By
Sri Swami Sivananda
A DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY PUBLICATION
First Edition: 1958
Second Edition: 2000
(2,000 Copies)
World Wide Web (WWW) Edition : 2001
Website: http://www.divinelifesociety.org/
This WWW reprint is for free distribution
© The Divine Life Trust Society
Published By
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
P.O. Shivanandanagar—249 192
Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttaranchal,
Himalayas, India.
Contents
Publishers' Note
Introduction
1. Songs Of Dream
2. Dream
3. Study of Dream-State
4. Dream Philosophy
5. Philosophy of Dream
6. Who is it That Dreams?
7. Lord Creates Dream Objects
8. Prophetic Dreams
9. Spiritual Enlightenment Through Dreams
10. Waking as a Dream
11. The Unreality of Imagination
12. Why Jagrat is a Dream?
13. Waking Experience Has Relative Reality
14. Waking Experience is as False as Dream Experience
15. Jagarat is as Unreal as Dream
16. Remove The Colouring of The Mind
17. Upanishads And Dreams
18. Prasna-Upanishad on Dreams
19. Dream
20. The Story of a Dreamer Subhoda
21. Raja Janaka's Dream
22. Goudapadacharya on Dreams
23. Sri Nimbarkacharya on Dreams
24. Dream of Chuang Tze
25. Dream Hints
26. Dream-Symbols And Their Meanings
Though Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj is an Advaita Vedantin of Sri
Sankara's School, he is unique in that in his life and teachings he
synthesises the highest idealism and dynamic practical life. His "Divine
Life" is ideal life, ideal and divine only because it is possible to
live it here and now.
The sage, therefore, has directed the beam of his divine light on all
problems that face man. Not confining himself to the exposition of philosophy
and Yoga, he has enriched our literature in other fields, too, e.g.,
medicine, health and hygiene and even "How to Become Rich."
And now we have from his divine pen his inspiring and enlightened thoughts
on one of the most interesting phenomena viz., dreams. He has viewed
dreams from several angles and thrown such a flood of light on it as
to expose not only its unreality, but also the unreality of the waking
state. Thus the sage leads us to the Supreme Reality that alone exists.
16th February, 1958.
Maha Sivaratri Day
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
The analysis of dreams and their cause by psychoanalysts are defective.
They maintain that the cause of dream creation lies in the suppressed
desires of the dreamer. Can they create dreams as they like by suppressing
desires? No, they cannot do that. They say that desires stimulate or
help the dream creation. But they do not know what supplies the material
out of which they are made and what turns the desires into actual expression,
enabling the dreamer see his own suppressed desires materialised and
appearing to him as real.
The desires only supply the impulse. The mind creates the dream out
of the materials supplied by the experiences of the waking state. The
dream creatures spring up from the bed of Samskaras or impressions in
the subconscious mind. Indigestion also causes dream. The Taijasa is
the dreamer. It is the waking personality that creates the dream personality.
The dream personality exists as the object of the waking personality
and is real only as such.
The waking and dreaming states do not exist independently side by side
as real units.
Why do we dream? Various answers have been given to this question.
Dreams are nothing but a reflection of our waking experience in a new
form. The medical view is that dreams are due to some organic disturbances
somewhere in the body, but more particularly in the stomach. Sometimes
coming diseases appear in dreams.
According to Sigmund Freud all dreams without any exception are wish-fulfilment.
The physical stimulus alone is not responsible for the production of
dreams. The dream mechanism is very intricate. The wishes are of an
immoral nature. They are revolting to the moral self, which exercises
a control on their appearance. Therefore, the wishes appear in disguised
forms to evade the moral censor. Very few dreams present the wishes
as they really are. Dreams are partial gratification of the wishes.
They relieve the mental tension and thus enable us to enjoy repose.
They are safety valves to strong impulsions. You will know your animal-self
in dream.
The objects which manifest during the dreaming state are often not
different in many respects from those which one perceives during his
waking state. During the dreaming state he talks with the members of
his family and friends, eats the same food, behold rivers, mountains,
motor cars, gardens, streets, ocean, temples, works in the office, answers
question papers in the examination hall, and fights and quarrels with
some people. This shows that man does not abandon the results of his
past relation with objects when he falls asleep.
The person who experiences the three states, viz., Jagrat or waking-state,
Svapna or the dreaming state, and Sushupti or deep-sleep state is called
Visva in the waking state, Taijasa in the dreaming state and Prajna
in the deep sleep state. When one gets up from sleep, it is Visva who
remembers the experience of Prajna in deep sleep and says, "I slept
soundly. I do not know anything." Otherwise remembrance of the enjoyment
in deep sleep is not possible.
The reactions to dreams differ according to mental disposition, temperament
and diet of the person.
All dreams are affairs of mere seconds. Within ten seconds you will
experience dreams wherein the events of several years happen.
Some get dreams occasionally, while some others experience dreams daily.
They can never have sleep without dreams.
The sun is the source and the temporary resting place of its rays.
The rays emanate from the sun and spread in all directions at the time
of sunrise. They enter into the sun at sunset, lose themselves there
and come out again at the next sunrise. Even so the state of wakefulness
and dream come out from the state of deep sleep and re-enter it and
lose themselves there to follow the same course again.
Whatever appears in the dream world is the reproduction of the waking
world. It is not only the reproduction of the objects seen, experienced
or dealt with in the present life, but it may be the reproduction of
objects seen, experienced or dealt with in any former life in the present
world. Therefore the dream world cannot be said to be independent of
the waking world.
The objects that are seen in the state of wakefulness are always seen
outside the body. It is, therefore, external to the dreamer, while the
dream world is always internal to the dreamer. That is the only difference
between them.
During the dream state the whole wakeful world loses itself in the
dream state. Therefore, it is not possible to find the distinctive features
that would help the dreamer to distinguish the waking world from the
dream world.
Scientists and Western philosophers draw their conclusions from the
observations of their waking experience. Whereas the Vedantins utilise
the experiences of the three states viz., waking, dream and deep sleep
and then draw their conclusions. Hence the latter's conclusions are
true, correct, perfect, full and integral, while those of the former
are partial and one sided.
Certain kinds of external sounds such as the ringing of a bell, the
noise of alarm-clock, knocks on the door or the wall, the blowing of
wind, the drizzling of rain, the rustling of leaves, the blowing of
the horn of a motor car, the cracking of the window etc., may produce
in the mind of the dreamer variety of imaginations. They generate certain
sensations, which increase according to the power of imagination of
the sleeper and the sensitiveness of his mind. These sounds cause very
elaborate dreams.
If you touch the dreamers' chest with the point of a pin, he may dream
that some one has given him a severe blow on his body or stabbed him
with a dagger.
The individual soul does not know that he is dreaming during his dream
state and is not conscious of himself as he is bound by the Gunas of
Prakriti. He passively beholds the creations of his dream mind passing
before him as an effect of the workings of the impressions (Samskaras)
of his waking state.
It is possible for a dreamer to remain cognisant during his dream state
of the fact that he is dreaming. Learn to be the witness of your thoughts
in the waking state. You can be conscious in the dream state that you
are dreaming. You can alter, stop or create your own thoughts in the
dream state independently. You will be able to keep awake in the dream
state. If the thoughts of the waking state are controlled, you can also
control the dream thoughts.
Sometimes the dreams are very interesting and turn out to be true.
They foretell events. A man living in Haridwar dreamt on the first January
1947 that he will be in Benares on the night of the third January. It
really turned out to be true. An officer dreams that he will be transferred
to Allahabad. In the following morning he gets the transfer order. Another
man dreams that he will meet with a motorcar accident on the coming
Saturday. It also turns out to be true.
Profound wisdom comes through reflection on dreams. No one has known
himself truly who has not studied his dreams. The study of dreams shows
how mysterious is our soul. Dreams reveal to us that aspect of our nature,
which transcends rational knowledge. Every dream presentation has a
meaning. A dream is like a letter written in an unknown language.
Many riddles of life are solved through hints from dreams. Dreams indicate
which way the spiritual life of a man is flowing. One may receive proper
advice for self-correction through dreams. One may know how to act in
a particular situation through dreams. The dreams point out a path unknown
to the waking consciousness. Saints and sages appear in dreams during
times of difficulty and point out the way.
The Vedantins study very deeply and carefully the states of dreams
and deep sleep and logically prove that the waking state is as unreal
as the dream state. They declare that the only difference between the
two states is that the waking state is a long dream, Deergha Svapna.
So long as the dreamer dreams, dream-objects are real. When he wakes
up the dream world becomes false. When one attains illumination or knowledge
of Brahman, this wakeful world becomes as unreal as the dream world.
The real truth is that nobody sleeps, dreams or wakes up, because there
is no reality in these states.
Transcend the three states and rest in the fourth state of Turiya,
the eternal bliss of Brahman, Satchidananda Svaroopa.
