becomes Brahman. The waking and the dreaming states are equally real and equally unreal, real only in relative sense and unreal as compared with the transcendental in which there is identification with Reality, the unchangeable Self. There is no absolute reality of creation, the one infinite Existence appears to be the manifold universe which universe is not a reality but something superimposed upon the Atman. Bondage and liberation, the individual soul and the world, are all unreal. The supreme bliss is the very nature of the Atman, an absolute reality which persists. Patanjali’s concept of experience Patanjali tells us that experiences of pleasure and pain are the fruits of merit and demerit, respectively; pain is caused by false identification of the experiencer with the object of experience, and the pain which is yet to come may be avoided. The "experiencer" is the Atman, the real human nature, and the "object of experience" is the totality of the apparent world, including the mind and the senses; so long as the experiencer is falsely identified with the object of experience the Atman cannot be known. Patanjali states – अभाव – प्रत्ययालम्बना वृत्तिर्निद्रा (Yoga Sutra I.10) that "sleep is a wave of thought about nothingness", which means sleep is a positive experience of nothingness, when the already perceived objects are not forgotten but as experiences unite themselves to the system which existed at the time of going to sleep, in that state there is continuity of experience and the function of remembering is not reduced to utter confusion. He explains that the mind having innumerable impressions and desires acts only to serve the Atman and is able to perceive because it reflects both the Atman and the objects of perception, it cannot act independently for its own sake. The man of discrimination ceases to regard the mind as the Atman, and moves towards liberation. Distractions due to past impressions may arise if the mind relaxes its discrimination, even a little but can be overcome in the same manner as obstacles to enlightenment, that is, by resolving the mind back into its primal cause through meditation. Patanjali tells us – तस्य सप्तधा प्रान्तभूमिः प्रज्ञा (Yoga Sutras II.27) that the experiencer gains the knowledge of the Atman in seven stages, advancing towards the highest beginning with - a) the realization that the source of all spiritual wisdom is inside us, and proceeding to b) when