BECAUSE IT ETC: Ordinarily there are three states of consciousness: (1) the waking state, during which one is conscious of the physical world outside; (2) the dream state, when one is conscious of the inner world and of objects created from the impressions of the waking state; (3) the state of dreamless sleep, when consciousness is free from the duality of subject and object and one experiences a feeling of undifferentiated awareness. Vedanta speaks of Turiya, or Pure Consciousness, which permeates the three states and is immortal and undifferentiated. Turiya is Brahman. Often the Upanishads compare the Consciousness of Brahman to the consciousness experienced in deep sleep. Both are characterized by an absence of pain and of the subject-object relationship. But the state of dreamless sleep, which is mechanically attained, is impermanent, and the consciousness experienced during it is covered by a thin layer of ignorance. Hence an ordinary person, after waking from deep sleep, leads the normal life of ignorance. But the knower of Brahman never forgets his real nature at any time. Though all persons attain the bliss of oneness in dreamless sleep, yet only the knower of Brahman realizes it as the Bliss of Brahman.
In deep sleep the illumined person experiences the Knowledge of Brahman. For the ignorant, deep sleep bears no such fruit. The three states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep are common to both. In the ignorant person, as in the illumined, the sense-organs do not function in deep sleep, the prana fires keep watch, and the mind, free from the conditions of waking and dreaming, remains inactive. Therefore the purpose of this verse is to eulogize the Knowledge of Brahman
~Nikhilananda on Prasna Upanishad 4.5
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