(2) Ajatasatru said: ' When this man has fallen asleep thus, then the peison who consists of intelligence having by his intelligence taken to himself the intelligence of these senses (prana\ rests in that place which is the space within the heart. When that person restrains the senses, that person is said to be asleep. Then the breath is restrained, The voice is restrained. The eye is restrained. The ear is restrained. The mind is restrained. 1 8. When he goes to sleep, these worlds are his. Then he becomes a great king, as it were. Then he becomes a great Brahman, as it were. He enters the high and the low, as it were. As a great king, taking with him his people, moves around in his own country as he pleases, even so here this one, taking with him his senses, moves around in his own body (tarlra) as he pleases.

(4) e Having had enjoyment in this state of sleep, having traveled around and seen good and bad, he hastens again 9 according to the entrance and place of origin, back to the state of waking. Whatever he sees there [i. e. in dreaming sleep], he is not followed by it, for this person is without attach- ments/ [Janaka said:] ' Quite so, Yajnavalkya. I will give you, noble Sir, a thousand [cows]. Declare what is higher than this, for my release/

(4) £ Having had enjoyment in this state of deep sleep, having traveled around and seen good and bad, he hastens again, according to the entrance and place of origin, back to sleep. Whatever he sees there [i. e. in the state of deep sleep], he is not followed by it, for this person is without attachments. [Janaka said.] ' Quite so, Yajnavalkya. I will give you, noble Sir, a thousand [cows]. Declare what is higher than this, for my release.

(25) In that state wherein thou art existing, there is being experienced by thee, in an unbearable intensity, voidness and Brightness inseparable — the Voidness bright by nature and the Brightness by nature void, and the Brightness inseparable from the Voidness — a state of the primordial [or unmodified] intellect, which is the Adi-Kaya. And the power of this, shining unobstructedly, will radiate everywhere; it is the Nirmana-Kaya.

(4) People see his pleasure-ground; Him no one sees at all. " Therefore one should not wake him suddenly," they say. Hard is the curing for a man to whom He does not return. Now some people say: " That is just his waking state, for whatever things he sees when awake, those too he sees when asleep." [This is not so, for] there [i.e. in sleep] the person Is self-illuminated/ [Janaka said:] < I will give you, noble Sir, a thousand [cows]. Declare what is higher than this, for my release [from trans- migration].'

(1) The three mother letters A, M, SH are the foundations of the whole; and resemble a Balance, the good in one scale, the evil in the other, and the oscillating tongue of the Balance between them.

(17) In the soul sleep a strange process occurs, namely, the preparation for the sloughing off of the lower sheaths of the soul, leaving it free to enter the life on the Astral Plane clad only in the garments of its highest stage of spiritual attainment reached by it. Each soul awakens on the Astral Plane prepared to dwell on the plane of its highest and best, leaving the rest behind it. It awakens on the plane in which the highest and best in itself is given a chance to develop and expand, and to make progress, for the soul may, and does, make great progress in these between-births sojourns on the Astral Plane.

(73) And thus we can truly say, Immanuel, God with us, God in us. In the Language of Nature it sounds right; but our Tongue [we have] from this World does but stammer it, and cannot name it according to our Understanding. For Im is the Heart of God in the holy Ternary, for it is conceived [or comprehended,] as thou mayest understand it in the Conception [or Comprehending, or Expressing] of the Word. Ma is his entering into the Humanity in the Soul; for that Word [or Syllable) presses out from the Heart; and we understand that he conceived [or comprehended] the Heart (viz. the Virtue of the Father) in the Soul, and goes with the Word [or Syllable] nu, aloft, which signifies his Ascension into Heaven, as to his Soul. El is the Name of the great Angel, which with the Soul triumphs above the Heaven, not only in the Heaven, but in the Trinity.

