Mandukya_Upanishad

satisfaction; but it is no comparison with the happiness ofsleep, where you have no empire, no retinue, no powerconceivable, and nobody even to look at your face. In thatcondition, when you are alone, you are more happy thanwhen you are in the midst of people in the waking state.Just imagine your condition. While you are alone, you areso happy, and while you are in the midst of many people,you are agitated, vexed, worried and complain abouteverything. You make no complaints in sleep, and you wantnothing. Look at it! When you are fast asleep, you wantnothing, you ask for nothing, you do not want anybodyeven to see you or speak to you, and, yet, you are morehappy there than when you are an emperor. From wherehas this happiness come? From where has thisānandamayatva come to you? This subject is dealt with inthe mantra which describes the third phase of the Ātman.Your real nature is aloneness, not sociability. Your realnature is kevalata, not indriya-samyoga with vishayas,objects. Your real nature is singularity, not multiplicity.Your real nature is a total transcendence of all sensory andmental phenomena, not contact with objects. Therefore youare ānandamaya, ānandabhuk: filled with bliss, enjoyingbliss.What do you eat in deep sleep, which gives you somuch satisfaction? Ānanda alone is your food, not bread,dal, kheer, rasagulla, laddu. You get nothing of that kind insleep, and yet you are more happy there than when youhave a sumptuous dinner or a meal. All the luncheons ofthe world cannot give you that satisfaction which you havein sleep due to there being only the food of ānanda. You eat88