Swami Sivananda
Guru Guru Japna
Aur Sab Svapna,
Guru Guru Japna
Jagat Deergha Svapna.
Jagat Deergha Svapna
The world is like a long dream.
Take shelter in Guru
Everything is unreal. (Guru Guru)
Antarai
When you perceive the things in Dream
You take them all to be real,
When you wake up and perceive
They are all false and unreal. (Guru Guru)
The world of name and forms is like
The dream you have during the night,
You take them all as real things,
But they are only false and transient (Guru Guru)
The only one which really exists
Is that God with Brahmic Splendour
Wake up, wake up, wake up to Light,
Wake up, wake up, from Maya's sleep,
And see the things in their proper light. (Guru Guru)
Svapna is the dreaming state in which man enjoys the five objects of
senses and all the senses are at rest and the mind alone works. Mind
itself is the subject and the object. It creates all dream-pictures.
Jiva is called Taijasa in this state. There is Antah-Prajna (internal
consciousness). The scripture says, "When he falls asleep, there are
no chariots in that state, no horses and roads, but he himself creates
chariots, horses and roads."
The dreaming world is separate from the waking one. The man sleeping
on a cot in Calcutta, quite healthy at the time of going to bed, wanders
in Delhi as a sickly man in the dream world and vice versa. Deep sleep
is separate from both the dreaming and the waking world. To the dreamer
the dream world and the dream objects are as much real as the objects
and experiences of the waking world. A dreaming man is not aware of
the unreality of the dream world. He is not aware of the existence of
the waking world, apart from the dream. Consciousness changes. This
change in consciousness brings about either the waking or the dream
experiences. The objects do not change in themselves. There is only
change in the mind. The mind itself plays the role of the waking and
the dream.
The dreamer feels that the dreams are real so long as they last, however
incoherent they may be. He dreams sometimes that his head has been cut
off and that he is flying in the air.
The dreamer believes in the reality of the dream as well as the different
experiences in the dream. Only when he wakes up from the dream, he knows
or realises that what he has experienced was mere dream, illusion and
false. Similar is the case with the Jiva in the waking world. The ignorant
Jiva imagines that the phenomenal world of sense-pleasure is real. But
when he is awakened to the reality of things, when his angle of vision
is changed, when the screen of Avidya is removed, he realises that this
waking world also is unreal like the dream world.
In dream a poor man becomes a mighty potentate. He enjoys various sorts
of pleasures. He marries a Maharani, lives in a magnificent palace and
begets several children. He gives his eldest daughter in marriage to
the son of a Maha-Raja. He goes to the Continent along with this wife
and children. Then he returns and visits various places of pilgrimage.
He dies of pneumonia at Benares. Within five minutes, he gets the above
experiences. What a great marvel!
As in dream, so in the waking, the objects seen are unsubstantial,
though the two conditions differ by the one being internal and subtle,
and the other external, gross and long. The wise consider the wakeful
as well as the dreaming condition as one, in consequence of the similarity
of the objective experience in either case. As are dream and illusion
a castle in the air, so say the wise, the Vedanta declares this cosmos
to be.
Dreams represent the contraries. A king who has plenty of food, dreams
that he is begging for his food in the streets. A chaste, pure aspirant
dreams that he is suffering from venereal disease. A chivalrous soldier
dreams that he is running from the battlefield for fear of enemy. A
weak sickly man dreams that he is dead. He dreams also that his living
father is dead and weeps in the night. He also experiences that he is
attending the cremation of his father. Sometimes a man who lives in
the city dreams that he is facing a tiger and a lion and shrieks loudly
at night. He takes his pillow thinking it to be his trunk and proceeds
to the Railway Station. After walking a short distance he takes it to
be a dream and comes back to his house. Some people dream that they
are sitting in the toilet and actually micturate in their beds.
As soon as you wake up, the dream becomes unreal. The waking state
does not exist in the dream. Both dream and waking states are not present
in deep sleep. Deep sleep is not present in dream and waking states.
Therefore all the three states are unreal. They are caused by the three
qualities: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Brahman or the Absolute is the silent
witness of the three states. It transcends the three qualities also.
It is pure bliss and pure consciousness. It is Existence Absolute.
Once a disciple approached his Guru, prostrated at His Lotus Feet and
with folded hands put the question:
Disciple: O My Revered Guru! Please tell
me the way to cross this cycle of births and deaths.
Guru: My dear disciple! If you can understand
who you are, then you can get over this cycle of births and deaths.
Disciple: O Guru! I am not so foolish as
not to understand me. There is no man on earth who does not understand
himself; but every one of them is having his rounds of birth and death.
Guru: No, No. You should understand the nature
between the body and that person for whom this body is intended. Then
only any one is said to have understood himself.
Disciple: Who is the person to whom this body
belongs?
Guru: This Deha (body) belongs to the Dehi (Atman).
Try to understand the true nature of the Atman.
Disciple: I do not see anybody besides this body.
Guru: When this body was asleep, who is the person
who experienced your dreams? Again in deep sleep who is he that enjoyed
it? When you wake up, who is he that is conscious of the world, your
dreams and the soundness of the deep sleep?
Disciple: I am just beginning to have a little
idea of the nature of Atman who is present in all the three states.
From the above conversation between the Guru and the disciple, it is
clear that the dream and the deep sleep states are worthy of our study
in order to understand the true nature of the Atman, as we already pretend
to have some knowledge at least of our waking consciousness.
Dream is but a disturbance of the deep sleep and the study of the former,
as to its origin, working, purpose and meaning will naturally lead us
to the study of the deep sleep state also.
The best way to study a subject is to trace its history and development
in the hands of eminent authors and to focus our critical faculty on
what we have studied from their treaties and to rectify any omissions,
when we shall have a complete and satisfactory survey of that subject.
The dream reveals within itself those unconscious mental mechanisms
evolved during the course of development for the purpose of controlling
and shaping the primitive instinctual self towards that form of behaviour
demanded by the contemporary civilization. A working knowledge of the
dream as a typical functioning of the psyche-that is, a knowledge of
the dream mechanisms and of the theory of the unconscious symbolism-is
therefore indispensable for dream interpretation. This knowledge may
be gained intellectually from the books written by authorities on that
subject, but emotional conviction is the result only of personal analytic
experience. Dream should be considered as an individual psychical product
from the storehouse of specific experience, which indeed the dreamer
may in consciousness neither remember nor know that he knows.
In the analysis of a dream, one would say that the assimilation of
knowledge of the unconscious mind through the ego is an essential part
of the psychical process. The principle involved in valid explanation
is the revelation of the unknown, implicit in the known in terms of
the individual. This principle underlies all true dream interpretations.
The value of a dream therefore lies not only in discovering the latest
material by means of the manifest content, but the language used in
the narration of dream and in the giving of associations will itself
help towards elucidation.
The subject of "dream" and its analysis will be, therefore, a most
interesting one in understanding the true nature of the individual.
We, therefore, quote in the following pages, relevant extracts from
the lectures of Sigmund Freud, the famous authority on that subject
and will evolve it further, if necessary, by the help of the knowledge
we get from the Indian Sages and Seers.
Certain Karmas are worked out in dreams also. A King experienced a
dream in which he acts the part of a beggar and suffers the pangs of
starvation. Certain evil Karmas of the King are purged out in this experience.
If a man is not able to become a king on account of evil influence
of some planets, he plays the part of a king in his dream. His strong
desire materialises in the dream state.
One derives more pleasure in dream than in the waking state when he
experiences pleasant dreams because the mind works more freely in dream.
If you have made arrangements to go to Bombay in the morning of 30th
April, you may experience a dream on the night of 29th itself that you
are purchasing a ticket at the station and entering the train and some
friends have come on the platform of Bombay station to receive you.
The strong thoughts of the waking state find expression at once in the
dreaming state.
When a strong desire is not gratified in the waking state, you obtain
its gratification in dream. The mind has more freedom in the dreaming
state. The mind is then like a furious elephant let loose.
I
One dreams many things that are never to be experienced in this life
such as "He dreams he is flying in the air."
A dream is not an entirely new experience, because most often it is
the memory of past experiences.
In the waking state the light of the self is mixed up with the functions
of the organs, intellect, mind, external lights etc. In dreams the self
becomes distinct and isolated as the organs do not act and the lights
such as the sun that help them are absent.
The dreamer is not affected by whatever result of the good and evil
he sees in the dream state. No one regards himself a sinner on account
of the sins committed in dreams. People who have heard of them do not
condemn or shun them. Hence he is not touched by them.
The dreamer only appears to be doing things in dream but actually there
is no activity The Sruti says, "He sees to be enjoying himself in the
company of women." (Bri. Up. IV. iii. 13.) He who described his dream
experiences uses the words 'as if'; "I saw today as if a herd of elephants
was running." Therefore the dreaming self has no activity in dreams.
