During deep sleep, there
is the experience of the void; the same void can be experienced during
meditation. That void is not empty, but there is a feeling of emptiness. During
that time, there is no content, and that is why it is called deep sleep. So
sleep is an unconscious state without content; there is no awareness. When one
is in the void, he does not know that he is in the void, but once awake, he
remembers being in the void. In deep meditation, one is in the void and is
aware of it at the time. The meditative state is a fully awakened state.
--Swami Rama, Mandukya Upanishad, Enlightenment Without
God, p. 98; OM, The Eternal Witness,
Secrets of the Mandukya Upanishad, p. 161
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