3 STAGE OF LIFE -AVASTHA

      In Hindu religion we have detail description of many things . In Gnapati ATHARVASHIRSH,it is stated that the Lord Ganesh is beyond 3 AVASTHA .So I want to state whar are these states of mind - body etc or what are theses AVASTHA.We all know them , but I was surprised that Hindu religion knew about them when sleep studies as we know were not done .We all know the JAGRUT state or AWAKE state. We are awake 16 to 18 hours a day . We are aware of the surroundings. This is the JAGRUT state . The second is SLEEP . But the sleep in modern day medicine is divided in to REM sleep and NON REM sleep. So In REM sleep  we have dreams  and tat state is considered as active state as we have fluctuation in heart rate and blood pressure  and some time irregular respirations. The Non REM sleep is divided in to 3 stages. Stage 1 sleep is very light sleep - we are falling asleep  and then stage 2 is little deeper  and in stage 3 or also called Slow Wave sleep we HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF OUR SURROUNDINGS  and it is deepest sleep . The arousal threshold is very high in slow wave sleep .So in Hindu concept we have taken this in account thousands of years ago . They must have know the stages of sleep . So the second stage or Avastha is sleep and third is DREAM state . So the 3 stages of existence are Being AWAKE - called JAGRUT , in deep sleep called SUSHUPTI  and the dream state is called SVAPNA . 

   In the Awake state the Mind , Intellect and Physical body all are active and aware of the surrounding. But in the sleep we are in bed and the physical body is not active. The stages of the sleep as described above , we have mind and intellect ACTIVE in state of dream The dreams are related to what our Mind and Intellect decide . We dream from our memories and our experiences  and we do see ourselves physically but our PHYSICAL BODY is NOT ACTIVE . That is the difference between the Awake  and Active sleep is concerned. In the DEEP sleep -the SLOW WAVE SLEEP of modern day medicine we have no dreams and out Mind Nd Intellect are NOT ACTIVE  and certainly the Physical body is not active . So we are not aware of ANYTHING . But we do know that we had SOUND SLEEP . This is the CONSCIOUSNESS which is the Witness or SAKHSHI for everything -even when mind is not active.

    But the Hindu religion does not stop at these 3 states. We have one more stat - THE 4TH ONE called TURYA - Turya means 4th .This is the one where we are not aware of anything and we are one with ALL PERVADING CONSCIOUSNESS. There is no awareness of Physical Body, Mind , Intellect or Ego . We are one with the Lord .