The gift of a thousand cows is for the solution of a part of the meaning of the term ‘liberation.’
What was stated at the beginning of this section, viz. ‘It is through the light of the self that he sits,’ etc. (IV. iii. 6), has been proved in the dream state by a reference to the experiences of that state in the passage, ‘In this state the man (self) himself becomes the light’ (IV. iii. 9). But regarding the statement, ‘Being identified with dreams, it transcends this world—the forms of death (ignorance etc.)’ (IV. iii. 7), it is contended that the self transcends merely the forms of death, not death itself. We see it plainly in dreams that although the self is separated from the body and organs, it experiences joy, fear, etc.; therefore it certainly does not transcend death, for we see the effects of death (i.e. work) such as joy and fear at the time. If it is naturally handicapped by death, then, it cannot attain liberation, for nobody can part with his nature. If, however, death is not the nature of the self, then liberation from it will be possible. In order to show that death is not the natural characteristic of the self, Yājñavalkya, already prompted by Janaka with the words, ‘Please instruct me further about liberation’ (IV. iii. 14), sets himself to this task: