CONSCIOUSNESS THROUGH WAKING, DREAMING, AND SLEEP
We experience four states of consciousness: the sleeping, the waking, the dreaming, and the fourth one is the turiya state. That is a Sanskrit term beyond the three we know of.
When a person falls asleep, the question is, does consciousness continue? And if consciousness does continue, why are we not aware of the consciousness that is continuing? So, to know whether it is continuing or not, we have to know what consciousness is.
Consciousness is one’s spiritual self. That is pure consciousness that requires no support whatsoever from anything exterior to itself. So, that pure consciousness is a faculty, if you would like to use that word, that experiences itself, by itself, for itself. In other words, pure consciousness IS.
In the waking state of life, the consciousness that we experience is the consciousness, or the glimmer of consciousness, or the reflection of the consciousness that is put through the filter of our waking mind. So, the quality of the consciousness that filters through our waking mind depends upon the quality of our waking consciousness. If you take a piece of crystal and you put a red flower behind the crystal, then the crystal will appear red to you. Meanwhile, it is pure white and colourless. If you put a yellow flower, then the crystal will seem yellow to you, and if you put a green flower, it will seem green to you.
So, the consciousness that we are aware of is a filtered consciousness, and not necessarily the pure consciousness.
When a person goes to sleep, the continuity is there, but not that of waking consciousness. The continuity of pure consciousness is there. In the waking state we have what is called the conscious mind, that is the ten percent of the mind we have spoken about, then we have ninety percent of the dormant mind, so-called dormant, it is really not dormant, but so-called dormant, because the conscious ten percent of the mind is not aware of the ninety percent of the subconscious which operates on a totally different level. It operates on a much subtler level, and because it operates on a much subtler level, the ten per cent of conscious, waking consciousness have little cognition of it. When we refine the value of the waking consciousness through meditational practices, we can allow the subtler level of the mind, the subconscious mind, to filter through.
DREAMS AS AN EXPRESSION OF THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
It is a bit technical, so let us repeat this again. In the waking state, the pure consciousness filters through the waking consciousness. In the sleep state, pure consciousness exists. But if the sleep is deep, then whatever has happened in the subconscious mind is not remembered when we awake. Although they do not remember their dreams, every person is still dreaming or experiencing something in the subconscious. The conscious mind, being of a more grosser matter, or grosser substance, during sleep cannot capture the pure consciousness that is forever shining, and which preserves the continuity in our life through the various facets of waking, sleeping, and dreaming.
In a dream, the conscious mind being dead for the moment, to use that term, and the subconscious being awake, the subconscious mind is stirred by the continuing principle of pure consciousness. In one instance, a dream is an association of ideas. Something that happens during the daytime leaves a deep impression on the mind, and because of this impression on the conscious mind, it has a certain effect on the subconscious mind. When the conscious mind is put to rest, the power of pure consciousness lightens the area of the subconscious that is deeply impressed by the happenings of the day. And we relive the happenings of the day, and not only relive it, but we also associate that impression upon the subconscious with various other impressions that are allied to it. That is one kind of dream.
Then you have another kind of dream, where, with the power, the light of the pure consciousness, certain happenings which might have happened in this lifetime, in a previous lifetime, or in a lifetime before that, depending very much upon how deep that impression is, can be illuminated, and we experience a dream that has nothing to do with present-day reality. So, if we remember this dream on waking up, we find that, “What is this dream all about? I know nothing of this. I dream of a giraffe, and yet I have not seen one. I dream of a rhinoceros, and I have not seen a rhinoceros in this life. Where does this come about from?” So here, the theory would be that you have seen a giraffe and a rhinoceros in a previous life. Perhaps you were being chased by a rhinoceros. The memory of being chased by the rhinoceros can be interpreted in the subconscious entirely differently, because what remains most is the fear that was created in the chase when you were out in the fields, and this big thing was chasing you with its big horn. And your mind was filled with fear. So, you can have this dream as a dream of the experience, relive the experience, which forms a certain kind of dream.
