PHILOSOPHY OF DREAMING

The Yoga-Vasistha (Chapters XLII and CV) uses the analogy of a dream to illustrate the evanescence and fallaciousness of the phenomenal world. Just as a dream world dissolves upon waking, the phenomenal world is seen as impermanent and ultimately dissolving into a vacuum upon the realisation of Atman, or Self. It presents a unique perspective on dreaming, equating it with two states of consciousness, dreaming and waking, that share similarities and can intertwine with one another. Both states are considered illusions or magical experiences, lacking true reality, while also revealing the thought projection of mind. This interplay illustrates the complexities and nuances of human consciousness. The Yoga-Vasistha (Chapter XLII) suggests that both are ultimately illusions created by the mind. It says (Yoga-Vasistha, Chapter CV) that the intellect conceives the form of the world, of its own intrinsic nature, and fancies itself in that very form, as it were in a dream. The world we perceive, it explains, whether in a dream or awake, is a projection of mind that inherently tends to move outward to relish the objects of the world bereft of any independent reality. The Yoga-Vasistha posits that both states are short and long illusionary experiences that are ultimately ephemeral. The distinction between them is merely a matter of duration and perception. The text asserts the pivotal role of mind in creating both the illusionary realities of dreaming and waking. Just as the mind conjures a world within a dream, it also projects the perceived world of our daily experience through its sense-driven mechanisms. In this perception, the Yoga-Vasistha contends the relativity of time and space, not absolute realities, much like how they operate within a particular state of consciousness. A long period can be experienced in a dream within a short span of waking time, demonstrating the mind's power to distort temporal and spatial perceptions. It (Yoga-Vasistha, 3.42.1) aphoristically states that illusionary experience ends with the self-experiencing of All-pervading principle, Brahman, as One and Ultimate Reality. The dawn of Self-realisation, or Self-awareness, removes the veil of ignorance from the illusory nature of both dreaming and waking states, experiencing the underlying reality of the imperishable, eternal, indivisible, and ultimate reality of Absolute Existence, or Cosmic Self. For a sage who has attained Self-realisation, even the waking world loses its perceived reality, just as a dream fades upon waking. This has been aptly illustrated in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita (2.69): what all beings consider day is the night of ignorance for the wise, and what all creatures see as night is the day for the introspective sage.

1. Outline 

The mind, according to Swami Sivananda (Philosophy of Dreams, Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, 1958), creates the dream out of the materials supplied by the experiences of the waking state. 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. The Taijasa (individual in the subtle state, as in dream) 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. He says that the dream creatures spring up from the bed of Samskaras, or impressions, in the subconscious mind. The state of wakefulness and dream, Swami Sivananda contends, comes out from the state of deep sleep and re-enters it and loses itself there to follow the same course again. The person who experiences the three states, viz., Jagrat or the waking state, Svapna or the dreaming state, and Sushupti or the deep-sleep state, is called Visva in the waking state, Taijasa in the dreaming state, and Prajna in the deep-sleep state. The Yoga-Vasistha has taken a radical view on dreaming, asserting that the waking and dreaming states are basically in dreaming without any relationship to reality. Essentially, Yoga-Vasistha (3.42.9-15) illustrates that there is but one All-pervading, quiet, and spiritually substantial reality. It is of the form of unintelligible intellect and an immense outspreading vacuity. It is omnipotent and all in all by itself and is of the form as it manifests itself everywhere. Hence the persons that one sees in this visionary city are but transient forms of men, presented in one’s dream by that Omnipotent Being. The various forms of cities or houses that are seen in dreams are transient in reality and only Maya, or illusion, of the embodied soul, which makes them appear as true as those seen in the waking state in this visionary world. It is so because the Yoga-Vasistha (3.42.16-17) asserts that in the beginning of creation, the self-born Brahma himself had the notions of all created things in the form of visionary appearances, as in a dream, and their subsequent development by the will of the creator; hence, their creator is as unreal as their notions and appearances in the dream. This world is a dream, and all men have their sleeping dreams contained in their waking dreams of this visionary world. The Yoga-Vasistha (3.42.25) says that one Intelligence fills all space and appears as everything both within and without everybody; we see it differently only because of our illusive conception of it. During the course of discourses with Sri Rama (Yoga-Vasistha 3.42.20-29), Maharshi Vasistha explains that as I appear an entity to you in this world of lengthened dreams, so you too appear an actual entity to me, and so it is with all in their protracted dreaming. Maharshi Vasistha continues, As you take me for a reality, so do I also take you and all other things for realities likewise, and such is the case with everybody in this world of dreams.

