“This Self is a Self of Knowledge, an inner light in the heart; he is the conscious being common to all states of being, and he moves in both worlds. He becomes a dream self and passes beyond this world and its forms of death. […]. There are two planes of this conscious being, this world and the others; a third state is his juncture, the dream state, and when he stands at this juncture he sees the two planes of his existence, this world and the other world. When he sleeps, he takes the substance of this world where everything is, and he himself undoes and builds up by his own illumination, by his own light; when sleeping, this conscious being becomes luminous with its own light. […] There are no roads or coaches, no joys and pleasures, no ponds, fountains or rivers, but he creates them by his own light, for he is the one who makes them. Through sleep he rejects his body, and without sleep he sees those who sleep; by his breath of life he preserves this lower nest and throws himself, immortal, out of his nest; immortal, he goes where he will, the golden Purusha, the lonely Swan. They say, "Only the country of awakening is his, for the things he sees when he is awake, these are the only things he sees when he sleeps"; but there, he is his own light.
Brihadaranyaka Upanisad, IV. 3.7, 9-12, 14.
We often apprehend dreams as phenomena unreal.
The question that follows is: Why is the waking state apprehended as real through the mental body and dreams as unreal? What differs from each other?
Some characteristics of dreams are exposed below:
(i) dreams come to an end and lose their validity when we pass from one state of consciousness to another, which is our “normal” state, our “most common” state;
(ii) sleep is something evanescent, without antecedents and without continuation
(iii) in general, they are also incoherent and/or lacking sufficient coherence for the waking state (awake state)
Perhaps, if each time we dreamed again, we returned to the same point and, if we managed to experience a continuous experience, dreams would acquire a totally different character for our reason, just as our surface of life is experienced: for our mind, it appears as a chain of constant sequences
(iv) we also observe that the dream-consciousness seems to be deprived of this control that the waking consciousness exerts (with limits) over the circumstances of life. In the world of dreams, a greater automatism appears, an impulse of creation of the subconscious in which no force-consciousness can guide
The next question: Are our dreams totally unreal and meaningless or are they a form, recorded image, transcript or symbolic representation of things that are real?
For this, let's analyze a little the states of consciousness of DREAM and SLEEP
In the sleep state, mind consciousness ceases its activities (we cease the vrttis - except in a specific yogic technique called nidra, in which we consciously enter the sleep state. We will talk about this later) , entering a resting state, but the inner awareness is not suspended, she enters into new activities. However, only some activities are kept in memory. Those held in memory are those activities that have been located very close to the surface.
In the sleep state, the mind consciousness ceases to act and the subconscious begins to act, which is also a receptacle for our dream experiences.
In addition to the subconscious state of consciousness, there is another dream-building state: the subliminal.
The subliminal (described in the Upanisads as the Dream Self) is a subconscious part of us, intermediate between consciousness and pure unconsciousness, which sends its formations through this surface layer.
“Our subliminal self is not, like our surface physical being, a product of the energy of the Unconscious, it is a meeting point of the consciousness that emerges through evolution and the consciousness that descended from above through involution. There is in it an inner mind, an inner vital being, a physical-subtle or inner being greater than our outer being and nature (…) Here, there is a consciousness that has a power of direct contact with the universal, as opposed to contacts , mostly indirect, that our surface being maintains with the universe through the sensory mind and the senses”
Sri Aurobindo, 1939
In the sleep state, the Self would be the Supraconsciousness, since, in general, all mental or sensory experiences cease when we enter this superconsciousness.
The states of manifestation in Sanskrit are:
- gross physical body → Sthula
- subtle body → Śuksma
- causal body → Karana
- transcendental state / pure knowledge (samadhi)→ Mahakarana
What are the ways and techniques of navigating the world of Sleep and Dreams?
For those who want to delve into the world of dreams, Tibetan yogis have a vast literature with techniques and experiences to go through dream and sleep states, and they claim that becoming conscious and master of dreams is one of the most powerful tools to go through death.
