The disappearance of all gross and subtle existence, the cessation of the senses, and the attainment of bliss,--these three are common to liberation-while-alive and deep sleep. There is however this difference that, whereas he who is asleep comes back to life again and again [**] by virtue of the effects of his past actions, he that has attained illumination and liberation, never comes back (to worldly life), because the effects of all his past actions have been destroyed. (70).

If the bliss of a king endowed with all prosperity and enjoying every kind of happiness be taken as a unit, the bliss of the manes is declared to be a hundredfold. So, too, through the world of the gods higher and higher up to the world of Brahman, each (bliss) is a hundredfold of the next lower one. Singular and containing within itself all these (grades of bliss) is the bliss of (the supreme) Brahman, of which the pleasures of the senses are but an (insignificant) fraction. (71).

"Therein are included all degrees of bliss,--the bliss of men (ananda), of the manes (moda), of gods (pramoda), etc. Therein all desires are fulfilled. Therein is the state of oneness owing to the cessation of all (phenomena). Make me live immortally for ever, O Soma [**], in that abode of concentrated bliss, and vouchsafe to my soul [*+] that is betwixt the brows an unceasing shower of immortality, [*++]"--so do the Vedas declare. (72).

The self is unperturbed and its nature is bliss; the other (maya) is quite the opposite; their steadiness or perturbation bears fruit in the individual consciousness. The perturbation of the mind, until a desired object is gained,

gives rise to misery. When that object is-gained, the pleasure (said to be) derived from that object is only so long as the mind remains steady. (73)

Just as there is a momentary bliss when the mind is absorbed in pleasure at the end of a sensual indulgence, so too there is unsurpassed bliss in deep sleep only so long as there is steadiness (of consciousness). In liberation, however, the consciousness is absolutely tranquil and there is eternal bliss. There is thus a constant relation between bliss and steadiness. It is therefore proper to speak of sensual pleasure as a fraction of eternal bliss. (74).

The mind, tired of external activities, draws them all in together, and carrying with it the tendencies resulting from them, ceases from them and turns inward in search of its own place. In the dream-body, it enjoys dream-objects generated by the combination of those tendencies. Abandoning these, again, it longs for the inner self, reaching which it attains perfect rest. [**] (75).

[*+] "How is the enjoyment of pleasure, etc. possible in dream, while the instrument therefor