2. Scriptures 

Most of the scriptures highlights about dreaming but Mandukya Upanishad (3-6) has explained it elaborately. The Mandukya Upanishad explores four states of consciousness: Jagrat (Waking state), Svapna (Dreaming state), Sushupti (Deep sleep state without dreams), and Turiya (Superconscious state). These states are represented by the syllables of the sacred sound OM: A, U, M (It encompasses the three fundamental aspects of existence: A -waking state, U -dreaming state, and M-deep sleep state, which together form the complete sound of Om, and the silence that follows, respectively. The Upanishad states that Turiya is the Ultimate Reality and the true Self (Mandukya Upanishad, Section 8: The Atman as the Pranava, Commentary by Swami Krishnananda). 

a) Jagrat (Waking state) : In this state consciousness is directed outward, engaging with the external world through the senses. 

b) Svapna (Dreaming state): consciousness turns inward, creating a subjective reality based on past experiences and impressions. 

c) Sushupti (Deep sleep state without dreams): It is a state of blissful unconsciousness, where there is no awareness of Self or the external world. 

 d) Turiya (Superconscious state): It is beyond the other three, characterised by pure awareness, non-duality, and realisation of  Atman, or Self and Brahman, or Ultimate Reality.

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (4.3.14) does suggest that the Jiva, or individual soul, is the creator of its own dream experiences. It explores the nature of consciousness through the lens of dreaming, suggesting that the self, or Atman, is distinct from the body and senses, and that dream experiences, while vivid, are ultimately unreal. It posits that the mind, in the dream state, draws upon the sensory organs' powers to create its own reality. It suggests that Atman, or Self, in dreams, transcends the limitations of the physical body and the forms of death, indicating a deeper, more fundamental reality beyond the limitations of the physical realm.

The Aitareya Upaniṣad (1.3.12) says as much when it declares that there are three kinds of dreams: the waking dream, the dream-dream, and the deep sleep-dream.

The Ashtavakra Gita (2.7-10) lucidly teaches that from ignorance of oneself, the world appears, and by knowledge of oneself, it appears no longer. From ignorance of the rope, a snake appears, and by knowledge of it, it appears no longer. Shining is the essential nature of Atman, or Self, and there is nothing over and beyond that. When the world shines forth, it is simply Brahman, or Cosmic Self, shining forth. Illusionary appearances are due to ignorance, just as a snake appears in the rope, the mirage of water in the sunlight, and silver in the mother-of-pearl. All this, which has originated out of Brahman, is resolved back into It too, like a jug back into clay, a wave into water, and a bracelet into gold.

The Yoga-Vasistha (7.105.1-6) advocates that the Cosmic Intellect conceives the form of the world of its own intrinsic nature and fancies itself in that very form, as it were in a dream. It feigns beingasleep while it is waking and views the world either as a solid stone or as a void, as the empty air. The world is compared to a dream, exhibiting a country embellished with a great many cities; and as there is no reality in the objects of a dream, so there is no actuality in anything appearing in this world. All three worlds are as unreal as the various sights in a dream, and they are but daydreams to us even when we are awake. It highlights that whether waking or sleeping, there is nothing named as the world; it is but the empty void and at best but an air-drawn picture in the hollow of the intellect. It is a wondrous display of the intellect in its own hollowness, like the array of hills and mountains in the midway firmament; the sense of the world is as a waking dream in the minds of the wise. 

3. Remarks

Overall, the Yoga-Vasistha (7.105.7–10) advances the point that this world is nothing in its substance, nor is it anything of the form of intellect; it is but a reflection of cosmic intellect, and the vacuity of the intellectual world is an empty nothing. The triple world is only a reflection, and like the sight of something in a dream, it is but an airy nothing; it is the empty air that becomes diversified and is entirely bodiless, though seeming to be embodied in our waking state. It is a wondrous display of the intellect in its hollowness, like the array of hills and mountains in the midway firmament; the sense of the world is as a waking dream in the minds of the wise. The inventive imagination of men is constantly active, even during sleep and dreaming, presenting us with many creations that never existed and many unrealities that appear to be real. The universe appears as an extensive substantiality, implanted in the bosom of endless vacuity; but this immense body, with all its mountains and cities, is in reality no apart from the original vacuum.

-Asutosh Satpathy