AD SE - Ch 5.1 The Word 'Sleep' Is A Misnomer

Listen to Ektaji guide us through a self-exploration meditation, "The word 'sleep' is a misnomer", from Chapter 5 of Atmananda Krishna Menon's book Atma Darshan. Through direct inquiry, it is seen that deep sleep is not unconsciousness but the absence of the body-mind. The waking world disappears- its attractions and repulsions dissolve, and the dreamer too vanishes. Yet this very absence is clearly known. If "I" were asleep, the nothingness of deep sleep could never be known. This knowing proves that the knower is never asleep. The waker and dreamer do not sleep; they are simply absent. "Sleep" is a concept created by the ego to mask its own impermanence. Consciousness never sleeps. Waking, dream, and deep sleep arise and dissolve in the ever-present I AM.