Patanjali's yoga sutras

अभावप्रत्ययालम्बना वृत्तिर्निद्रा

abhāva pratyayālambanā vr̥ttirnidrā

abhāva = nothingness

pratyaya = notion

ālambanā = based on

vr̥ttirnidrā = vortex of sleep; dreams

In sleep arises the mental vortex of the dream state, as well as the notion of nothingness.

“You have a waking state in which the consciousness notices it was coming through the senses. You have a dream state in which the consciousness notices that the mind is creating the dreams that the mind is creating. And then deep sleep in which you’re noticing nothing. It is not that you’re not conscious. You’re conscious of nothing.”

• Michael Singer

Observe your thoughts, emotions, and mental states, the things that happen to you and the things you do without judgement. Just see them for what they are. Ask yourself… 

Is this the truth or a misconception?

Am I rooted in reality or am I using my imagination?

Am I awake in the present moment or am I daydreaming?

Am I here in the now or am I replaying past experiences?

That’s all happening at the level of the awareness of your ego. Your ego believes that nothing exists in its awareness outside of its own thinking and doing, its own actions and experiences.

But, just as most of the universe is empty of matter–the physical components of an atom are the size of a peanut in a football stadium–there is a vast field of consciousness beyond what you experience through your mind and senses.

And, you are aware of it. You can tell the difference between waking up from a nightmare or a busy dream and waking up from a restful, dreamless sleep.

When you have Descartes’ insight, “I think therefore am,” this notion of yourself depends on your awareness of the vortexes of your own mind: your thoughts, emotions, and mental states, what you do and and what happens to you. How do you know you are thinking? Consciousness.

When your ego takes a break from thinking and doing to rest in a dreamless sleep, you are aware of the nothingness. How? Consciousness.

The nothingness of dreamless sleep isn’t the only thing that interrupts the ego’s thinking and doing. If you’ve done yoga nidra, or another type of meditation that takes you into a trance state where you’re resting deeply without sleeping, you’ve experienced the notion of nothingness while awake.

You might even experience breaks from thinking and doing during yoga class. That’s one of the great things about the physical practice of yoga. You work hard, you exhaust yourself thinking and doing, and then you get a chance to rest in down-dog or child’s pose for a bit, and you might be so tired that you even rest your mind for a moment. If class is really good, when you get to savasana, you’re completely spent and you can rest fully, body and mind, in nothingness.

In The Recognition Sūtras, his translation of the Pratyabhijñā-hr̥daya by Rājānaka Kṣemarāja, Christopher Wallis describes Kṣemarāja’s seven layers of consciousness. The egoic mind, which perceives itself as separate from the whole, is the first layer, Sakala. The next layer is Pralayakala. Wallis writes:

[I]n Ksemaraja’s usage, Pralayakala refers to the second layer of consciousness within each one of us: the mode of nondual perception that we access every night in deep sleep. Deep sleep is a state in which we are free of limitation, but not conscious of that freedom. It is a nondual state, but it is the nonduality of nothingness, for it is void of conscious awareness. It is a state accessed by meditators as well: an almost completely insensate, restful state similar to sleep but with a trace of awareness that makes it less tamasic than sleep (Swami Muktananda called it tandra, Satyananda called it nidra).

You may have heard that the best time to meditate are the moments between waking and sleeping. Meditating at these times is called Sandhya Kala.

Meditate as you go to sleep. Meditate as you wake up. The evening’s transition between waking and sleeping, and the morning’s transition from sleeping to waking, these moments between nothing and something, and something and nothing, are moments of limitless possibilities. That state itself is a state of oneness with the divinity that saturates the universe. For a single moment, you are free of everything you have experienced. You are pure energy, pure possibility, pure divinity.