An action is done by the contact of the body and the senses, which
have form with something else that has form. We never see a formless
thing being active. The Self is formless. Therefore it is not attached.
As this Self is unattached, it is untouched by what it beholds in dreams.
Hence we cannot ascribe activity to it, as activity proceeds from the
contact of the body and the organs. There is no contact for the Self,
because this infinite Self is unattached. Therefore it is immortal.
Doctors say, "Do not wake him up suddenly or violently", because they
see that in dreams the self goes out of the body of the waking state
through the gates of the organs and remains isolated outside. If the
self is violently aroused it may not find those gates of the organs.
If he does not find the right organ the body becomes difficult to doctor.
The self may not get back to those gates of the organs, things which
it sent out taking the shining functions of the latter, or it may misplace
those functions. In that case defects such as blindness and deafness
may result. The doctor may find it difficult to treat them.
II
Dreams are due to mental impressions (Vasanas) received in the waking
state. The consciousness in a dream depends on the previous knowledge
acquired in the wakeful state.
The dreams have the purpose of either cheering or saddening and frightening
the sleeper, so as to requite him for his good and evil deeds. His Adrishta
thus furnishes the efficient cause of the dreams.
Even in the state of dream the instruments of the self are not altogether
at rest, because scripture states that even then it is connected with
Buddhi (intellect). "Having become a dream, together with Buddhi it
passes beyond this world."
Smriti also says, "When the senses being at rest, the mind not being
at rest, is occupied with the objects, know that state to be a dream."
Scripture says that desires etc. are modifications of the mind (Bri,
Up. I-v-3). Desires are observed in dreams. Therefore, the self wanders
about in dreams together with the mind only.
The scripture in describing our doings in dreams qualifies them by
an 'as it were'. "As it were rejoicing together with women, or laughing
as it were, or seeing terrible sights" (Bri. Up. IV-iii-13). Ordinary
people also describe the dreams in the same manner. "I ascended as it
were the summit of a mountain, I saw a tree, as it were".
Dream creation is unreal. Reality implies the factors of time, space
and causation. Further, reality cannot be sublated or stultified. Dream
creation has not got these traits.
Dream is called 'Sandhya' or the intermediate state because it is midway
between waking and the deep sleep state, between the Jagrat and the
Sushupti.
III
Dreams, though of a strange and illusory nature, are a good index of
the high or low spiritual and moral condition of the dreamer. He, who
has a pure heart and untainted character, will never get impure dreams.
An aspirant who is ever meditating will dream of his Sadhana and his
object of meditation. He will do worship of the Lord and recite His
name and Mantra even in dream through the force of Samskara.
If you ask any man in this world, "Who is it that wakes up? Who is
it that dreams? And who is it that sleeps?" He will answer, "It is I
that wake up; it is I that dream; it is I that sleep." If you ask him
"What is this I?" he will say, "this body is the 'I'." He will tell
you that it is the body that sleeps. When the brain is tired or exhausted,
it is the body that sleeps; when the brain is disturbed, it is the body
that dreams; and when the brain is refreshed, it is the body that wakes
up after sound sleep.
A psychologist who has made a special study of the mind will say that
the mind, which has its seat in the brain, is the 'I'. He says that
the mind is inseparable from the brain and it perishes along with the
physical body.
The metaphysicians and the spiritualists hold that the mind continues
to exist somewhere after the death of the body. According to psychologists,
metaphysicians and spiritualists it is the mind that wakes up, dreams
and sleeps and this mind is the 'I'.
A Theologist says that there is a soul which is quite independent of
the body and the mind and it is this soul that wakes up, dreams and
sleeps and the soul is the 'I'. This soul enters another body in accordance
with the law of Karma.
A Vedantin says that neither this body nor the mind nor the soul is
the 'I'. There is one pure consciousness or Atman in all beings which
is Infinite, Eternal, all-pervading, self-existent, self-luminous and
self-contained which is partless, timeless, spaceless, birthless, and
deathless. This is the real 'I'. This 'I' never wakes, dreams or sleeps.
It is always the seer or the silent witness (Sakshi) of the three states
of waking, dreaming and sleeping. It is the Turiya or the fourth state.
It is the state that transcends the three states.
It is the false or relative 'I' called Ahamkara or ego or that Jiva
that wakes up, dreams and sleeps. The waker, the dreamer and the sleeper
are all changing personalities and unreal.
The real self, the real 'I' never wakes up, dreams and sleeps. From
the point of the Absolute Truth or Paramartha Satta no one wakes up,
dreams and sleeps.
(Another view)
Some Indian philosophers hold that the creation of chariots etc. in
the dream is verily by the Lord and not by the human self. The dream
objects are created by the Lord as fruition of the minor works of the
Jiva. In order to reward the soul for very minor Karmas, the Lord creates
the dreams.
The followers of one Sakha, namely the Kathakas, state in their text
that the Supreme Lord is alone the Creator of all Karmas in the dream
state for the dreamers (Katha Up. V-8).
"He, the Highest Person, who is awake in us when we are asleep, shaping
one lovely sight after another, that indeed is the Bright, that is Brahman,
that alone is called the Immortal. All worlds are contained in Him,
and no one goes beyond Him. This is that."
Maya or the will of the Lord is the only means through which He creates
dream objects. They are not made of objective matter (gross elements)
because they are not perceptible to all persons, but are seen only by
the dreamer.
He who can cause the bondage and release of the soul can easily bring
about the dream and its withdrawal for the soul. There is nothing wonderful
in it. Kurma Purana says: "It is He (the Lord) who makes the soul perceive
the dream creation etc. and it is He who hides them from his view; for
on His will the bondage and release of the soul depend."
Sometimes dreams are prophetic of future good and bad fortune. The
scripture teaches, "When a man engaged in some work undertakes for a
special wish, sees in his dreams a woman, he may infer success from
that dream vision". "Then having washed the Mantha vessel which should
be either of bell-metal or of wood, let him lie down behind the fire
on a skin or on a bare ground silently and singly. If in his dreams
he sees a woman, let him know this is an omen that his sacrifice has
been successful". (Chh. Up. V-2-8-9).
Other scriptural passages declare that certain dreams indicate speedy
death e.g. "If he sees a black man with black teeth, that man will kill
him" (Kaushitaki Brahmana.)
Those who also understand the science of dreams hold the opinion that
the dream of riding on an elephant and the like is lucky; while it is
unlucky to dream of riding on a donkey.
Lord Siva taught Visvamitra in dream the Mantra called "Ramaraksha".
He exactly wrote it out in the morning when he awoke from sleep.
Works of genius like poems etc. are found in dreams. Remedies for diseases
are prescribed in the dream. Sometimes the exact object seen in dreams
is seen afterwards in waking state.
Vyasa and other sages who know the science of dreams say, "Whatever
a Brahmin or a God, a bull or a king may tell a person in dreams will
doubtless prove true".
Ramanuja holds, "Because the images of a dream are produced by the
Highest Lord Himself, therefore, they have prophetic significance."
"He who is happy within, who rejoices within, and who is illumined
within, that Yogi attains absolute freedom or Moksha, himself becoming
Brahman." (Gita: V-24.) The highest spiritual knowledge is Knowledge
of the Self. He who has known himself, rather his self, for him nothing
remains to be known. The wisest of the Western philosophers Socrates,
gave the highest and the best of his teachings to his disciples in the
injunction "Know Thyself". The Indian saints likewise gave their highest
teaching in the form known as Adhyatma-Vidya or Self-Knowledge.
Knowledge of the Self, which has been called the supreme knowledge
by the wise men of all ages, has seldom been recognised as a mystery
by the ordinary man. He seems to know himself so well that he does not
think it even necessary to reflect upon himself. Not only does the uneducated
illiterate person think it useless to reflect upon himself, but the
highly cultured modern man also thinks in the same way. The greater
the advancement of science and learning, the less we find in the modern
man a desire to know himself.
There are two opposite reasons that lead a man not to reflect upon
himself: first, he thinks that he knows the self too well, secondly
he thinks it useless to think about himself, because the true nature
of the self can never be known. Some think that thinking about oneself
is a morbid mentality. This is a form of introversion from which one
has to free oneself as soon as possible. The study of dreams is corrective
to such an erroneous view.
There was a time when psychologists thought, the less we thought about
our dreams, the better. The psychologists who take consciousness to
be an epi-phenomenon still hold the same view. Seashore, for instance,
thinks that it is only abnormal people who think too much of their dreams,
and that thinking too much about dreams leads to abnormalities. There
is much in the waking life to be attended to and he who spends his time
in thinking about his dreams is missing so much of his waking life and
this contributes to his own failure in life.
Now Psychology, however, has changed this point of view. It shows that
deepest wisdom comes through reflection on dreams. No one has known
himself truly, who has not studied his dreams. The study of dreams at
once shows what a great mystery our soul is, and that this mystery is
not altogether insoluble, as some metaphysicians supposed. Dreams reveal
to us that aspect of our nature which transcends rational knowledge.