There is a well-known technique within Yoga, known as Yoganidrā, in which we pass from the waking state to the sleeping state, with awareness.
Patanjali describes our mental activities as 5:
योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः॥२॥
Yogaścittavṛttinirodhaḥ||2||
वृत्तयः पञ्चतय्यः क्लिष्टाऽक्लिष्टाः ॥ १.५ ॥
प्रमाणविपर्ययविकल्पनिद्रास्मृतयः ॥ १.६ ॥
vṛttayaḥ pañcatayyaḥ kliṣṭā’kliṣṭāḥ || 1.5 ||
pramāṇaviparyayavikalpanidrāsmṛtayaḥ || 1.6 ||
1.5 The gross and subtle thought patterns (vrittis) fall into five categories, some of which are colored (klishta) and others are uncolored (aklishta).
1.6 The five types of thought patterns to witness are: 1- correct knowledge (pramana), 2- incorrect knowledge (viparyaya), 3- fantasy or imagination (vikalpa), 4- the empty object which is deep sleep (nidra) and 5- remembrance or memory (smriti).
In general, in the state of Sleep, all vrttis (mental activities) cease, but the nidra is a specific vrtti accessed and acted upon with a certain technique, in which one consciously enters the state of Dreamless Sleep.
In contemporaneity, in Hatha Yoga practices, the name yoga nidra has been used to designate the final relaxation of the practice that, although not considered yoganidrā, helps in the practice of conscious entry into the Sleep State.
Yoganidrā It means "Yoga sleep". It is a state of conscious deep sleep.
Unlike the meditative state, in which we remain in the waking state of awareness and gently focus the mind while allowing patterns of thoughts, emotions, sensations and images to come and go; at the yoganidrā, we leave the waking state, pass through the dream state and go into deep sleep, always staying awake.
In this way, it is possible to access the depths of our experiences of avidity and aversion and try to remain equanimous in the face of them, since, now, one enters consciously, watching a deep state of consciousness. usually unconscious to mind. Therefore, the practice of yoganidrā effective to purify the saṁskāras, the deep impressions, which are the driving force behind the karma.
And so, we return with an analysis by Sri Aurobindo, in Divine Life:
“It is even possible to become fully conscious in sleep and to follow, from beginning to end or over vast expanses, the stages of our dream experience; until you come to a brief period of luminous and serene, dreamless rest, which is the true restorer of awakened nature's energies, and then return along the same path to waking consciousness. It is normal, when we pass from state to state in this way, to let previous experiences slip away from us; on returning, only the most vivid or closest to the surface waking state will be remembered: but this can be remedied - it is possible to retain more or develop the power to go back in memory, from dream to dream, from state to state, until the whole is once more before us. A coherent knowledge of sleep life, though difficult to acquire or preserve, is possible.
References :
- GAUDAPA KARIKA, Shankara Bhasya; (Tradução Swami Nikhilananda) Mandukya Upanishad; 1949, disponível em <https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/mandukya-upanishad-karika-bhashya/d/doc143593.html>. Accessed on July 8, 2022
- Mandukya Gaudapada Shankara Upanishad;disponível em <http://yogananda.com.au/upa/gaudapada_karika.html#1.10;. Accessed on July 8, 2022
- Chandogya Upanisad
- JNANESHVARA BHARATI, S.; “Four levels and three Domains of Consciousness in Yoga”. Available at <https://www.swamij.com/levelsdimensions.htm>. Accessed on July 2, 2022
- AUROBINDO, S (Translation by Ayramani). “The Divine Life” 1a. Edition; Auroville, Indi; 2018
- GAUDAPADA KARIKA, commentaries by PANOLI (Translation by Vidyavachaspati) V. Mandukya Upanishad
- GAUDAPA KARIKA, comentários de KRISHNANDA, tradução de Swami. Mandukya Upanishad
- TINÔCO, Carlos Alberto. As Upanishads São Paulo: Ibrasa, 1996
