The immediate waking state after deep sleep is the awareness of self

[dattaswami]

The immediate waking state after deep sleep is the awareness of self

198. Sushuptyantapradhamakshanashuddhaatmaa dhyaanavat.

 

Translation: The pure awareness of self exists in the first moment of waking state just after the deep sleep and this is almost similar to the state of meditation.

 

Explanation: The immediate waking state after deep sleep is the awareness of self or blankness or space or inert energy that existed during the deep sleep. The immediate moment after deep sleep is almost the state of deep sleep and the waking state is not yet developed. This first moment contains awareness of waking state and inert energy of deep sleep. In the deep sleep, only inert energy existed without awareness. But the first moment after deep sleep can be taken as the awareness of itself (basic form) or the inert energy. This first moment is similar to the meditation state, in which the mind is withdrawn from all affairs of waking state and remains in the awareness of blankness. However, the first moment after deep sleep is a better state of meditation since all the affairs of waking state are absent naturally. In the meditation state the affairs of waking state are subsided by force and hence it is not absolutely a pure state of absence of affairs. Hence, from this point of comparison, the first moment after the deep sleep can be called as pure awareness of self. This first moment can be treated as almost the state of awareness during the deep sleep. However, you should strongly remember that the awareness is totally absent during the state of deep sleep.