Vedanta Verse 295

Every object falls within the realm of Time. What does this mean? Anything which is subject of memory can be declared to be in Time. But the self is never an object of memory, self is the witness of memory. That “I am” is an ever present knowledge, it does not fall within Time or memory.

The dream world as well as yesterday’s waking world has both become the object of memory and in this sense both are faint, lacking luminosity. Thus waking state constantly proves to be an object of memory and therefore can be reduced to dream.

Vikarah-change what is this change?
We can safely distinguish between two kinds of changes, the topical change and the fundamental change.
That the thoughts begin and end is a fundamental change and various changes in the content of thoughts that undergo change from time to time is topical change. The very beginning and the resolution of the mind is the fundamental change. The feelings that may arise in the mind now happy and now angry etc are all topical changes.

That the body is there now in the waking and is not there in deep sleep is the fundamental change and that in waking the body is observed to change etc is the topical change.
In other words the changes that take place within the waking state is topical change and that the notion of embodiment itself resolves in deep sleep is the fundamental change.

( That is how the great Samkara in his commentary to the second sutra janmadhyasya yathah speaks only of the origination and the destruction of the universe and is not interested in the Yaska’s 6 kind of changes. The 6 kind of changes are only topical changes which are accommodated/included in the fundamental change.)

Who is the witness here?
The self is sarva vikara vetta, the one who sees both the topical and the fundamental changes. One who is aware of loosing the notion of embodiment in deep sleep, one who is aware of the re- arising of the notions of embodiment in waking and dream is the sarva sakshi, the all knowing witness. This unchanging witness is the Truth but is simply missed by us.

There is no need to prove this Truth, it needs to be registered. That which is evident “that I am present as the witness of all the three states” requires only acknowledgment and no proof. In fact nothing can prove or disprove it, all logical arguments presuppose its presence a priori.

What I think, how I think is all part of the material world, but that I am aware of thinking is spiritual.

One fact becomes evident in the close study of the three states. The three states are not simultaneous or parallel but alternating. Dream replaces waking, and waking replaces dream and both get replaced by deep sleep. No two thoughts run parallel, one thought subsides when the other rises. The self, the ever peaceful awareness, is the witness to this.

Thus one who is aware of topical and fundamental changes, who is aware of mental imaginations, dreams and freedom from them, that being is the TRUTH, while body, mind etc which have a beginning and an end are false.