How we all personally meet the Lord at the end of each day
At night, when we enter into deep sleep, our consciousness returns to the cave of the heart, where we stay with the Supreme Lord. In this way, we meet with Him every day, but we fail to recognize Him.
In the Mundaka Upanisad (2.2.1) it is mentioned: guhācaram nāma mahat-padam.
In this passage, the heart is compared to a cave (guha) where the Lord dwells (chara). During the day, in the awakened state, our consciousness is immersed in the external world, experiencing it through the senses. However, at night, when we enter into deep sleep, our consciousness returns to the cave of the heart, where we stay with the Supreme Lord. In this way, we meet with Him every day, but we fail to recognize Him.
This mystery is described in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (8.3.2):
yathā hiraṇya-nidhim nihitam akṣetrajñā upari
sañcaranto ‘pi na vidus tathemāḥ sarvāḥ prajā ahar ahar
gacchantya enam brahmalokam na vidanty anṛtena hi pratyūḍhāḥ
"Just as ignorant people moving around a treasure of gold fail to see it, so too do all living beings, day after day, go to the realm of Brahman where they meet the Supreme Lord. Being obstructed by illusion, however, they fail to recognize Him."
Other passages of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad also describe this daily journey of the soul: satā saumya tadā sampanno bhavati, “O gentle one, the living entities are again and again in contact with the Supreme.” and: ya eṣo ‘ntar hṛdaya ākāśas tasmin śete, “Entering the sky of the heart, the soul sleeps.”
How can we understand that the soul goes to the Lord at the end of each day? How can we regularly go to the Lord and return to this material world after it? And how do we not remember these encounters?
This is connected with the souls merging into the body of Maha-Vishnu which happens at the end of each universal cycle. Prabhupada explains it on his purport to SB 1.10.21:
"The merging of the living beings into the body of Mahā-Viṣṇu takes place automatically at the end of Brahmā’s one hundred years. But that does not mean that the individual living being loses his identity. The identity is there, and as soon as there is another creation by the supreme will of the Lord, all the sleeping, inactive living beings are again let loose to begin their activities in the continuation of past different spheres of life. It is called suptotthita-nyāya, or awakening from sleep and again engaging in one’s respective continuous duty. When a man is asleep at night, he forgets himself, what he is, what his duty is, and everything of his waking state. But as soon as he awakens from slumber, he remembers all that he has to do and thus engages himself again in his prescribed activities. The living beings also remain merged in the body of Mahā-Viṣṇu during the period of annihilation, but as soon as there is another creation they arise to take up their unfinished work. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (8.18-19)."
Just like the souls merge into the body of Lord Maha-Vishnu at the end of each day of Brahma, and also after the final dissolution of the universe, the soul meets the Lord (as Paramātmā) at the end of each day, during deep sleep. Being the eternal part and parcel of the Lord, the soul can't remain separated from the Lord. Thus, at the end of each cycle of material activity (at the end of each day, at the end of each day of Brahma, and after each final devastation of the universe), the soul merges into the body of the Lord.
What makes this merging different from liberation is that during this daily encounter with the Lord in the conditioned state, the soul is forgetful of his eternal relationship with Him, and still contaminated by the false ego and material desires. The soul thus doesn't associate with the Lord during these encounters, but just remains in an unconscious state, in a kind of deep slumber. When the soul wakes up at the beginning of the next cycle, the soul remembers his material desires and thus becomes again busy performing different material activities to try to satisfy them. The conditioned soul is thus compared with a foolish person who fails to find a hidden treasure even though regularly passing by it.
Going back to Godhead, on the other hand, means that the soul not only becomes free from all material desires as well as the false ego, but is able to awaken his real spiritual nature, including his spiritual body and senses, with which he can enter the spiritual planets and personally associate with the Lord.
Additional information can be found in the explanation about the four states of consciousness of the Mandukya Upanisad. The potency of the Lord manifests in the different states of consciousness: viśva (the awakened state), taijasa (the dream state), and prājña (deep sleep). In the viśva state, the consciousness of the soul is connected with the senses, and one becomes aware of the outside world, free to perform activities according to his desires. In the taijasa state, the consciousness is disconnected from the external senses, but still acts through the mind, in dreams, while in the prājña state, the consciousness fully retracts to inside the heart and merges into Paramātmā. The soul then rests from material activity. All these states of consciousness emanate from the Lord and are thus connected with Him.