That in the most rational and moral man there is an aspect of his being
which is absurd and immoral, one knows only through the study of one's
dreams. All our pride of nationality and morality melts into nothingness
as soon as we reflect upon our dreams.
There is logic in our dreams or rather the logic of our waking consciousness
is just like the dream logic. The great philosopher Hegel constructed
his logic without taking into account what the dream logic has to reveal.
Now logic, which at the same time claims to be a system of Metaphysics,
cannot be complete without taking into account the absurd constructions
of dream experience. Logic is only a tool of intellect, which enables
it to deal with the waking experience alone. This fact is revealed to
us through the study of our dreams. The real must transcend all logical
categories; or the categories by which it can be comprehended have to
be such as will not only suffice to catch the waking experience but
the dream experience too. This simply means that it should be broad
enough to comprehend both the conscious and the unconscious life of
a man. To conceive of such a category cannot be the work of waking consciousness.
Such a category must necessarily transcend both the waking and the dream
consciousness. Thus we are lead to the necessity of intuition or a logical
thought to comprehend Reality, when we begin reflecting upon our dreams.
The modern study of dreams shows that they are not meaningless presentations.
Every dream presentation has a meaning. A dream is like a letter written
in an unknown language. To a man who does not know the Chinese, a letter
written in that language is a meaningless scroll. But to one who knows
that language it is full of most valuable information. It may be the
letter calls for immediate action; or it may contain words of consultation
to one suffering from dejection. It may be a letter of threat or it
may speak of love. These meanings are there only to one who would care
to attend to the letter and would try to decipher it. But alas! How
few of us try to understand these messages from the deep unseen ocean
of our own Consciousness!
Why do we dream? Various answers have been given to this question.
According to the most popular scientific view, dreams are nothing but
a repetition of our waking experiences in a new form. A more thoughtful
view regards them as productions of an organic disturbance somewhere
in the body, but more particularly in the stomach. To this view medical
men stick more tenaciously than any other people. Sometimes coming diseases
appear in dreams. During an illness dreams are generally more horrible
than they are in the healthy condition of the body. These are all scientific
theories of dreams. We have here out of account the unscientific theories,
e.g. that dreams are premonitions or that gods or demons or spirits
produce dreams, or that the soul goes out to a sojourn in dreams etc.
The scientific theories have been very thoroughly exposed by Dr. Sigmund
Freud in his Interpretation of Dreams. No physical stimulus, whether
it is inside or outside the body, no experience of the waking or sleeping
state can explain the presentation of the actual dream content. The
same stimulus, namely the chime of an alarm timepiece produced three
different kinds of dreams to Hidetrant at different times. Why should
it be so if the physical stimulus alone is responsible for the production
of dreams?
According to Freud all dreams, without any exception, are wish fulfilment.
The wishes are actually of an immoral nature. They are revolting to
the moral self, which exercises a control on their appearance. Hence
to evade this moral censor the wishes appear in disguised forms. The
dream mechanism is very intricate. Very few dreams present the wishes
as they really are. Dreams are partial gratification of the wishes.
They relieve the mental tension, and thus enable us to enjoy repose.
They are safety valves to strong impulsions. Dreams do not disturb sleep
but rather protect it. The irrationality and the immorality of dreams
make the morality and rationality of our waking life possible.
The above statement of Freud shows that we know our animal self in
dream. But he does not say anything about the spiritual life being expressed
in dream. This, it seems, has been done by Jung. According to Jung,
a dream is not causally determined as was supposed by Freud, but it
is teleologically determined. The repressed wishes alone do not explain
all our dreams. A dream presents a demand to our waking consciousness.
If rightly interpreted, it shows the way to be at peace with ourselves.
The dreams of the neurotics not only reveal the repressed contents but
they also suggest remedies for the cure. A series of dreams sometimes
occur to a patient, which reveal the way to cure.
The dream consciousness is superior to the waking consciousness in
many respects. Many puzzles of life are solved through hints from dreams.
All dreams, according to Adler, are anticipatory in character. They
show which way the spiritual life of a man is flowing. To know the actual
flow is necessary to correct possible errors. Dreams help us to discover
the lifeline of the individual and help us to give him proper advice
for self-correction.
Thus, through dreams one may know how one ought to act in a particular
situation. The dreams point out a path unknown to the waking consciousness.
Saints and sages appear in dreams at times of difficulty and show the
way. The more one follows the dream intuitions, the clear they become.
In both states-waking and dreaming-objects are "Perceived", i.e., are
associated with subject-object relationship. This is the similarity
between the two.
The only difference between the two states is that the objects in dream
are perceived in the space within the body, whereas in the waking condition
they are seen in the space outside the body. The fact of "being seen"
and their consequent illusoriness are common to both states.
The illusion of both the states is established by their "being seen"
as "object", other then the self, thus creating a difference in existence.
Anything that is "perceived" is unreal, for perception presupposes relation
and relation is non-eternal, for the relations of the waking state are
contradicted by those of dream and vice versa. As duality is unreal,
all objects must be unreal.
As long as the dream lasts, waking is unreal; as long as waking lasts,
dream is unreal. The reality of the one is dependent on the reality
of the other. But dream is proved to be unreal; hence waking also is
unreal.
Dream-relations are contradicted by waking-relations. Waking relations
are contradicted by Super-consciousness which is uncontradicted. Non-contradiction
is the test of reality.
That which persists forever is real. That which does not and which
has a beginning and an end is unreal. Dream and waking have both a beginning
and an end. But it may be contented that one thing exists as the cause
of the other in the beginning. But as causality itself is baseless,
a thing cannot exist as the cause of another. That which has a beginning
and an end is changeable and hence non-eternal and unreal, for change
implies non-existence in the beginning or at an end. Hence all perceived
objects are unreal.
As the objects of the waking state do not work in dream, they are unreal.
As the objects of the dream do not work in the waking state, they are
unreal. Hence everything is unreal. One who eats belly-full during the
waking state feels hungry in the dream state and vice versa. Things
are real only in their own realms and not always. That which is not
always real is unreal, for reality is everlasting.
The perception of an object is unreal, because the objects are creations
of the mind. An object has got a particular form, because the mind believes
it to be so. In fact, the objects of both the dreaming and the waking
states are unreal. An object lasts only as long as the particular mental
condition cognising the object lasts. When there is a different mental
condition altogether, the objects also change. Hence all objects are
unreal.
Both in the dream and in the waking stale, the internal perceptions
are unreal and the objects of external perception appear to be real.
If in the waking state we make a distinction of real and unreal, in
dream also we do the same thing. In dream also objects of internal cognition,
are unreal. Dream is as real as the waking state. But since dream is
proved to be unreal, waking also must be unreal. Dream is unreal only
from the standpoint of waking, and equally so is waking to the dreamer.
From the standpoint of True Wisdom, waking is as unreal as dream.
Through the play of the mind in dreams and deliriums nearness appears
as a great distance and a great distance appears as proximity. Through
the force of the mind a great cycle of time appears as a moment and
a moment appears as a great cycle. The unreal world appears as real
whereas it is in reality a long dream arisen in our mind. This world
is nothing but a long dream. The mind sports and creates an illusion.
Through the play of the mind the dream-world appears as real. The following
story will illustrate this fact.
Lavana was a king of the country of Uttara Pandava. He was once seated
on his throne. All his ministers and officers were present. There appeared
at this time a Siddha or a magician. He bowed down to the king and said,
"O Lord! Deign to behold my wonderful feats." The Siddha waved his bunch
of peacock feathers. The king had the following experiences. A messenger
from the king of Sindhu entered the court with a horse like that of
Indra and said, "O Lord! My master has made a present of this horse
to you." The Siddha requested the king to mount upon the horse and ride
it at his pleasure. The king stared at the horse and entered into a
state of trance for two hours. Afterwards there was relaxation of rigidity
of his body. The king's body fell on the ground after some time. The
courtiers lifted the body. The king gradually came to consciousness.
The ministers and the courtiers said to the king: "What is the matter
with your majesty?" The king said: "The Siddha waved his bunch of peacock's
feathers. I saw a horse before me. I mounted on the horse and rode in
a desert in the hot sun. My tongue was parched. I was quite fatigued.
Then I reached a beautiful forest. While I was riding on the horse,
a creeper encircled my neck and the horse ran away. I was rocking to
and fro in the air during the whole of the night with the creeper encircling
my neck. I was shivering with extreme cold.
"The day dawned and I saw the sun. I cut the creeper that encircled
my neck. I then beheld an outcaste girl carrying some food and water
in her hands. I was very hungry and asked her to give me some food.
She did not give me anything. I followed her closely for a long time.
She then turned to me and said: "I am a Chandala by birth. If you promise
to marry me in my own place before my parents and live with me there,
I will give you what I have in my hand this very moment." I agreed to
marry her. She then gave me half of the food. I ate the food and drank
the beverage of Jambu fruits.
