What are the two periods when the soul is plunged into deep sleep, or into total unconsciousness?
When the galaxy is annihilated, beings are plunged into a state of dream or unconsciousness.
When the material world is awake and animated, they experience a kind of dream, a waking dream.
When they sleep, they dream there too. And during their unconsciousness during the period of annihilation, when the material galaxy is in an unmanifest state, they enter another form of dream.
Thus, whatever their condition in this material world, they are all in a dream state. In the spiritual world, on the contrary, everything is awake.
When they sleep, they are still dreaming. And during their unconsciousness during the period of annihilation, when this material universe is in an unmanifest state, they enter another form of dream. Thus, whatever their condition in this material world, they are all in a dream state.
In the spiritual world, on the contrary, everything is awake.
The state of sleep and unconsciousness into which the soul is plunged immediately after the partial or total destruction of the galaxy is wrongly considered by some philosophers of lesser intelligence to be the ultimate stage of existence. And after the total destruction of the material galaxy, this state continues for several million years.
But when creation is re-manifested by God, the spiritual being is awakened and returns to its new activity at the level it left off at during its last incarnation.
When the soul leaves its body upon the latter's death, it is put into a state of sleep and then undergoes a period of unconsciousness.
There is another period of unconsciousness, the one following the end of life, which humans call “death.” This period only concerns the gross material body and not the soul, for the latter is immortal.
When the individual soul, distinct from God, that each of us truly is, leaves its gross material body at the end of existence, called “death,” it is placed in a state of sleep by the celestial beings, the Lord's attendants.
After the destruction of the gross material body, the soul leaves it and is immediately reincarnated. It then remains unconscious for approximately nine months in humans, a period it spends in the womb of its new mother and in a specific body, depending on its karma. Our next body is the product of our mental activities. It is the mental conditions at the moment of death that determine the specific body we will be given.
In reality, when the end of life is scheduled, the spirit soul leaves the body and immediately reincarnates in the womb of a new mother, chosen by the celestial agents of Krishna, God, the Supreme Personality, according to its karma.
The soul is immortal, for it is eternal; that is what we are.
The waking state of consciousness manifested through activity is its natural condition of existence. It cannot cease to be active, especially when it learns to turn its desires towards the spiritual service it offers to the Lord. Its life then becomes perfect, and it then reaches the spiritual world to enjoy eternal awakening.