[Advaita-l] Dreams and Reality

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

Dear Michaelji and Sadanandaji,

Can the dreams not be related to the actions of the past births? Only a realised soul can see his or her past lives clearly and the rest can probably have a peep into those only in their dreams in a random manner. Our present birth is based on our past Karma  and in dreams we may be seeing some sort of explanations of our present leanings in terms of our past actions. A person who is of very kind disposition may see in his dream that he is very cruel to people and it may be that he was so in his past life and realisation of that made him kind in this life but he does see that link in the present waking state.

Regards,

Sunil K. Bhattacharjya

--- On Sat, 2/21/09, Michael Shepherd <michael at shepherd87.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
From: Michael Shepherd <michael at shepherd87.fsnet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Dreams and Reality
To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Date: Saturday, February 21, 2009, 6:33 AM

Dear Sadanandaji,

Thank you. That is very helpful, as it puts more clearly what I have
previously been told and indeed what I have experienced :

The two vaasanaa around which most of my dreams -- though not all -- are
centred are the two 'unfavourable' aspects of my birth astrological
chart.
In dream, the two interweave and join in a way that waking life does not
present so clearly.

There seems to be a curious relationship between 'working through'
these
vaasanaa -- which are so deeply buried -- in the waking and the dreaming
state. I reckon that in my waking life, I have (without recognising this)
worked through them -- yet they still recur in these 'dream stories',
as if
they still have some way to go !

And it's very true that dreams throw up a clearer, more precise, more
dramatic, more useful 'story' than waking life, with its so many other
facets, presents : the vaasanaa can be so disguised that 'waking life'
actions do not reveal them; but rather, reactions based on them.

You confirm my previous suspicions : the dreaming state has a valuable
function -- a marvellous one -- in regard to samskara. As a kitchen is
better for a waste bin !

I hope that our friend who originally asked this question is following
this..

Thank you again.

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
[mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org]On Behalf Of
kuntimaddi sadananda
Sent: 21 February 2009 14:00
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Dreams and Reality





--- On Sat, 2/21/09, Michael Shepherd <michael at shepherd87.fsnet.co.uk>
wrote:
 
Michael - PraNams
 
Here is how I look at it.
 
Either dream or waking state, there can be two questions that can be asked?
 
Why I have a particular type of waking or dream world - in principle about
the details or specific aspects on one individual's waking and dream world
that one experiences, in contrast to other individuals' experiences. This
involves detailed examination of the specific individual and his particular
states in contrast to those of other individuals.
 
The second question is more at generic level why and what and how etc of
waking state or dream etc Here we are not inquiring into details of
individual or vyakti state but more philosophical analysis of the states.
 
At the vyakti or individual level - of the total vaasanaas - those that are
ready to germinate form the cause for the birth - that provides the cause
for waking state.
 
Similarly the vaasanaas that cannot be exhausted in the waking state
(suppressions and oppressions of the waking state) will be thrown out in the
dream state to cleanse oneself from the undigested vaasanaas. Hence details
of the contents of the thrown depend on what is taken and not digested. A
doctor may be interested in the throwns to analyze what was not digested and
why. But a philosopher is not too much interested in the specific details of
individual throw-ups but generic reason why a throw up occurs - or  why
dream occurs - what is the material and intelligent cause - etc. That is
what Mandukya Upanishad analyzes. Its purpose is to show the truth behind
these three states that is beyond the three states. It is not much concerned
with detials of the contents in each state, since the truth that scripture
points out is unaffected by the details of the contents.
 
If one is interested in the details of the throw-up one can do so, that may
be of interest from the psychological point but from the truth point is
unnecessary diversion since truth is beyond the specific details of the
contents of the dream.

 
Hope this helps.
 
Hari Om!
Sadananda
_______________________________________________
Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita

To unsubscribe or change your options:
http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l

For assistance, contact:
listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org




_______________________________________________
Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita

To unsubscribe or change your options:
http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l

For assistance, contact:
listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org