"Then she took me to her father and asked his permission to marry me.
He consented. Then she took me to her abode. The father of the girl
killed monkeys, cows and pigs for flesh and dried them on the strings
of nerves. A small shed was erected. I had then my seat on a big plantain
leaf. My squint-eyed mother-in-law then looked at me with her blood-red
eyeballs and said, "Is this our would-be son-in-law?"
"The marriage festivities began with great éclat. My father-in-law
presented me clothes and other articles. Toddy and meat were freely
distributed. The meat-eating Chandalas beat their drums. The girl was
given to me in marriage. I was named as 'Pushta.' The wedding festival
lasted for seven days. A daughter was first born of this union. She
brought forth again a black boy in the course of three years. She again
gave birth to a daughter. I became an old Chandala with a large family
and lived for a long time. Children are a source of grief. Miseries
of human beings which arise out of passion take the form of a child.
My body became old and emaciated on account of family cares and worries.
I had to undergo pain through heat and cold in the dreary forest. I
was clad in old ragged clothes. I carried loads of firewood on my head.
I was exposed to the chill winds. I had to live upon the roots. I thus
spent sixty years of my life as if they were so many Kalpa-ages of long
duration. There was severe famine. Many died of starvation. Some of
my relatives left the place.
"I and my wife left the country and walked in the hot sun. I carried
two children on my shoulders and third on my head. I walked a long distance
and then arrived at the fringe of a forest. We all took a little rest
under a big palmyra tree. My wife expired on account of long travel
in the hot sun. My younger son Pracheka rose up and stood before me
and said with tears gushing out of his eyes: "Papa, I am hungry. Give
me immediately some meat and drink or else I will die." He repeatedly
said with tears in his eyes that he was dying of hunger. I was then
moved by paternal affection. I was very much afflicted at heart. I was
not able to bear the distress. Then I made up my mind to put an end
to my life by falling into fire. I collected some wood, heaped them
together and set fire to them. I stood up to jump into the fire when
I fell down from throne and woke up. I now find myself as the king Lavana
once again and not as a Chandala."
This story illustrates the heterogeneous actions of the mind. The experiences
of the state of trance or delirium, the experiences in the waking state
and those in dream are all similar. The Samskaras are ingrained in the
mind equally in all the states of consciousness. The misery of Samsara
is equally felt in all the states of the mind when it is vigorously
working. Whatever we see is only a manifestation of the mind. It is
quite illusory. Time is but a mode of mind. Centuries are passed for
but five minutes and vice versa. Within two hours, king Lavana had experienced
such a diverse life of sixty years.
None can say whether his life as king was true or as Chandala. Whether
this is a dream or that is a dream we cannot say. Instead of thinking
that the king dreamt of a life as Chandala, we can as well consider
that a real Chandala dreamt that he was king Lavana. Both are unintelligible
and unreal modes of imagination. Our whole life on earth is a similar
play of imagination. Our states of consciousness contradict themselves
when we try to reconcile them. We cannot say whether we are dreaming
or waking. To us every state of imagination seems to be real. We may
be in this world building castles in the air while sleeping on the bed
in some other world. Nothing can be given as a proof for the reality
of the world in which we live. If all of us now experience a common
world it may be due to an apparent accident in the similarity of the
states of consciousness in us. And moreover there is no guarantee that
all of us look at the world in the same fashion. The world changes from
person to person and to the same person at different conditions of the
mind. This is the state of dream and waking.
We are so much engaged with the present state of the mind and so attached
to the persisting condition of imagination, that nothing but the actual
present seems to be real. We forget the past and ignore the future.
We think now that the dream of yesterday is a falsity. And in the state
of dream we apply the same conviction to the waking state also. Are
we not mere slaves of imagination? Our individual life is thus proved
to be a fallacy and a vile creature of the modes of imagination, which
is itself an illusion!
Jagrat Avastha is waking consciousness. You perceive, feel, think,
know and you are conscious of the external sense-universe. The organs
of hearing and sight are very vigilant. The organ of sight is more active
than the ear. It rushes headlong over forms (Rupa), various types of
beauty, through force of habit. The Abhimani (person thinking upon)
of Jagrat state is termed as Visva. He identifies himself with the physical
body. Visva is Vyasthi (individual) Abhimani. The Samasthi Abhimani
(cosmic) is Virat. Visva is microcosm (Kshudra Brahmanda). Virat is
macrocosm (Brahmanda). Vyasthi is single. Samashti is sum-total. A single
matchstick is Vyasthi. A matchbox is Samasthi. A single house is Vyashti.
A village is Samasthi. A single mango tree is Vyasthi. A grove of mango-trees
is Samasthi. Ear and eye are the avenues of sense-knowledge in the Jagrat
State.
The mind creates the dream-world out of the experience and Samskaras
of the waking consciousness.
Dream is a reproduction of the experiences of the physical consciousness
with some modifications. The mind weaves out the dream creatures out
of the material supplied from waking consciousness. In dream the subject
and object are one. The perceiver and the perceived are one in this
state. The Abhimani of Svapna Avastha is Taijasa. Taijasa is a Vyasthi
Abhimani. The Samasthi Abhimani is Hiranyagarbha, the first-born.
In the Jagrat state there are two kinds of knowledge, viz., Abijna
or Abijna Jnana and Pratibijna or Pratibijna Jnana. Abijna is knowledge
through perception. You see a tree. You know: "This is a tree". This
is Abijna. Pratibijna is recognition. Here something previously observed
is recognised in some other thing or place, as when, for instance, the
generic character of a cow which was previously observed in the black
cow again presents itself to consciousness in the grey cow or Mr. Radhakrishnan
whom I first saw in Benares in 1922 again appears before me in Calcutta
in 1932. There are cases of recognition where the object previously
observed again presents itself to our senses. There is a Samskara in
the mind of object, time and place. When I recognised Mr. Radhakrishnan
in Calcutta, I omitted the previous place Benares where I saw him for
the first time and the time also 1922 and I took into consideration
the present place Calcutta and the present time 1932. This is knowledge
through Pratibijna. In Abijna, there is no Antahkarana Samskaras. There
is knowledge through mere sense-contact with the object.
When you take a retrospective view of your life in college when you
are 60 years of age, it is all a dream to you. Is it not so, my friends?
The future also will turn out to be so. There is only the present, which
on account of the force of strong Samskaras through repetition of actions
and Dhrida (strong) Vasanas appears to be real for an Aviveki (a man
of non-discrimination) only. The past is a dream. The future is a dream.
The solid present is also a dream. When you are alone at Allahabad for
a month, you have entirely forgotten all about Chennai, your affairs,
family, children etc. You have only Allahabad Samskaras. For the time
being Chennai is out of your mind. There is only Allahabad in your mind.
When you return again to Chennai, Allahabad affairs entirely disappear
from the mind after some time. When you are in Allahabad, Chennai is
a dream to you, and when you are in Chennai, Allahabad is a dream. World
is a mere Samskara in the mind. For a worldly man with a gross mind
full of passions this world is a solid reality.
According to Gaudapada, Dada-Guru of Sri Sankaracharya, the Jagrat
Avastha is exactly a dream without any difference. Some saints say that
the waking state is a long dream (Deerga Svapna). An objector says:
"In Jagrat state we see the same objects in the same place as soon as
we wake up (Desa Kala), whereas in dreams, we do not see again the same
objects. We see different things daily. How do you account for this?"
Even in dreams sometimes we see same objects repeatedly on different
occasions.
Every moment the whole world is changing. You do not see the same world
every day. Young people become old. The molecules of the body are changing
every second. Mind also changes every moment. Trees and all objects
are continually changing. The water that you see in the Ganga at 6 a.m.
is not the same when you see at 6.05 a.m. When a wick in the hurricane
lamp is burning, you see the light but the wick is ever changing. There
are continual changes in sun, moon, stars etc. The world is stationary
for people of gross minds (Sthula Buddhi). A man of Sukshma (subtle)
intellect does not see the same world every day. He witnesses changes-changes
in every second and sees daily a new world. Therefore the waking consciousness
also is a dream. Just as the dream becomes false as soon as you wake
up, the Jagrat consciousness becomes a dream when you get Viveka and
Jnana. Science tells you that the world is a mass of electrons that
are in constant rotation and change.
An objector again says: "We remember the events, the persons, the places
etc., in Jagrat Avastha. In dream we do not remember. How do you explain
this?"
In Svapna or dream state there is Rajo Guna Pradhana. Rajo Guna predominates.
In Jagrat state, Sattva Guna predominates. That is the reason why you
have no remembrance in dream.
As soon as you wake up, the dreams turn out to be false. So long as
you are dreaming, every thing is real to you. This world, the waking
consciousness, becomes a dream when you get Jnana. Therefore Jagrat
is termed as a dream. This appears to be paradoxical but it is not
so. Think well.
