yoga-age.com
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.
|