the jagrat/svapna debate

[egodust]

Namaskaar.

The debate re the jagrat/svapna states seems to present a problem
for even the jnani insofar as delivering a definitive explanation.
No amount of logic can withstand the impact of experience however.

Check this out, if you will...

shaanthi.

             The Dream that Linked Two Worlds

                         Abstract

One of the fundamental ideas in advaita relates to the fact that
the world is a product of one's mind.  And, as a means of proving
it, a comparison is made in terms of an [equally unquestioned]
world created in one's dream (which is obviously purely a product
of mind).

I would like to relate a dream I had in 1972, which has
implications regarding the above observation, and also seems to
further substantiate the idea that the world is a projection of
Mind; indeed, that it is Mind-stuff made visible.

**************

The Dream:

     Suddenly I found myself standing in front of a mirror.
And as I looked at my reflected image, it seemed that my very
awareness of what was here and now happening proportionately
increased with the clarity of my visualizing myself.  The dream
suddenly took on a familiarity and exactitude which I otherwise
only associate with what may be termed "ordinary waking
consciousness."

     As this deeply unsettling state of awareness further
developed, I was smoothly shifted into a rare condition known
as lucid dreaming, whereby the dreamer somehow realizes that
he's dreaming.

     I then took a rather deliberate look at myself, quite
conscious of my own self-awareness--as conscious as I had EVER
been in any waking state of mind!  What I saw had further
confirmed the objective realness of what my eyes were recording,
at least in terms of my ordinary familiarity with what I consider
to be "objective perception."  I was actually able to see, in
ultra-fine detail, the hair stubbles on my face, including some
skin blemishes such as reddish discolorations, as well as some
pimples, etc.

     As a result of this, I became somewhat frightened at a state
of mind that was utterly alien to what I was otherwise accustomed
to witnessing.  Whereupon I concluded that either I've entered
an altered state or, worse, that I've gone mad, and was admitted
to a hospital psyche ward, of which the restroom vanity was where
I'm now having this experience!

     All this raced through my mind in an indeterminable amount
of time, as time itself seemed to be--now that I recall--plastic
and arbitrary, which was doubtless not at all a consideration
within the dream.

     In light of this unearthly drama unfolding, my only
alternative--so as to gain some kind of handle on what seemed to
be an utterly out of control situation, was to conduct an
experiment in order to determine what was really happening to me.

     It's interesting to note that throughout this ordeal I
maintained focus on my reflection in the mirror.  (I guess that
had I not, the dream, in its perhaps vulnerably organized structure,
might have collapsed.)

     For reasons unbeknownst to me, I commenced to grab hold of
the faucets on the vanity...and, reasoning to myself (again, with
all the familiar deliberation and consciously applied logic
unique to the waking state) that if in fact I am dreaming, I
should be able to levitate the lower half of my body.  (Why I
chose this type of an experiment isn't quite clear now in
retrospect--although within the dream it made total sense.)

     I was able to levitate quite effortlessly.  However, I was
still not convinced.  Therefore, I decided to conduct another
experiment.  This time I reasoned to myself that, if in fact I
was dreaming, I should be able to--also effortlessly--pull the
faucets out of the sink.

     I yanked on them...nothing!  I gave another yank...nothing!
Now I was in a real panic.  In fact my heart started racing and
pounding quite uncontrollably!  The idea that I had perhaps gone
mad and was therefore institutionalized was too much to handle!
I really felt the full force of having perhaps lost conrtrol of
myself.

     Suddenly, in a fit of terror, I let go of the faucets and
began running along what appeared to be a series of vanities with
corresponding mirrors.  I saw my image being reflected as I was
running back and forth and, to make matters worse, my so-to-
speak 'lead image' was actually invisible(!), which implies that
there was somehow occurring a phenomenon of trailing images--
which WERE visible, and which were, in turn, fading off like the
tail of a comet!

     Whereupon I woke up.

     I was 24 years old at the time, and quite healthy; yet I
had, upon awakening--what I felt reasonably confident was--the
symptoms of a heart attack.  The sensation in my heart region
I had not felt before (or since--as of this writing circa 1996).
It took me a half hour or so to calm down enough to feel confident
that I didn't need to dial 911.  It took a few days to
psychologically surmount the fear and uncertainty that I might
have been loosing control of my mind.

     And now, 24 years later, I still recall it with a measure of
trepidation, yet more like wonder, reinforced by a subsequently well
developed background in the study of metaphysics, and especially
the many years of meditation with its inevitably profound
stabilization of the psyche.

     The conclusion, in retrospect, of this highly auspicious event
[manifesting in the form of a dream] is that, indeed, the Mind is a
powerful creator, which lies at the very foundation of what
amounts to being [its OWN] three phases: waking, dreaming and
deep sleeping--as has been postulated by vedantists for hundreds
of years.  This whole experience represents, at least to me, proof
positive that the foundational structure of nature is ultimately
accountable to what can only be its sole substratum: unalloyed
Consciousness.