In prophetic dreams the materials come from the Karana Sarira or seed
body (causal body), the storehouse of Samskaras.
Readers are earnestly requested to go through very carefully Mandukya
Upanishad with Gaudapada's Karika either in Sanskrit or English translation.
The dream problem is very elaborately dealt with cogent argument.
"When I consider the matter carefully, I do not find a single characteristic
by means of which I can certainly determine whether I am awake or whether
I dream. The visions of a dream and the experiences of my waking state
are so much alike that I am completely puzzled and I do not really know
that I am not dreaming at this moment." (Descartes: Meditations P. I.)
Pascal is right when he asserts that if the same dream comes to us
every night we should be just as much occupied by it as by the things
which we see every day. To quote his words, "If an artisan were certain
that he would dream every night for fully 12 hours that he was a king,
I believe that he would be just as happy as a king who dreams every
night for 12 hours that he is an artisan".
In dream the seer and the seen are one. The mind creates the bee, flower,
mountain, horses, rivers, etc., in the dream. The dream objects are
not independent of the mind. They have no separate existence apart from
the mind. So long as the dream lasts, the dream creatures will remain
just as the milkman remains so long as the milking goes on. (The dream
is quite real when the man is dreaming). Whereas in the Jagarat state
the object exists independent of the mind. The objects of the waking
experiences are common to us all, while those of dreams are the property
of the dreamer.
Jacob puts Gaudapada's arguments in the following syllogistic form:
"Things seen in the waking state are not true: this is proposition (Pratijna);
because they are seen, this is reason (Hetu); just like things seen
in a dream, this is the instance (Drishtanta); as things seen in the
dream are not true, so the property of the being seen belongs in like
manner to things seen in the waking state; this is the application of
the reason (Hetupanyaya); therefore things seen in the waking state
are also untrue; this is the conclusion.
Gaudapada establishes the unreal Character of the world of experience:
1. By its similarity to dream state;
2. By its presented or objective character;
3. By the unintelligibility of the relations which organise it; and
4. By its non-persistence for all time.
I
Waking experience is like dream experience
When judged from the absolute standpoint.
But it has Vyavaharika-Satta
Or relative reality.
Dream is Pratibhasika-Satta
Or apparent reality.
Turiya or Brahman is Paramarthika-Satta
Or Absolute Reality.
Waking is reality more real than dreaming.
Turiya is more real than waking.
From the point of view of Turiya,
Both waking and dreaming are unreal.
But waking, taken by itself,
In relation to dream experience,
Has greater reality than dream.
To a certain extent,
As Turiya is to waking,
Waking is to dream.
Waking is the reality behind dream;
Turiya is the reality behind waking.
Dream is not dream to the dreamer.
Only by one who is awake
Dream is known to be a dream.
Similarly, waking appears to be real
To one who is still in the waking state.
Only to one who is in Turiya
Waking is devoid of reality.
Waking is Deergha-Svapna,
A long dream, as contrasted with
The ordinary dream which is short.
II
Waking is a part of Virat-Consciousness,
Though, in waking, due to ignorance,
The Virat is not directly realised.
Waking is the connecting link
Between Visva and Virat.
Man reflects over the world and the Reality
When he is awake
And when his consciousness is active.
In dream, the intellect and the will
Are incapacitated due to Avidya
And deliberate contemplation becomes impossible.
The Visva or the Jiva in the waking state
Is possessed of intelligence and free will.
The Taijasa or the Jiva in the dreaming state
Is destitute of such powers of free thinking.
Dream experience is the result of
Impressions of waking experience;
Whereas, waking experience is independent of
Dream experience and its effects.
There is a kind of order or system
In the waking experiences,
At least, more than in dream.
Every day the same persons and things
Become the objects of waking experience.
There is a definite remembrance of
Previous days' experiences and of
Survival and continuity of personality
In waking experience.
The consciousness of this continuity,
Regularity and unity
Is absent in dream,
Dream is not well ordered,
While waking is comparatively systematic.
III
There are degrees of reality
In the experiences of the individual.
The three main degrees are
Subjective, Objective and Absolute.
Dream experience is subjective.
Waking experience is objective.
The realisation of Atman or Brahman
Is experience of the absolute Reality.
The individual is the subjective being
In comparison with the objective world.
The subject and the object have equal reality,
Though both these are negated in the Absolute.
The objective world is the field of waking experience
And, therefore, waking is relatively real.
But, dream is less real than waking
In as much as the direct contact
With the external world of waking experience
Is absent in dream.
Though there is an external world in dream also,
Its value is less than that of the world in waking.
Though the form of the dream world agrees with
That of the waking world,
In quality the dream world
Is lower than the waking world.
Space, time, motion and objects,
With the distinction of subject and object,
Are common to both waking and dreaming.
Even the reality they present
At the time of their being experienced
Is of a similar nature.
But, the difference lies in
The degree of reality manifested by them.
The Jiva feels that it is in a higher order of truth
In waking than in dreaming.
IV
The argument that is advanced
To prove the unreality of waking
Is that waking also is merely mind's play
Even as dream is mind's imagination.
But, the objects seen in dream
Are not imaginations of the dream subject
Which itself is one of the imaginary forms
That are projected in dream,
The dream subject is not in any way
More real than the dream objects.
They both have equal reality
And are equally unreal.
The dream subject and the dream object
Are both imaginations of the mind of Visva
Which synthesises the subject and objects in dream.
In like manner, the waking individual
Is not the cause of the objects seen by it,
For both these belong to the same order of reality.
Neither of them is more real than the other.
The virtues and the defects that characterise things
Are present in all subjects and objects
That are experienced in the waking state.
The subject and the objects in waking
Are both effects of the Cosmic Mind
Which integrates all the contents of the universe.
The Cosmic Mind has greater reality
Than the individual mind.
Thus the waking state is relatively
More real than the dreaming state.
V
It cannot be said that
Taijasa is related to Hiranyagarbha
In the same way as
Visva is related to Virat.
Taijasa has a negative experience
Characterised by fickleness, absence of clearness,
Lack of will power and cloudedness of intelligence.
To express with certain reservations,
The relation of Taijasa to Hiranyagarbha
Is something like that of minus two to plus two:
Whereas, Visva is to Virat
As minus one is to plus one.
As minus one has greater positive value
Than minus two,
And the distance between minus two and plus two
Is greater than that between
Minus one and plus one,
Visva has greater relative value than Taijasa,
And is more intimately connected with Virat
Than Taijasa with Hiranyagarbha.
Taijasa and Prajna are respectively
The parts of Hiranyagarbha and Isvara
Only as limited reflections with negative values
And not positively and qualitatively.
Otherwise Isvara would have been only
A huge mass of ignorance,
As he is depicted as the collective totality
Of all Prajnas whose native experience is a state of sleep
Where ignorance covers the existing consciousness.
Prajna and Isvara are like minus three and plus three,
And their relation is quite obvious.
As when a man stands on a river bank
And looks at his own reflection below,
That which is highest appears as lowest-
The original head is farthest from the reflected head,-
That which is lowest appears as highest-
The original feet are nearest to the reflected feet,-
In the same manner, Isvara,
Who is the highest among the manifestations of reality
And is omniscient and omnipotent
Is the positive counterpart
Of the negative sleeping experience
Of complete ignorance and absence of power.
Virat corresponds to the foot of the man
Standing on the bank of the river
And Visva to the reflected foot.
Visva is more consciously related to Virat
Than Taijasa to Hiranyagarbha
Or Prajna to Isvara,
As the foot is nearer to the reflected foot
Than the waist to the reflected waist
Or the head to the reflected head.
These illustrations show that
Waking is relatively more real
Than dream which has only a negative value.
The illustrations used here
Are to be taken in their spirit and not literally,
For, Visva, Taijasa and Prajna
Are not merely reflections
Of Virat, Hiranyagarbha and Isvara respectively,
But also their limitations
With qualities distorted
And experiences wrested from truth.
VI
As far as the manner of
Subjective experience is concerned,
It is true that what is within the mind
Is experienced as present in external objects.
But the objects themselves are not
Creations of the subjective mind.
There is a great difference between
Isvara-Srishti and Jiva-Srishti.
The existence of the objects
Belongs to Isvara-Srishti.
But the relation that exists between
The objects and the experiencing subject
Is Jiva-Srishti.
The Jiva is one of the contents of the Jagat
Which is Isvara-Srishti.
Hence, the Jiva cannot claim to be
The creator of the world,
Though it is the creator of
Its own subjective modes of
Psychological experience.
Waking experience is a perception.
Dream experience is a memory.
As perception precedes memory,
Waking precedes dream;
That is, dream is a remembrance
Of waking experiences
In the form of impressions.
To Brahman, the waking world is unreal.
But, to the individual or the Jiva
It is a relative fact
Lasting as long as
Individuality or Jivahood lasts.
