13 THE DREAM STATE OR CONDITION OF TAIJASA
The second condition is Taijasa [the 'Luminous', a word derived from Tejas, the igneous element], whose seat is in the dream state [svapna-sthāna], which has knowledge of inward [mental] objects, which has seven members and nineteen mouths and whose domain is the world of subtle manifestation. [1]
In this state the outward faculties, while existing all the time potentially, are reabsorbed into the inward sense (manas), which is at the same time their common source, their support, and their immediate end, and which resides in the luminous arteries (nādīs) of the subtle form, where it is distributed without any division of its nature in the manner of a diffused heat. The igneous element in itself, considered in its essential properties, is indeed at one and the same time light and heat; and, as the very name Taijasa applied to the subtle state indicates, these two aspects, suitably transposed (since there is no longer any question here of sensible qualities) must be found in that state also. As we have already had occasion to remark elsewhere, everything belonging to the subtle state is very closely connected with the nature of life itself, which is inseparable
from heat; and it may be recalled that on this point, as on many others, the conceptions of Aristotle are in complete agreement with those of the East. As for the luminosity to which we have just alluded, it should be regarded as the reflection and diffraction of the intelligible Light in the extra-sensible modalities of formal manifestation (among which, however, it is only necessary in the present instance to consider those relating to the human state). Furthermore, the subtle form itself (sūkshma-sharīra or linga-sharīra) in which Taijasa dwells is likened to a fiery vehicle, [2] although this must of course be distinguished from corporeal fire (the element Tejas or that which derives from it) which is perceived by the senses of the gross form (sthūla-sharīra), vehicle of Vaishvānara, and more particularly by sight, since visibility, necessarily presupposing the presence of light, is the sensible quality naturally belonging to Tejas; in the subtle state, however, there can no longer be any question of bhūtas, but only of the corresponding tanmātras which are their immediate determining principles.
As to the nädis or arteries belonging to the subtle form, they should on no account be confused with the corporeal arteries by means of which the circulation of the blood is effected; physiologically, they correspond rather to the ramifications of the nervous system, for they are expressly described as luminous; moreover, just as fire is in a sense polarized into heat and light, so the subtle state is linked to the corporeal state in two different and complementary ways, through the blood as to the caloric and through the nervous system as to, the luminous quality. [3] At the same time it must be
clearly understood that between the nädis and the nerves there is correspondence only and not identification, since the former are not corporeal and we are really concerned with two different spheres within the integral individuality. Similarly, when a relationship is established between the functions of these nädis and respiration, [4] because respiration is essential for maintaining life and corresponds in a real way to the principal vital act, it should not be concluded on that account that they can be represented as canals of some sort in which the air circulates; this would amount to confusing the 'vital breath' (prana), which properly belongs to the order of subtle manifestation, with a bodily function. [5] It is sometimes said that the total number of nädis is seventy-two thousand; according to other texts, however, it is given as seven hundred and twenty million; but the difference here is more apparent than real, since these numbers are meant to be taken symbolically and not literally, as is usual in such cases; and this will be apparent if one observes their obvious connection with the cyclic numbers. [6] Further on we shall
have occasion to supplement our remarks upon the subject of the subtle arteries as well as on the different stages in the process of reabsorption of the individual faculties: as we have said, this reals sorption is effected in an order inverse to the development of those same faculties.