By the transcendental vibration, the Omkāra, or the mahā-mantra, we can focus our meditation on the transcendental Lord, and thus gradually recover our original consciousness that has been for so long covered by false material identification. By doing so, one can attain the state of turīya, the fourth state of consciousness, where the soul reattains his original, transcendental consciousness.
Here are the relevant verses (translation mine):
2- sarvam hyetad brahma ayam-ātmā brahma so’yam-ātmā catushpat
All of this is indeed Brahman. This Supreme Self (the Supreme ātma) is Brahman and manifests in the body in four states of consciousness, experienced by the conditioned soul (the minute ātma).
3- jāgarita-sthāno bahiḥ-prajñaḥ saptānga ekonavimśatimukhaḥ sthūla-bhug vaiśvānaraḥ prathamaḥ pādaḥ
The first state is the waking state (viśva), where consciousness is directed outward, connected with the seven limbs and the nineteen faculties (the five sense organs, the five organs of action, the five vital airs, and the four internal senses; mind, intelligence, ego, and material consciousness). In this state, the soul becomes the enjoyer of the objects of the senses that are part of this world, called Vaisvanara, the universal form of the Lord.
4- svapna-sthāno’ntah-prajñaḥ saptānga ekonavimśatimukhaḥ praviviktabhuk taijaso dvitīyaḥ pādaḥ
The second is the dreaming state, where consciousness is turned inwards. In this state, called taijasa, the seven limbs and nineteen faculties contact subtle sense objects in dreams. In this way, the soul enjoys dreamy experiences, enabled by the Taijasa, the luminous Lord.
5- yatra supto na kancana kāmam kāmayate na kancana svapnam paśyati tat sushuptam, sushupta-sthāna ekībhūtaḥ prajñānaghana evānandamayo hyānandabhuk cetomukhaḥ prajñaḥ tritīyaḥ pādaḥ
The third is the state of deep sleep, called prājña, where one does not desire anything nor see any dreams. In this state, the soul experiences a blissful state of union with the Prajñānaghana (the Lord, the undivided source of consciousness) through the gateway of pure consciousness.
6- eṣa sarveśvara eṣa sarvajña eṣo’ntaryāmī eṣa yoniḥ sarvasya prabhavāpyayau hi bhūtānām
This Supreme Self, the Lord of all, the Supreme Lord, is omniscient and all-knowing (sarvajñaḥ), the inner controller (antaryāmī), the source of everything. Indeed, He is the origin and dissolution of all beings.
7- nāntaḥ-prajñam na bahiḥ-prajñam nobhayataḥ-prajñam na prajñāna-ghanam na prajñam nāprajñam adṛṣṭam-avyavahāryam-agrahyam-alakṣaṇam-acintyam-avyapadeśyam-ekātma-pratyaya-sāram prapañcopaśamam śāntam śivam advaitam caturtham manyante sa ātmā sa vijñeyaḥ
In the fourth state, the individual soul re-attains his original state of consciousness. This consciousness is not connected with a material body in any way. It is not turned to the outside, nor the inside, it is not materially conscious or unconscious. It is also not a state of unconscious contact with the Lord. This original state of consciousness is beyond the perception of the senses, beyond the comprehension of the mind, beyond the speculations of intelligence, and the perception of material consciousness. This ultimate state consists of the spiritual awareness of the soul, beyond the material manifestation. This state, beyond material duality and fully auspicious, is called turīya. It should be realized as the ultimate knowledge (vijñeyaḥ).
In short, both the Lord and the jiva reside inside the heart, but they are not the same. One is infinite and the other infinitesimal, one is the whole and the other the part. The individual soul is thus meant to serve the Lord. There are many eternals, but the Lord is the chief.
The soul is present inside the body as consciousness, but not as a physical particle. It can't be detected or measured by experimental means, it is transcendental and escapes material comprehension. This pure soul is however covered by the false ego, followed by all material coverings, and thus becomes lost in the inverted three of this material world.
During the day, when awake, we become immersed in all sorts of activities, but at night, when in deep sleep, our consciousness retracts to the cave of the heart, where we meet the Lord, just as in liberation.
In all scriptures, many qualities of the Lord are mentioned, which make it impossible to negate His personality. Thus, both the Lord and the jiva are separated individuals and they are so eternally. It is exactly the individuality of the Lord and the soul that makes the eternal relationship between them possible.
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