Why the same dream?

[Greg Goode]

At 09:06 PM 11/27/97 +0100, Miguel Angel Carrasco wrote:


>The attacks to this position (which I have no particular interest in
>defending), come mainly from those that say that there are no different
>dreams, that it is all in the same dream watched by the same dreamer. From
>this would logically follow that not only there is one Consciousness (which
>nobody debates), but also only one point of consciousness, only one
>experiencing centre (which is not the same). That is what, fool that I am,
>I do not yet understand.
>
>But if I am still holding this battled position it is because that is what
>I have breathed in various sages´ writings (mainly Nisargadatta, who I will
>put to rest for a while, but also others including the Upanishads). For
>example, the Maitrayana-Brahmana Upanishad, Second Prapathaka:

[...]

You can find a lot of material to support the many-organisms/many-points-of
consciousness view.  Often, this occurs in the same text as the only-One
Consciousness view.  So what?  Just go with what is comfortable for you,
that is why the variety exists in Sruti -- something for everyone to grab
onto.

The One Consciousness view is tied to the ajata-vada or non-creation view
of the world, just as the many organisms/many world-views theory is tied
to one of the various creation theories.

Ramana Maharshi (and others, I think Vivekananda, Sw. Sivananda, Sw.
Chinmayananda and Sw. Dayananda Saraswati) have all said that that creation
stories are there for those who for one reason or another can't
intellectually go with the ajata-vada or non-creation theory.  For in this
way of looking at the world, there is no creation, no cause-and-effect, and
no real plurality of observers.  This is often held as the highest teaching
of Vedanta.

If you're curious about what the scriptures say about the One consciousness
and non-creation view, read carefully the Mandukya Upanishad w/ Gaudapada
Karika.  Read also the Yogavashista.  Of modern teachers, read Ramesh
Balsekar,
primarily Consciousness Speaks.

--Greg