VII
That the waking world has relative reality
Or Vyavaharika-Satta
Does not prove that it is real
In the absolute sense.
Comparatively waking is on a higher order
Than dream experiences,
For reasons already mentioned.
But, from the standpoint of the highest Reality,
Waking experience also is unreal.
As dream is transcended in the state of waking,
The world of waking too is transcended
In the state of Self-Realisation.
Both in waking and in dream
Objects are "perceived" or "seen"
As different from the subject.
The character of "being seen"
Is common to both kinds of experience.
There is subject-object-relationship
In waking as well as in dream.
This is the similarity between the two.
"Something is seen as an object" means
"Something is other than the Self".
The experience of the not-self is illusory,
For, if the not-self were real,
The Self would be limited and unreal.
The illusory experience of the not-self
Is common to both waking and dream.
In waking, the mind experiences through the senses;
In dream, the mind alone experiences.
In both the states, the mind alone experiences
Whether externally or internally.
Dream is transcended by waking.
Waking is transcended by TURIYA.
Hence, both dream and waking are contradicted.
Waking contradicts dream,
And dream contradicts waking.
When the one is, the other is not.
Neither of the two is continuously existent,
This proves the unreality of both.
II
Duality is not real,
Because duality is the opposite of eternity.
Without duality there is no perception.
Hence, anything that is perceived is unreal
Whether in dream or in waking.
Dream is real when there is no waking.
Waking is real when there is no dream.
Hence, both are unreal experiences.
They depend on one another for their existence.
One cannot say whether he is dreaming or waking
Without referring one state to another state.
Desires are the rulers of all experiences
In waking and also in dream.
Waking is physical functioning of desires,
Dream is mental functioning of desires.
The senses are moved by desires in waking.
The mind is moved by desires in dreaming.
Both the states are like flowing streams.
They do not persist forever in one state.
That which persists forever is real.
Dream and waking have a beginning and an end.
Change is the character of all perceived objects.
Change implies non-existence at the beginning
And also at the end.
That which does not exist at the beginning
And does not exist at the end
Does not exist in the middle also.
Therefore waking is unreal like dream.
III
It may be objected by some that
Waking is real, because it is the cause of dream,
And dream is not the cause of waking.
But this objection is without support.
If waking is a cause,
It must be real.
If it is real,
It must exist forever.
Waking itself is without reality,
For it does not exist always.
If the cause itself is unreal,
How can it produce a real effect?
Both these are unreal states.
One who eats bellyful in waking state
May feel hungry in the dream state
And vice versa.
Things appear to be real only
In a particular condition.
They are not real always,
That which is not always real
Is an appearance and so unreal.
IV
Anything that has got a form
Is unreal.
Forms are special modes of cognition and perception.
They are not ultimate.
In waking there are physical forms.
In dreaming there are mental forms.
Anyhow all are forms only
Limited in space and time.
A form lasts only so long
As that particular mental condition lasts;
When there is a different mental condition
The forms of experience also change.
This is why the form of the world vanishes
When Self-Realisation is attained.
V
Both in dreaming and waking
External perceptions are considered as real
And internal functions as unreal (i.e., they are ignored).
If in waking we make a distinction
Between real and unreal,
In dream also we do the same thing.
Dream is real as long as it lasts,
Waking also is real as long as it lasts.
Dream is unreal from the standpoint of waking,
And equally so is waking to the dreamer.
From the standpoint of the highest Truth,
Waking is as false as dream.
VI
It may be said that objects in waking state
Serve some definite purpose
And those of dream do not serve a purpose.
This argument is incorrect
Because, the nature of serving a purpose
Which is seen in objects of waking
Is contradicted by dream and vice versa.
The utility and objective worth
Of Things, states, etc. in waking
Are cancelled in the dream state,
Even as the conditions and experiences in dream
Are invalidated in waking.
Objects act as means to ends
Only in a particular condition
And not in all conditions.
The causal relationship of waking
Is rendered nugatory in dream, and vice versa.
The logical sequence of waking
Is valid to itself alone and not to dreaming.
So is dream valid to its own state.
Waking and dreaming have their own notions of propriety,
And each is stultified by the other,
Though each appears to be real to itself.
Thus, the validity of both the states
Is rejected.
VII
It may be contended that
Objects of dream are queer, fantastic and unnatural,
And, hence, waking cannot be like dream.
But the experiences in dream
However grotesque or abnormal,
Are not abnormal to the dreamer.
They appear fantastic only in
A different state, viz. waking.
One cannot say what is really fantastic
And what is normal and real.
The mind gives values to objects
And its conception of normality and abnormality
Changes according to the state in which it is.
There is no permanent standard
Of normality, beauty or decorum,
Either in waking or in dreaming,
Which may hold good for all times.
The dreamer has his own conception
Of space, time and causation,
Even as the waking one has his own notions.
One state is absurd when compared to the other.
This shows that both states are illogical
And, therefore, absurd from the highest standpoint.
VIII
The world of waking experience is unreal,
Because it is the imagination of the cosmic mind.
The fact that in Self-Realisation
There is absolute cessation of phenomenal experience
Shows that all phenomena are unreal.
External forms are the expressions
Of the internal Sankalpas or willing.
Therefore, external objects have no real value.
They appear to exist only
As long as the Sankalpas exist.
The senses externalise the internal ideas
And present them in the forms of objects.
When the Sankalpas are drawn within
The world of objective experience vanishes in toto.
The Infinite Subject, viz., the Self alone remains.
There is no such thing as
Externality and internality in reality.
The ego and the non-ego,
The subject as well as the object,
All are imaginations of the mind alone.
IX
It may be said that
Objects seen in waking are not
Mere mental imaginations,
Because the objects of waking experience
Are seen by other people also,
Whether or not one's mind cognises them.
But it is seen that
In the dream state also
Objects of experience are open to
The perception of other people,
Though the people as well as the objects
Are all subjective imaginations.
It may be said that in waking
We perceive through the sense-organs
And not merely through ideas.
But it is seen that in dream also
We perceive through the sense-organs
Belonging to the dream-state,
Which are not less real than those of waking state.
As dream is unreal,
Waking also must be unreal.
X
The objective world of waking experience
Cannot have independent existence,
Because it is relative to the subject
Which cognises or perceives it.
The object is called an object
Just because there is a perceiving subject.
Similarly, a subject is called a subject
Just because there is a perceived object.
Neither of the two is self-existent,
And, therefore, both prove themselves to be unreal.
Subject and object appear
In the form of cause and effect.
Without a cause there is no effect,
Without an effect nothing can be a cause;
The conception of causation itself is illogical.
The mind perceives and recognises objects
Only by relating one thing to another.
The whole world of perception
Is a bundle of unintelligible relationships
Which the mind tries to organise into cause and effects.
Further, there is no causation at all,
Because, cause and effect are continuous.
There cannot be a lapse of time
In which the cause remains unchanged.
If the cause can exist unchanged for some time,
There is no reason why it should change at any time at all.
Either there is continuous causation,
Or no causation at all.
If causation is continuous,
Cause and effect become identical,
Being inseparable from one another.
If they are identical,
It means there is no causation at all.
If there is no causation,
There is no world of experience also.
The whole causal scheme is illogical,
Because it either requires the existence
Of a first uncaused cause,
Or it itself is meaningless.
There is no meaning in saying that
There is a first uncaused cause,
For, thereby, we create a beginning for time.
If causation were real,
It would never be possible to get rid of it.
But Self-Realisation breaks the chain of causation.
Hence, causation is false,
And, consequently, the world of experience
Also is false.
As in dream also there is experience
Of the causal series,
The waking world is false like the dream world.
For the Ajnanis or the worldly-minded persons the sensual objects are
quite real. For the sages or those who are endowed with discrimination
and enquiry they are unreal.
Whatever you see is false. There is no doubt in this. The deer sees
water in the mirage when the sun is hot. They run towards the mirage
for drinking water. They do not find any water there. The boy runs to
take a piece of silver when there is bright sun. When he goes near the
silver he does not find any silver. He finds only the mother-of-pearl.
When a girl goes to bring water at night she sees a snake on her way
and gets frightened. She takes a light to see the snake but finds only
a rope. There is no snake there. A young man embraces a girl in his
dream and experiences actual discharge of semen. When he wakes up he
does not find a girl. You behold blueness in the sky. The sky appears
as a blue dome. When one moves in the aeroplane in the sky he does not
find any blue dome but the blue dome appears at a distance. Whatever
you see do not really exist. They are mere illusory appearances like
the objects in a dream. But the seer exists when the objects appear
and disappear.
In the dream state big mountains, elephants, cities, big rivers etc.
are seen within a minute Nadi called Hitanadi that is located in the
throat. There is no space in the minute Nadi for these big things to
remain there. Hence the dream objects are false or illusory. The objects
that appear in the waking state also are false.
In the dream you witness the events of several years within a few minutes.