Now, we come to the third kind of dream, in which the impression of the rhinoceros chasing you creates a terrible fear, and you are in flight. You are running away from that animal that is chasing you. This is deeply ingrained as fear. This could have happened in a previous lifetime. But because the mind is so patterned to associate ideas, that very fear that was caused can be translated into something that has happened in this life.
For example, you might have a husband who is a bully. Or you might have a domineering wife. Or you might have a boss under whom you are having a terrible time, but you have to feed your family, so you need the job. So that very fear of being chased by the rhinoceros can be transferred in your dream as that bullying boss, and he is forever chasing you to do your work, and you are fleeing. Most of the time, with such a dream, you will find that that man, as far as he can help it, is always trying to avoid his boss. So, things from a past life, too, can be associated with things happening in the present life, because it is we who divide these little lives, and yet it is just one big home.
DREAMS HELP RELEASE INNER IMPRESSIONS OR SAMSKARAS
The entire creation, the entire process of evolution, is just one big home we are living in. Now we are in the living room, and we are just about to go into the bedroom. Another life, another set of circumstances, other kinds of furniture. Then from the bedroom, we might go to the adjoining bathroom. Another lifetime. But all these lifetimes that we have lived form this one whole. And because it forms this one complete whole, each and every lifetime is connected to and interdependent with the others. And that is why I have said in one of these talks that we are the sum totality of what we have been in past lives.
I have also said that we have a memory box that contains the memories of all these past lifetimes. And when we have a dream of a very peculiar circumstance (a peculiar circumstance can be pleasant), then we say it was an enjoyable dream. Then we might have a peculiar circumstance that was frightening and unpleasant. We call it a nightmare. And these dreams are very, very important to us. They are very important, and psychologists will tell you they serve as a release mechanism. It helps us.
Because of all the samskaras or the impressions that are imprinted or implanted within us, they could drive us insane if they are brought to the fore. It could drive us totally insane. Through experimentation, we have also found, and this you would read in some books, that if we deprive a man of sleep for a certain period of time, we can drive him mad. The reason is not a lack of sleep; the real reason is that during sleep, he has a way of releasing all those pent-up karmas and samskaras that require release. And when we stop releasing those samskaras, we start stagnating, and when the subconscious mind stagnates, it has an adverse effect on the conscious mind, leading it to an imbalance that lands a person in the sanatorium.
LIKE WITH MEDITATION AND SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, DREAMS ALSO ERASE SAMSKARAS
You have people going about interpreting dreams. You go to a bookshop and titles like, “How To Interpret Your Dream.” Never buy such a book. If you want to spend a dollar or two, and if you have the dollar or two to spend, do not spend it buying such a book. But as you come out, if you see a poor box, put it in there. You will be doing some service. These dreams tell you that if you dream of water, you are going on a voyage. If you dream of death, then such and such. If you dream of a flower, then this and this will happen. This is not true. This is not true at all. It is not true.
Dreams can be interpreted by a person who not only has a knowledge of human psychology but also has an intuitive understanding. He can really interpret dreams, whether pleasant or nightmares. Both are important. Both nightmares and pleasant dreams are important as release mechanisms, and that is how we shed some of the heaviness that has accumulated in the form of samskaras in our minds or perhaps in our chakric system. So, whenever you have a nightmare, and you wake up in the morning remembering the nightmare, feel very happy about it, because you have got rid of a certain kind of fear that was there in the subconscious mind. And the constant factor, the pure consciousness, shed light upon it so that it was brought out. Many people feel very depressed when they have a nightmare. That should be a chance to feel happy: here, in one block, one kind of fear has now been worked out and dissipated.
So, dreams play a very important part in the life of man, because the whole process of evolution is not to accumulate more samskaras. We are trying to find Divinity, or to merge in Divinity, so we have to erase the samskaras. The way to erase samskaras consciously is through meditation and spiritual practices. And the other way that erases samskaras is this very natural, normal process of dreaming.
