Avastha-Traya - The Three States of Waking, Dream, and Deep Sleep
- Daniel McKenzie
- Sep 7
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Every human being passes through three states each day: waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. To ordinary eyes, these are simply conditions of mind and body. To Vedanta, they are doorways into understanding the Self.
In the waking state (jagrat), the individual experiencer is called Vishva, and at the macrocosmic level the total is Virat. In the dream state (svapna), the experiencer is Taijasa, illumined by the light of consciousness within, and the corresponding total is Hiraṇyagarbha, the cosmic subtle mind. In the deep sleep state (sushupti), the individual is Prajna, merged in causal ignorance, while the macrocosmic counterpart is Ishvara, the total causal reality.
Vedanta emphasizes that each of these states comes and goes, but something remains constant: the witnessing Self. The waking ego disappears in dream, the dream-ego disappears in deep sleep, but I — the awareness of their arising and subsiding — never vanish. Just as day and night alternate against the unmoving backdrop of the sky, these three states alternate against the changeless Self.
This inquiry into the three states is central to the Mandukya Upanishad, which culminates in the teaching of a fourth: turiya, the ever-present reality beyond waking, dream, and sleep. Turiya is not another state but the very consciousness in which all states arise.
Thus the avastha-traya teaching serves as a powerful mirror. By examining the transience of waking, dream, and sleep, one discriminates the eternal from the ephemeral. The Self is neither the doer of the waking, nor the dreamer of the dream, nor the sleeper of the sleep. It is the light of awareness in which all three appear.
Root & Meaning
Avasthā = state, condition
Traya = three
Together: “the three states” of individual experience — waking (jāgrat), dream (svapna), and deep sleep (suṣupti).
Scriptural References
Mandukya Upanishad: the primary text analyzing the three states and revealing turiya, the non-dual Self.
Bhagavad Gita (2.69): uses the metaphor of waking and sleeping to distinguish the wise from the ignorant.
Panchadashi (Chapter 1): elaborates on the states as aids to Self-inquiry.
Traditional View
The three states and their corresponding identities:
Waking (jāgrat): Individual vishva / Cosmic virat (gross total).
Dream (svapna): Individual taijasa / Cosmic hiraṇyagarbha (subtle total).
Deep sleep (suṣupti): Individual prajna / Cosmic Ishvara (causal total).
Vedantic Analysis
Each state is real while it lasts, but each is temporary and negated by the next.
The unchanging witness (sakshi) is the invariable factor across all three.
Liberation is recognizing oneself as that witness — not confined to any state.
The teaching culminates in turīya: the timeless awareness that is one’s true nature.
Common Misunderstandings
Deep sleep as liberation: It is a state of ignorance, not freedom. Awareness remains, but without recognition.
Turīya as a “fourth state”: Turiya is not a new experience; it is the ever-present reality of awareness itself.
Dream as unreal, waking as real: Both are relative appearances; Vedanta treats them equally as mithya.
Vedantic Resolution
By inquiring into the three states, one recognizes that the Self is not limited to any of them. Waking, dream, and sleep belong to the jiva; the Self transcends them. The fruit of this knowledge is freedom here and now, as turiya is understood to be one’s true identity.