In the dream state the individual 'living soul' (jīvātmā) 'is to itself its own light' and it produces, through the action of its own desire (kāma) alone, a world issuing entirely from itself, in which the objects consist exclusively of mental conceptions, that is to say of combinations of ideas clothed in subtle forms, depending substantially upon the subtle form of the individual himself, of which they are merely so many secondary and accidental modifications. [7]
There is, however, always something incomplete and uncoordinated about this production: it is for this reason that it is looked upon as illusory (māyāmaya) or as only possessing an apparent (prātibhāsika) existence whereas, in the sensible world where it is situated in the waking state, the same 'living soul' possesses the faculty of acting in the sense of a practical (vyāvahārika) production, also illusory no doubt with regard to absolute (paramārtha) reality and transitory like all manifestation, yet nevertheless possessing a relative reality and a stability sufficient for the needs of ordinary 'profane' life (laukika, a word derived from loka, the 'world', which should here be taken in a sense exactly equivalent to that which it normally bears in the Gospels). However, it is important to observe that this difference respecting the orientation of the activity of the being in the two states does not imply an effective superiority of the waking state over the dream state when each is considered in itself; or at least a superiority which is valid only from a 'profane' point of view cannot metaphysically be considered as a real superiority. And indeed, from another point of view the possibilities of the dream state are more extensive than those of the waking state since they allow the individual to escape in a certain measure from some of the limiting conditions to which he is subject in the corporeal
modality. [8] But, however that may be, the absolutely real (pāramārthika) is the Self (Ātmā) alone; it is utterly unattainable by any conception that confines itself to the consideration of external and internal objects, knowledge of which constitutes respectively the waking and dream states; certain heterodox schools, which did in fact restrict their attention in this way to the aggregate of these two states, thereby condemned themselves to remain wholly enclosed within the limits of formal manifestation and the human individuality.
By reason of its connection with the mental faculty, the realm of subtle manifestation can be described as an ideal world, to distinguish it from the sensible world which is the realm of gross manifestation. This term however should not be taken in the sense of Plato's 'intelligible world', since his 'ideas' are possibilities in the principial state, which must be referred to formless being (in spite of the overimaginative expressions in which Plato often enveloped his thoughts): in the subtle state we are still only concerned with ideas clothed in forms, since the possibilities which this state comprises do not extend beyond individual existence. [9] Above all it is important not to be misled into imagining an opposition here of the kind which certain modern philosophers claim to establish between 'ideal' and 'real'; such an opposition is really quite meaningless. Everything that is, under whatever mode it may happen to exist, is real for that very reason and possesses precisely the type and degree of reality consonant with its own nature: something consisting in ideas (and that is all the meaning properly attributable to the word 'ideal') is neither more nor less real on that account than something consisting in anything else, each possibility necessarily finding its position at that level in the universal hierarchy determined for it by its own nature.
In the order of universal manifestation, just as the sensible world in its entirety is identified with Virāj, so this ideal world of which we have been speaking is identified with Hiranyagarbha (literally, the
'Golden Embryo'), [10] which is Brahmā (determination of Brahma as effect, kārya) [11] enveloping Himself in the 'World Egg' (Brahmānda), [12] out of which there will develop, according to its mode of realization, the whole formal manifestation which is contained therein virtually as a conception of this Hiranyagarbha, primordial germ of the cosmic Light. [13] Furthermore, Hiranyagarbha is described as the 'synthetic aggregate of life' (jiva-ghana); [14] indeed, it can really be identified with 'Universal Life' [15] by reason of the previously mentioned connection between the subtle state and life, which, even when considered in its entire extension (and not limited to organic or corporeal life only, to which field the physiological point of view is restricted), [16] is nevertheless but one of the special
conditions of the state of existence to which human individuality belongs. The sphere of life therefore does not extend beyond the possibilities comprised within that state, which, be it understood, should here be viewed integrally and taken as including the subtle modalities as well as the gross modality.
Whether one places oneself at the 'macrocosmic' point of view, as we have just done, or at the 'microcosmic' point of view, which we adopted to begin with, the ideal world in question is conceived by faculties corresponding analogically to those by which the sensible world is perceived, or if it be preferred, which are the same faculties as these in principle (since they are still individual faculties), but considered under another mode of existence and at another degree of development, their activity being exercised in a different realm. This explains how Ātmā in this dream state, that is to say under the aspect of Taijasa, comes to have the same number of members and mouths (or instruments of knowledge) as in the waking state under the aspect of Vaishvānara. [17]
There is no necessity to enumerate them a second time since the definitions we have already given can be applied equally, by means of a suitable transposition, to the two realms of gross or sensible manifestation and subtle or ideal manifestation.