state, the dream state, and the deep sleep (dreamless) state In the deep sleep state, the mind disappears (no thoughts), but the consciousness stays present because that consciousness perceives the ‘darkness’ or ‘nothingness’ of the deep sleep state The following texts from the Vedantic literature support the above idea that consciousness is present in deep sleep, even when the mind is not present, showing that consciousness is separate from the mind “But Advaita holds that pure consciousness persists in deep sleep too Pure consciousness is unchanging, eternal, different from the body-organ-mind (and by extension the entire external universe), unlimited by time and space.” (Sarvapriyananda, 2017, p 8) Likewise, in his article on Vedantic literature, Burch (2018) also mentioned that consciousness is the unchanging bliss and present even in a deep sleep state of being: Normal experience, however, has indications which point to the same truths taught by scripture A careful study of normal experience, in its three states of waking, dream, and dreamless sleep, will lead us to the scriptural truth that self is the only reality, “un-differenced consciousness and bliss.” (Burch, 2018, p 82) Therefore, whereas consciousness is pure happiness, changeless, enduring, division-less, property-less, and all-pervasive (Subtheme 2.2, Theme 4, and Subtheme 6.2), human mind is continuously changing—in it lives all raging desires, memories, emotions, and thoughts When mind relaxes, an individual experience happiness When most people fulfill their desires, they experience more happiness, but it is short-lived Soon, their mind generates more cravings, and their thoughts become unstable When the mind is stable (an equanimous mind), a person experiences pure happiness because the true nature of consciousness shines through it It is like the sun while being reflected in water; when the water is still, the pure sun shines 183