Within a day of Brahma thousand Chaturyugas pass for us. Within the
day of a Deva six months pass for us. Within the time taken by a huge
mountain snake for a second meal, man takes his meals a hundred times.
Within the time taken by a child to develop itself in the womb, small
insects take time to generate crores of their progeny. A happy man spends
one night like a minute whereas a man who is drowned in grief spends
one night like several years. Hence time also does not appear to be
the same at all times for all. The objects that appear and perish in
time are illusory.
The thing seen by you in your dream is not seen in the same place and
in the same manner in the waking state. In the same manner one may say
that Mr. X is a good man. The same man appears as a bad man for another.
The objects seen in a dream do not exist correctly in the waking state.
The objects seen in the waking state appear different even in the waking
state also. In the dream state you do not recollect the things of the
waking state. You do not recollect the things in the dreaming state,
"I saw such and such objects in the waking state. I do not see them
now." Therefore the objects of the waking state are more false than
the objects of the dream. Srutis and sages declare that the objects
of the world are as false as the objects of the dream. They call the
world Deergha-Svapna or a long dream.
That which does not exist in the beginning and in the end does not
really exist in the middle also. It is unreal. The snake that is found
in the rope at night does not exist when a lamp is brought. It appears
in the middle only. Such is the case with silver in the mother-of-pearl,
water in the mirage, city in the clouds, etc. Therefore they are unreal
even when they appear. The dream objects also do not exist in the daytime.
Similarly the objects of this world appear in the middle only. Hence
they are unreal.
An objector says: "The food and drink that you take in the waking state
give you satisfaction. But hunger is not appeased by the food taken
in dream. Therefore the objects of the dream are false. The objects
of the waking state are true." A man who goes to sleep after taking
a sumptuous meal in the waking state suffers from the pangs of hunger
in the dream. He who enjoys a good feast in the dream becomes very hungry
as soon as he wakes up. Similarly the results of actions done in the
waking state are not seen in the dream and vice versa. Therefore, the
waking state is as false as dream.
An objector says, "A man dreams that he has four hands and that he
is flying in the air. Is this not false? Jagrat state is not like this.
Therefore it is true." A man obtains the birth of a Deva or animal or
a bird on account of his Karmas. He becomes Indra with thousand hands
in the waking state. He becomes a bird and flies in the air in the waking
state. He becomes animal with four legs, a centipede with hundred feet
or a snake without feet. Therefore waking state and dream state are
same. Just as in dream some objects are false, some are true, so also
in waking state some objects like the snake in the rope are false, some
like jar, cloth are true. The objects of the dream and waking state
are not so absolutely true as Atman or Brahman.
Just as you remove a thorn by a thorn, just as you remove the dirt
of the cloth by another dirt-the salt-earth, just as you cut the iron
by another iron only, so also you will have to take recourse to another
false object like a Guru or a God, though Atman or Brahman alone is
everything. A false object in the dream produces real fear and wakes
you up. Sometimes whatever you see in dream turns out to be true. An
unreal woman in dream causes a real discharge of semen. Although God
and Guru are not so real as Brahman, they are boats to help you to cross
this Samsara or ocean of births and deaths. Without their grace you
cannot attain immortality or eternal bliss.
Atma Svarup! Brahman alone is really existent. Jiva, world are false!
Kill this illusory egoism. The world is unreal when compared to Brahman.
It is a solid reality for a passionate worldly man, even as dreams are
real to the childish. The world does not exist for a Jnani or a Mukta.
In days of yore there were very able dyers in Marwar or Rajputana.
They would give seven colours to the sari or clothes of ladies. After
washing the cloth one colour will fade away. Another colour will shine.
After some washing a third colour will manifest in the cloth; then a
fourth colour and so on. Even so the mind is coloured when it associates
with the different objects of the world. When the mind is Sattvic, it
has white colour; when it is Rajasic, it is tinged with red colour;
when it is Tamasic it has a black colour.
The mind plays with the five senses of perception and gets experiences
in the waking state. The impressions are lodged in the causal body or
Karana Sarira. Ajnana or causal body is like a black sheet of cloth.
In it are contained the Samskaras of all your previous births.
The mind is ever rotating like a wheel. It receives the different sense-impressions
through the avenues of the senses.
In the dream state the doors or windows of the senses are shut. The
mind remains alone and plays. It is the subject and it is the object.
It projects various sorts of objects like mountains, rivers, gardens,
chariots, cars, etc., from its own body from the material collected
during the waking state. It manufactures curious mixtures and marvellous
combinations. Sometimes the experiences of the previous births that
are lodged in the causal body flash out during the dreaming state.
Remove the colouring of the mind through meditation on Atman. Do not
allow the mind to run into the sensual grooves. Fortify yourself by
developing the Vijnanamaya Kosha or intellect through Vichara or enquiry
of Brahman, reflection and contemplation. The Vijnanamaya Kosha will
serve the purpose of a strong fortress. It will not allow the sense-impressions
to be lodged in the causal body. It will not allow the impressions of
the causal body to come out. It will serve a double purpose.
You will be free from dreams through meditation on the Supreme Being
or Brahman when the colouring of the mind has been removed.
Brahma Jnanis or Sages have no dreams.
May you all attain the Turiya or the fourth state of eternal bliss,
which transcends the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep!
"The Purusha has only two abodes, this and the next world. The dream
state, which is the third is at the junction of the two. Abiding at
the junction he sees the two abodes, this and the next world. In proportion
the endeavour with which one is striving to obtain the place of the
other world does he accordingly see both suffering and bliss. When he
dreams he takes away a little of the impressions of this world which
consists of all elements (the waking state), himself puts the body aside
and himself creates a dream body in its place, revealing his own splendour
by his own light and dreams. In this state the Purusha himself becomes
unmingled light." (Bri. Up. IV.iii.9.)
"There are no chariots, nor horses to be yoked to them, nor roads there,
but he creates the chariots, horses and the roads. There are no pleasures,
joys or delights, but he creates the pleasures, joys and delights. There
are no tanks, no lakes or rivers there, but he creates the tanks, lakes
and rivers, for he is the agent." (Ibid. IV.iii.10.)
"The God-like Purusha who moves alone puts the body aside in the dream
state and himself awake and taking the shining functions of the organs
with him, watches those that are asleep. Again he comes to the waking
state." (Ibid. IV.iii.11.)
"The radiant Purusha who is immortal and moves alone, preserves the
unclean rest of the body by the power of the vital force and roams out
of the rest. Himself immortal, he proceeds where his desire leads him."
(Ibid. IV.iii.12.)
"In the dream world, the shining one attains higher and lower states
and assumes manifold forms. He seems to be enjoying himself in the company
of women or laughing or beholding fearful sights." (Ibid. IV.iii.13.)
"Everybody sees his sport but nobody sees him." They say, "Do not wake
him up suddenly". If the Purusha does not return to the waking state
through the same doors of the senses through which he entered into the
state of dream, if he re-enters in any other manner, then diseases are
produced such as blindness, deafness etc. which are difficult to be
cured. Some day indeed that the dream state of a man is the same as
his waking state as he sees in dreams only those things that he sees
in the waking state. This is not so because in the dream state the Purusha
becomes a self-shining light." (Ibid. IV.iii.14.)
"After enjoying himself and roaming and merely seeing the results of
the good and evil in dreams, he rests in a state of deep sleep. He comes
back in a reverse order to his former condition, the dream state. He
is not touched by whatever he beholds in that state, because the Purusha
is unattached." (Ibid. IV.iii.15.)
"After enjoying himself and wandering in the waking state and after
seeing what is holy and sinful, the results of good and evil, he proceeds
again in the reverse order to his former condition, the dream state
or the deep sleep." (Ibid. IV.iii.17.)
"Just as a large fish swims alternately to both the banks of the river,
the right and the left one or the Eastern and Western, so the Purusha
glides between both boundaries-the boundary of dream and the boundary
of the waking state." (Ibid. IV.iii.18.)
"In him are those Nadis called Hita, which are as fine as a hair split
into a thousand parts, and filled with white, blue, yellow, green and
red juice.
"Therefore all the objects of terror, which a man sees when awake,
are ignorance fancied by him in dream, when anybody seems to kill him,
sees to overpower him, an elephant seems to put him to fight when he
falls into a pit. Again when he seems to be conscious, "I am God. I
am King. I am even all this," he has attained the highest peace.
"When the individual soul is in the state of dream, he becomes an Emperor
as it were or a noble Brahmana as it were, or attains states high or
low, as it were. Just as an Emperor, taking his followers, moves about
as he pleases, so does the soul, taking the organs move about as he
pleases in his own body. (Ibid. II.i.18.)
"Because in dream the dreamer does not actually do what is holy or
evil; he is not chained by either; for good or evil actions and their
consequences are not imputed to the mere spectator for them.
"Having in that dream enjoyed pleasure,