(23) Finally, after the longer or short period of sojourn of the soul upon the Astral Plane—the duration of which depends upon the degree of spiritual development of the soul—there comes to it the first dawn of a new state or condition, known to occultists as "the second soul-sleep," or slumber, in which the soul is prepared for its new birth on earth which is coming to it. A writer has well described this state as follows: "The second soul-sleep is preceded by a transition state of gradually declining activity and consciousness, and a corresponding desire for rest on the part of the soul. The natural processes of the Astral Plane nearing their close, the soul begins to experience a feeling of lassitude and weariness, and instinctively longs for rest and repose. It finds that it has lived out the greater part of its desires, ambitions, and ideals, and in many cases has also outlived them. There comes to it a wistful feeling of having fulfilled the purpose of its destiny, and a premonition of the coming of some newer phase of existence. The soul does not feel pain at the approach of the second soul-sleep, but, on the contrary, experiences satisfaction and happiness at the coming of something which promises rest and recuperation. Like the weary traveller who has climbed the mountain paths, and has delighted in the experiences of the journey, the soul feels that it has well earned a restful repose, and, like that traveller, it looks forward to the same with longing and desire." The same writer says: "The soul may have passed by a few years, or perhaps a hundred or a thousand years, of earth-time, on the Astral Plane, according to its degree of development and unfoldment. But, be its stay short or long, the feeling of weariness reaches it at last, and, like many aged persons in earth-life, it feels that 'my work is over—let me pass on.' So sooner or later the soul feels a desire to gain new experience, and to manifest in a new life some of the advancement which has come to it by reason of its unfoldment on the Astral Plane. And, from these reasons, and also from the attraction of the desires which have been smouldering there, not lived out or cast off; or, possibly influenced by the fact that some loved soul, on a lower plane, is ready to reincarnate, and wishing to be with that soul (which is also a form of desire) the soul falls into a current sweeping toward rebirth and the selection of proper parents and advantageous environment. In consequence whereof it again falls into a state of soul-slumber, gradually, and so when its time comes it 'dies' on the Astral Plane, as it did before on the material plane, and passes forward toward rebirth on earth." There is another fact concerned with the awakening of the soul at rebirth, however, which is seldom mentioned by writers upon the subject, and which is consequently not known to many persons familiar with the other facts concerning rebirth. This fact is as follows: Strictly speaking, the soul continues in a condition of partial slumber even after it has been re-born in earth life. It does not fully awaken at once in the body of the new-born child in which it has been reincarnated, but on the contrary it awakens only gradually during the early childhood and youth of the child.

(4) [He said:] c Having had enjoyment in this state of sleep, having traveled around and seen good and bad, he hastens again, according to the entrance and place of origin, back to the state of waking. The soul at death

(3) The Hermetic Teachers impart their instruction regarding this subject by bidding their students examine the report of their consciousness regarding their Self. The students are bidden to turn their attention inward upon the Self dwelling within each. Each student is led to see that his consciousness gives him first a report of the existence of his Self-the report is "I Am." This at first seems to be the final words from the consciousness, but a little further examination discloses the fact that this "I Am" may be separated or split into two distinct parts, or aspects, which while working in unison and in conjunction, yet, nevertheless, may be separated in consciousness.

(55) These Alif, Mim, Ha and Mim, O father, If you have sense, regard not in the same way as these Every ordinary Alif and Lam which resembles these; Although these sacred letters consist of common ones, Muhammad himself was formed of flesh and skin, He had flesh and skin and bones, Although no man resembles him in composition; Because in his composition were contained divine powers, In like manner the composition of the letters Ha, Mim Is far exalted above ordinary compounds of letters;

(4) In the state of sleep going aloft and alow, A god, he makes many forms for himself— Now, as it were, enjoying pleasure with women, Now, as it were, laughing, and even beholding fearful sights.

(10) Sleep is the psychic condition which rests on mind states, all material things being absent.

(2) That which is, night to all beings, in it the sage is awake; where all beings are awake, that is the night for the sage who sees (the Self).

(8) He who closes all the doors of the senses, confines the mind within the heart, draws the prāna into the head, and engages in the practice of yoga, uttering Om, the single syllable denoting Brahman, and meditates on Me— he who so departs, leaving the body, attains the Supreme Goal.

(4) On this point there are the following verses: — Striking down in sleep what is bodily, Sleepless he looks down upon the sleeping [senses]. Having taken to himself light, there returns to his place The golden person, the one spirit (hamsd).

(4) 'Having had enjoyment in this state of waking, having traveled around and seen good and evil, he hastens again. according to the entrance and place of origin, back to dreaming sleep. 1 8. As a great fish goes along both banks of a river, both the hither and the further, just so this person goes along both these conditions, the condition of sleeping and the condition of waking. The soul in deep, dreamless sleep

(2) Ajatasatru said: ' When this man fell asleep thus, where then was the person who consists of intelligence (mjndna)? Whence did he thus come back? ' And this also Gargya did not know.