SAMSKARAS HAVE THE TENDENCY OF BEING SELF-ANNIHILATING
You have psychologists like Freud who would tell you that a dream is an expression of a suppressed desire. That is partly true: you have a desire, you suppress it, and in some form or another, it expresses itself in the fantasy world of the dream that takes place in the subconscious. But this is only partly true, because the desires which Freud talks about are desires of here and now in this lifetime. But many dreams have nothing to do with this lifetime. It goes back into previous lifetimes.
Samskaras have one tendency for which man should be thankful. He is blessed by the tendency that samskaras have, and the tendency that samskaras have is self-annihilation. That is the tendency. The subconscious mind of man is in a turbulent state all the time, and having this inbuilt or inborn tendency, it wants to quieten itself; it wants to rid itself of the turbulence and find tranquillity.
BECAUSE OF THE INHERENT BLISS AND JOY, WE ARE FOREVER BEING PUSHED FORWARD
So, we have the conscious mind, the subconscious mind, and the superconscious mind, which is pure consciousness. So, the more tranquil the middle mind, or the subconscious mind, is, the superconscious mind has a direct line, a hot line, to the conscious mind whereby consciously we could experience more and more joy, more and more happiness, because the nature of the superconscious mind is joy and bliss and happiness. And it is because of that nature, because of the inherent joy and bliss that is there, that we are forever pushed onward.
Often, a person has a so-called ‘nasty’ experience that he dislikes. But if you look deeper into that experience, if you unfathom the real meaning of that nasty experience, that adverse experience, you will find that it is a blessing. Here, some of the accumulated samskaras have been pushed out by the power of the joy and the bliss that is within us, and the joy and the bliss forever want to express themselves. The seed forever wants to express itself in the form of a flower. I am sure you know what happens when you plant the seed in the ground. The seed has to explode, it has to burst, before the energies that are in the seed can be released so that it can bloom into a flower. Likewise, when the superconscious mind, which is forever working, is given greater momentum or the passage is opened up for it, it pushes aside all those negative karmas that have been accumulated.
THE SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS IS FOREVER TRYING TO THROW OFF NEGATIVE SAMSKARAS
If we live without any higher ideals, or if we do not practice some form of spiritual practice, then pushing aside those negative samskaras could become hurtful, could be adverse to our way of life. But if we do some form of spiritual practice, even if not only meditation. That is not the only way. There are other ways: going to church, certain kinds of prayers, studying the scriptures, attuning one’s mind to the Divine mind, many ways. There are many practices. When we practice that and hear the rushing on of that Superconsciousness, which is forever going on, pushing aside and trying to throw off the negative samskaras. That is an automatic, spontaneous happening within us. It is the inherent nature man has. So, through spiritual practices, those negative samskaras that are pushed aside dissolve, and the Grace they attract prevents the full impact from being felt.
RUBBING OUT OF SAMSKARAS REQUIRES SOME EFFORT
Sometimes you would find a very rare man who never dreams. He never dreams because it is not a matter of not remembering the dream; he never dreams because his subconscious mind is tranquil, with the minimum of turbulence there, or perhaps none. All the samskaras have been wiped off. The sheet is clean. They have all been rubbed out. Rubbing out the samskaras requires some effort. If you write on a piece of paper, a single swipe with the rubber is not enough. You have got to rub, really rub. And that rubbing could be abrasive, and we think it is hurting, but it is very beneficial. So, every experience that man goes through, that experience he has brought upon himself, and he is responsible for it. So, this responsibility and this rubbing out of samskaras are going on not only in the waking state of life, but also in the sleep state.
THE DREAMER WATCHING THE DREAM
What happens when you witness your dream? A person can dream in black and white, and he can dream in Technicolour. It is quite common to dream in Technicolour. When you are aware that you are watching your dream, it means you are having a double dream happening simultaneously. It is a double dream. The subconscious mind is re-experiencing or throwing out certain samskaras. The conscious mind is not totally asleep. The conscious mind has a certain element of wakefulness, which is a state of stupor, not sleep. And that state of stupor we can call a dreamlike state. So, the conscious mind, not in total sleep but in a state of stupor, can observe what the subconscious mind is doing. And that is why sometimes we experience our dreams.
