Questioner: But I am not aware in my sleep. 

Ramana Maharshi: True, there is no awareness of the body or of the world. But you must exist in your sleep in order to say now “I was not aware in my sleep”. Who says so now? It is the wakeful person. The sleeper cannot say so. That is to say, the individual who is now identifying the Self with the body says that such awareness did not exist in sleep.

—Ramana Maharshi, “Talk 609,” Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi

Two statements made in the waking state confirm the continuous existence of “something.” The first: when asked how you slept last night, you report, “I slept well.” The second: when asked about your experience of deep sleep, you state, “I remember nothing” or “I have no recollection of deep sleep.” 

Let’s start with the second statement. Ramana Maharshi replies to the questioner: “True, there is no awareness of the body or of the world [in deep sleep]. But you must exist in your sleep in order to say now ‘I was not aware in my sleep’” (my emphasis).

Suppose that you ceased to exist in the state of deep sleep. If that were so, then how could you even say: “I have no recollection of that state?” Wouldn’t you instead say: “I don’t know what you’re talking about”? Moreover, if it were the case that your existence were discontinuous, then how would you come to believe that you, upon waking up, were the very same you that went to bed last night? 

What, therefore, is not in question is whether anything happened in deep sleep (though, anon, this turns out to be quite telling) or whether recollection is possible; what is in question, in this case, is whether there is “something” whose existence does not wax and wane as the waking, dream, and deep sleep states come and go. And so, what your statement actually confirms is not (as of yet) knowledge of the state of deep sleep but rather the direct experience of “being continuously ‘I’” or of “being continuously myself.” 

Come to the first statement now: “I slept well.” You cannot say that you slept well in virtue of having been tossing and turning in the waking state all night. Were that to have been the case, then you would have called it “insomnia.” Nor can you say that you slept well by dint of having had a number of dreams, for in dream the mind (vritti) is still active and thus not at rest. Nor would it be so if you were to pass through a succession of waking states and dream states.

Therefore, there must be some other state on account of which you can, in the waking state, report that you slept quite well. What is that state?

That state is the state of deep sleep. And what is key to understanding the nature of this state? It’s clear that “there is no awareness of the body or of the world” in deep sleep because there is no mind here. And we’ve already found that “something” exists in—and beyond—deep sleep, and that something is “I” or “I-ness.” We’re getting close to understanding: since that I is continuously present, it can be termed “being,” “presence,” or “reality”—sat in Sanskrit. And since this “I” is never not aware—either of itself or of objects—it can be called “consciousness” or awareness” (cit in Sanskrit). 

Further inquiry would reveal that being, in direct experience, is none other than consciousness, and so this “I” is being-consciousness. And what is the nature of being-consciousness? The statement, “I slept well,” provides the needed clue: being-consciousness, which shines as itself in the absence of mental activity, is happiness, peace, or contentment (ananda). The finite mind, functioning in accordance with time, cannot grasp “I am happiness,” only “I slept well.” Still, it’s pointing, here, in the right direction.

And what is that right direction in brief? Ramana Maharshi, quite simply, states that your true nature—satchitananda—is the Self.