Hi Hariji!
I want to ask you, what is happening with me, with my own self, if I am get unconscious? For example if I am fell into a faint or in the deep sleep without dreams. As I can suppose my body and my essence are getting separation in this state. My body is here in the bed for example, but where am I? Why when I woke up I remember nothing? It scares me because it looks like something similar is happening with the man at the time of death. I cannot control my destination, I can control nothing. I even doesen't know if I am or not. And this state of separation of me and my body means that I leave not only my material body but also my memory and mind, isn’t it? And when I wake up all of them bring together again. Is there any means to realize if I still am and alive in such a disassembled state? And does it mean that for our existence we always need to have a body whether “material” or more subtle “spiritual”? Can essence operate without body and how can you define the state of being without the body?
Being unconscious
Re: Being unconscious
I cannot comment on the state of unconsciousness because when I am unconscious I, like you, know nothing about it. I am sure the spiritual essence we are is right where we left it because when we awaken from the unconscious state we find our consciousness in the same state it was previously. There may be exceptions when there is severe trauma, but this is mostly what happens to all of us when we sleep.
Death is not similar because death is not unconscious. Except in the extremely rare case when someone dies from within the deepest unconscious state, we are quite aware of what is happening around us and to us when we depart the body. Our memory and mind are within our consciousness. Consciousness is essence in its purest state and essence is life regardless of its being within a body or not. Further, pure consciousness can never be unconscious. The unconscious state you refer to is a feature of the embodied, because unless the linked consciousness-body-mind-memory-and all that jazz has some time when it is completely disconnected in total relaxation, we would go insane and have extremely short durations of life. There is even a statement in the commentaries on the vedanta sutra (because you are into these things) that states the soul goes into brahman during unconscious sleep to recover and restore itself to face the next day.
Death is not similar because death is not unconscious. Except in the extremely rare case when someone dies from within the deepest unconscious state, we are quite aware of what is happening around us and to us when we depart the body. Our memory and mind are within our consciousness. Consciousness is essence in its purest state and essence is life regardless of its being within a body or not. Further, pure consciousness can never be unconscious. The unconscious state you refer to is a feature of the embodied, because unless the linked consciousness-body-mind-memory-and all that jazz has some time when it is completely disconnected in total relaxation, we would go insane and have extremely short durations of life. There is even a statement in the commentaries on the vedanta sutra (because you are into these things) that states the soul goes into brahman during unconscious sleep to recover and restore itself to face the next day.
Re: Being unconscious
What you are writing is very interesting. You wrote
Does it mean that life is possible without the action? I mean, do we always need a body to act even in the “spiritual” world and unembodied state is rather exception than rule? And what is that force that makes all these consciousness-mind-memory-body keep together?essence is life regardless of its being within a body or not.
Re: Being unconscious
HARI: "The unconscious state you refer to is a feature of the embodied, because unless the linked consciousness-body-mind-memory-and all that jazz has some time when it is completely disconnected in total relaxation, we would go insane and have extremely short durations of life".
Yes, sleep deprivation leads to death even on the physical plane. We have to rest (sleep) to survive. Our brain and rest of the body need it.
However, I would like to comment on another important aspect of unconsciousness. Time aspect. I used to monitor patients with unexplained syncopal attacks (fainting attacks) and provoke the attacks through different means, no place here to explain how but it is possible in susceptible individuals.
One thing stroke me throughout all these years - people who lose their consciousness due to a temporary cardiac arrest or a circulatory collapse and regain consciousness after, say, 30-45 seconds (otherwise the brain would suffer a substantial irreversible damage), used to tell us how they experienced movie-like long sequences during their loss of consciousness - it may be a long walk in the park (at least one hour long ...), being at a party etc. And we are talking about max 30-45 seconds in the real time! These dreams are very long and quite comfortable. Moreover. they meet people they do not know but NOT the deceased ones (that I asked about very specifically). So, what is happening in the their mind/brain is totally dissociated from our (time) reality.
Would you like to comment upon it?
Yes, sleep deprivation leads to death even on the physical plane. We have to rest (sleep) to survive. Our brain and rest of the body need it.
However, I would like to comment on another important aspect of unconsciousness. Time aspect. I used to monitor patients with unexplained syncopal attacks (fainting attacks) and provoke the attacks through different means, no place here to explain how but it is possible in susceptible individuals.
One thing stroke me throughout all these years - people who lose their consciousness due to a temporary cardiac arrest or a circulatory collapse and regain consciousness after, say, 30-45 seconds (otherwise the brain would suffer a substantial irreversible damage), used to tell us how they experienced movie-like long sequences during their loss of consciousness - it may be a long walk in the park (at least one hour long ...), being at a party etc. And we are talking about max 30-45 seconds in the real time! These dreams are very long and quite comfortable. Moreover. they meet people they do not know but NOT the deceased ones (that I asked about very specifically). So, what is happening in the their mind/brain is totally dissociated from our (time) reality.
Would you like to comment upon it?
Re: Being unconscious
Drpta, the easiest answer to your question is, "Definitely, but life without action is either a temporary state or a choice by someone who wants to exist within the energy of God without worrying about manifesting personal awareness." As far as bodies go, as soon as you say act, there has to be an actor, and to act one requires a means to fulfill the action. A body fulfills that need quite nicely. An unembodied being thinks of itself as embodied because of their energy holding together a familiar form. A mental form is still a form. An energetic form is still a form. It may not seem to be a "body" in the usual sense of the term, but it appears to be a form to those who are unembodied.
As far as I have seen in my own life, when my consciousness shares something significant with my mind-body-memory (as you call it) this creates a bondage between these agencies that causes it to stick together. This also works anywhere, in any form where there is a significant energy impression. This explains why the disembodied remain in a form familiar to them. This same concept explains energetic thought forms.
As far as I have seen in my own life, when my consciousness shares something significant with my mind-body-memory (as you call it) this creates a bondage between these agencies that causes it to stick together. This also works anywhere, in any form where there is a significant energy impression. This explains why the disembodied remain in a form familiar to them. This same concept explains energetic thought forms.
Re: Being unconscious
Akhila: I think that this is an example of inter-dimensional energetic bleeding due to the brain trauma these people are undergoing. I see these people as being shaken apart by their condition and the stimulus that causes their symptoms, and as they naturally work to reassemble themselves, they move through another realm on the way back to the usual one.