There is no great benefit to that, because many times when we wake up from such a dream, when we are actually watching our dream, then we normally wake up in a very lethargic state rather than in an invigorated state, because the conscious mind has not had proper rest. It went into a kind of stupor, which is not real sleep, and that is why we can watch the subconscious mind at work.
SARVIKALPA SAMADHI – MEDITATION WITH FORM AND NAME, ACTION AND REACTION
Sometimes, during meditation, when we reach a certain level, we can bring the conscious mind not to a state of stupor but to a state of heightened alertness. And in that alertness, we can stand apart and see all the happenings, all the samskaras, tossing and turning around, jumping and flying and somersaulting in the subconscious mind. When we can watch that with alertness in the meditative state, then the very power released by the conscious mind, by the alertness, overrides that turbulence, and it has a two-way action. The conscious mind is alert. It is in a deep state of rest but is alert. And in that alertness, it forms a combination on the other end with the superconscious mind. So here you have a connecting link with the superconscious mind and the conscious mind. You have built a bridge. And because of the alertness and the power of the superconscious mind, you can stand on this bridge and watch all the meanderings and all the nonsense of the subconscious mind.
When you develop this ability to watch what is happening in the subconscious mind, you are rubbing it out, quieting it, and annihilating all those samskaras that are so negative and trouble-making. That is called Savikalpa Samadhi. Savikalpa Samadhi is a Sanskrit term that means you are conscious of the happenings in the subconscious mind. That is one of the stages of reaching pure consciousness. Here, it is Savikalpa Samadhi, because the conscious mind, in its alertness, has joined the superconscious by crossing the ocean of the subconscious, and because it is alert and empowered by the superconscious, you are aware of name and form and all kinds of happenings. So Savikalpa Samadhi means you are in a state of meditation that includes form, name, action, and reaction. You are aware simultaneously of cause and effect. That is one state of samadhi, one state of the supreme form of meditation.
NIRVIKALPA SAMADHI – MEDITATION WITH NO NAME AND NO FORM, NO CAUSE AND NO EFFECT
When we pass that stage of Savikalpa Samadhi and have brought about total tranquillity in the subconscious mind, then, because of the total tranquillity in the subconscious mind, the superconscious mind gathers within its folds the total subconscious and the conscious mind, and the three combine to give you the experience of Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
That is the samadhi that contains no name and no form, no cause and no effect, and that is the highest state that any yogi, any aspirant, can reach. It is a state of total nothingness. And yet that nothingness is the everything of the entire existence, and it is experienced as intense ecstasy and bliss, which is never definable by human language. It is beyond language, where the conscious and the subconscious and the superconscious just become one, because there is no turbulence left, and you are only alert within yourself of this joy, this bliss, which is self-existent – that requires no outside electricity. It burns; it shines on its own.
THE PROGRAM IS TO ALLOW THE SUPERCONSCIOUS STATE TO PERMEATE THE SUBCONSCIOUS AND THE CONSCIOUS MIND
So, these are the three divisions of the mind from a certain aspect. The program is to allow the superconscious state to permeate the subconscious and the conscious mind. And the only way to make it permeate the subconscious first, being more subtle, is to bring the subconscious to a tranquil state, and when that is brought to a tranquil state and because there are none left, it cannot send any of the samskaras to the conscious mind to interpret and translate in daily living. And there are no more problems, because samskaras are problematic. So that is what is happening within us, and I do hope that science will verify it in the near future.
Science today knows very little of the human mind. They are just wetting their little toes at this vast ocean in front of them. So that is what happens in the waking state. That is what happens in the dream state. These are the causes of dreams and nightmares, pleasant dreams and unpleasant dreams. This is why we can witness a dream. These things happen.
… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang US 1977 – 20
