Question:
Dear Sir our dreams are never repeated, each night it’s a new dream, new characters in the dream, pleasant, unpleasant and sometimes even NO dream at all …each session is totally different….hence/so we know thoroughly it’s a DREAM.
But in the waking state there is SO much continuation….every day we meet the same characters/persons….situations concerns etc….
Good and Bad experiences that seem SO REAL we feel the pleasures and pain….Since we are yet to attain enlightenment and as efforts are ongoing how then in the interim do we convince ourselves this is a waking dream!??
Not React just remain a witness!?? Even that’s not easy either!??
Sri Prabhuji :
The question has multiple parts. Answers are given below:
1). Dreams are not repeated and new characters appear in dream. This is an observation of dream experience in waking state. The waker says about the dreamer. We have to look at dream from dreamer point of view. For the dreamer, dream appears to be real and continuous in any dream. For example in some dream you are boarding an aircraft. The dreamer will never question how did I get into aircraft. He assumes “continuity in dream state”.
Continuity in dream state is dreamer’s reality. Continuity in waking state is waker’s reality. We cannot mix two separate realities. Both are dreams from absolute reality.
Another interesting thing to be noticed is that the waker is never present in dream and dreamer is never present in waking state. Hence both dreamer and waker don’t know what is reality to comment about the other state.
Who can tell anything about both states? Only one who is present in both states – the witness -sakshi can tell about both states not the waker or dreamer. From point of sakshi – witness both waking and dream states are unreal.
2. In waking state we feel real pleasure and pain – In dream state also we feel real pleasure and real pain when we are experiencing dream. Only after waking up from dream the pleasure and pain of dream are unreal. Similarly real pleasure and pain of waking state are unreal after waking up from waking dream called maya.
3. To be non judgemental witness Spiritual sadhana is to develop non-judgemental witness (sakshi) in waking state. That is spiritual journey. It requires continuous effort. abhyasena tu kaunteya vairagyena ca grhyate – Bhagavadgita 6.35. Shri Krishna says repeated practice (abhyasa) and detachment (vairagya) is required to master the monkey mind. It is difficult to master monkey mind but not impossible if we keep our practice. Detachment (Vairagya) comes from contemplation of spiritual teachings of Vedanta.
All practices like devotion (Bhakti), chanting of Gods name – Japa and meditation (dhyana) help. But we should be consistent and persistent.