We experience two states of mind in our day-to-day life, one is with thoughts, the other is without thoughts. We know we have thoughts when we are awake. In deep sleep, do we have thoughts? No. So there are two states of mind: with thoughts and without thoughts.

Our being also experiences two states. In one state we have a clear identity of ‘I’. When we are awake, all of us are very clearly connected with the ‘I’ consciousness, we have an identity about ourselves – I am a doctor, I am an artist, etc. When we are awake, our ‘I’ consciousness will be like an undercurrent, alive all the time. But in deep sleep, we do not experience the ‘I’ consciousness, am I right? When we are in deep sleep, we don’t have the awareness of ‘I’.

So understand that in the mind we experience two states, one with thoughts and one without thoughts. In the being also we experience two states, one with the identity of ‘I’ and another without the identity of ‘I’.
Now let us understand how these two states of mind and the two states of being connect with each other and create different states in our consciousness.

The first state is the waking state, ‘jagrat’, when we are with ‘I’ consciousness and also with thoughts. When we are in the waking state, we are very conscious of our identity and we also have thoughts. In this waking state, the frequency of ‘I’ is higher than the frequency of thoughts. That is why, with the help of the strong ‘I’ identity, we are able to control our thoughts in this state. If we wish to, we can create a thought, control it, or expel it. This is possible in the waking state.

All our physical and mental illnesses take root in the dream state. The dream state starts penetrating and overlapping the deep sleep and waking states.

The next state is the dream state, ‘swapna’. In the dream state we have many thoughts but there is no ‘I’ consciousness. We are not conscious of our identity in our dreams, but thoughts exist. That is why possibly in your dreams, you might see yourself studying in school but sitting with your son next to you! This shows that there is no clear, logical identity of you in the dream state. In the dream state the frequency of ‘I’ consciousness is lower than the frequency of thoughts. That is why you are not able to control the thoughts. That is also why you frequently have erratic and illogical thoughts.

In the waking state, the frequency of ‘I’ is higher than the frequency of thoughts, and that is why we are able to control our thoughts. In the dream state, the frequency of ‘I’ is lower than the frequency of thoughts, and that is why we are not able to control the thoughts in our dreams.

In the third state, the deep sleep state, there is neither ‘I’ consciousness nor thoughts. This state is called sushupti. We neither have thoughts nor an identity in this state.

These are the three states that we constantly experience in our lives – the waking state, dream state and deep sleep state.

But there is a fourth state that we have not experienced. It is called turiya. In this state the ‘I’ consciousness exists but without thoughts. It is called thoughtless awareness. Very few people experience this in their lives. Some people experience this for a few seconds and then go back to their regular waking state.

If you get a sudden shock or if you are sitting with nature in a completely relaxed state and in deep silence, it is possible that for a few moments you experience this thoughtless awareness. The identity is alive, the ‘I’ consciousness is alive, but there are no thoughts. This is the fourth state of turiya.

All our physical and mental illnesses take root in the dream state. The dream state starts penetrating and overlapping the deep sleep and waking states.

If our waking state is penetrated by the dream state, it is called day-dreaming. We fantasize or imagine endless things that we wish to do. If our deep sleep is penetrated by dreaming, it is called disturbed sleep.
Continuously during the day or night, our dream state disturbs us. When our deep sleep state is disturbed by dreams, it results in problems like chronic fatigue and insomnia. When our waking state is disturbed by dreams, we will be day-dreaming with much less awareness of the world around us.

Living in the waking state, continuously disturbed by the dream state, is what I call living in hell.

You might have experienced that sometimes you will get into your car, drive for thirty miles and reach your office. Only when you stop in your parking lot, take the keys and get out, suddenly you realize you have driven for so many miles! You would have made hundreds of decisions from the time you got into the car to the time you reached your office like deciding to press the clutch, to press the brakes, to press the accelerator, to put on the turn signal, or to stop at the traffic light, etc. You would have made all these decisions, but without any awareness of making them. Suddenly you realize, ‘Oh! I have reached the office!’ When this happens, be clear, the dream state is overlapping or penetrating the waking state.

The more the dream state penetrates the waking state, the more the frequency of our consciousness decreases. We may be living in our human body, but we will not be living a truly human life. When the frequency of consciousness comes down, we will not be fully aware about the decisions we make. We will not be aware of the kind of words we are thinking. We will not be aware of what is going on inside of us. It will be as if we are living in a house, but we do not know everything that is happening inside that house. Living in the waking state, continuously disturbed by the dream state, is what I call living in hell.

All our physical and mental disorders are directly due to the dream state penetrating either the deep sleep or the waking state. If both the waking state and the deep sleep state are penetrated by the dream state, we will have physical and mental disorders.

The waking state being penetrated too much by the dream state is what we call depression, because then we will not have the clarity to think fresh thoughts. We will not have the freedom or energy to move beyond our negative thought patterns. When depressed, we feel like all the doors are closed, all the possibilities are exhausted.

You ask, ‘Why should I meditate?’

Meditation is needed to infuse deep awareness into both your waking state and the deep sleep state. Instead of the dream state penetrating the waking and deep sleep states, with meditation the turiya or blissful state will start penetrating the waking and deep sleep states!

source: Living Enlightenment