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Dreams and Their Significance · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Western psychology has taken a very narrow and therefore quite
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  inadequate view of the nature of dreams.
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  There are several primary ways dreams are analysed in the West.
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  The 1st is the purely mechanical structuring of dreams as a
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  chaotic processing of undigested residues of the observations,
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  mental and emotional activity of the daily life that are simply a
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  type of churning of the brain as it winds down after a day of
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  action. Another view popularized by
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  Freud is that dreams represent some deep subconscious drives
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  that we suppress in our waking life, but which expose
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  themselves in dream and in particular relating to childhood
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  trauma, unresolved sexual tensions or fears.
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  Yet another view developed by Jung emphasizes what he calls
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  the collective unconscious, which holds archetypes that span
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  across humanity and which are not specifically tied to an
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  individual, but to a more general framework within which
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  we all live and act. All of these are relevant to
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  some degree and need to be addressed in a more
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  comprehensive understanding of dreams and their significance.
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  There are, however, several types of dreams that clearly do
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  not fit any of these models. Dreams have occupied the
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  attention of people throughout human existence and across all
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  civilizations. The Old Testament of the Bible
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  relates the story of the Pharaoh of Egypt having a recurring
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  dream about 7 fat cows and seven lean cows and his concern about
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  having this interpreted by his wisest advisers.
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  Though they were unable to resolve this and by chance,
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  Joseph, an Israelite, was brought before the Pharaoh and
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  he interpreted the dream for him in such a way as to evidence
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  that there would be 7 years of abundance followed by 7 years of
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  privation. This led to stockpiling and
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  managing the surplus to tide the Kingdom.
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  Over the seven lean years, many people have reported dreams that
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  seem to be prophetic, that foretell certain events that may
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  occur. The mechanism for this remains
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  uncertain. Are they simply subconsciously
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  extrapolating on facts and details and analysis that they
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  did not sort and organize consciously?
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  Or is there some form of predestined reality, some
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  directed result that they are simply gaining access to, such
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  as is claimed by those who access the Akashic records?
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  Or which arise from precipitating actions and
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  energies arriving from a more causal world, such as one of the
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  mental or vital worlds that work to form the reality within which
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  we live and act in our external being?
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  When the Shields of the waking consciousness are lowered during
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  sleep, it is possible for the consciousness to recognize and
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  process signals that it otherwise would disregard or
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  reject. This may also help explain why
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  dreams may provide insights far beyond what our waking minds are
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  able to develop. A well known spiritual teacher
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  and author told a story some years ago about going back to
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  India for a visit. He lives in the USA and being
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  directed by his family to visit a Vedic astrologer in the area
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  who had a stellar reputation. This astrologer indicated he had
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  somehow known that this individual would visit, and he
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  pulled out a scroll that had an historical recitation of events
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  in his past life which were known to him but were not
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  generally known by others, as well as events forthcoming to
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  him in the future. Vedic astrology, Western
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  astrology, and the work of mystical researchers such as the
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  students of Theosophy all indicate there may be
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  information about the future accessible to individuals.
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  In some instances, this information appears to come
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  forward in dreams. There can be premonitory dreams
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  that do not provide prophetic information but give the
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  individual a feeling that helps them avoid certain things, such
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  as events that would otherwise be shown to have had disastrous
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  consequences if they had not refrained from participation
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  based on the premonition they received in their dreams.
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  Some individuals have had dreams that connected them with loved
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  ones far away who were suffering or dying, such as documented
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  situations during the First World War where a sister dreamt
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  about her brother dying in Europe at just the time that he
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  was killed. Yet other individuals have
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  dreams where they are in some vital world fighting or trying
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  to survive the attacks and pressures of that vital world.
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  One incident was related that had an individual dreaming about
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  fighting with a vital being that had taken the shape as Adolf
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  Hitler. He wound up fighting this
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  presence and woke up in a cold sweat after having finally
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  defeated this vital being. He was so shaken by the event
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  that he immediately wrote down the dream as he had experienced
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  it. Still other times we learn of
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  people seeing individuals they have never met but who come into
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  their lives in the future. This goes beyond raw
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  coincidence. There are also those instances
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  where individuals report meeting spiritual guides or teachers in
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  the dream state and obtaining various teachings from them.
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  The Mother reported that as a child she was regularly guided
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  by a teacher during dream, and when she met Sri Aurobindo, she
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  recognized him as the guide from that time.
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  The dream state occurs for the most part in the subconscious
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  parts of the being, and much of it is in fact confused,
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  disorienting and draining on the energy.
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  Thus, eventually the seeker needs to bring a higher
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  conscious awareness into the entire being, including the
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  subtle physical levels, in order to texture the subconscious to
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  hold and manifest more light and thereby not act as an obstacle
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  to the spiritual growth and development.
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  Sri Robindo notes quote. These dreams are not all mere
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  dreams. All have not a casual,
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  incoherent or subconscious building.
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  Many are records or transcripts of experiences on the vital
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  plane into which one enters in sleep.
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  Some are scenes or events of the subtle physical plane.
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  There one often undergoes happenings or carries on actions
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  that resemble those of the physical life, with the same
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  surroundings and the same people, though usually there is
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  in arrangement and feature. Some are a considerable
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  difference, but it may also be a contact with other surroundings
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  and with other people not known in the physical life, or not
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  belonging at all to the physical world.
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  In the waking state you are conscious only of a certain
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  limited field and action of your nature.
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  In sleep you can become vividly aware of things beyond this
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  field, a larger mental or vital nature behind the waking state,
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  or else a subtle physical or a subconscious nature which
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  contains much that is there in you, but not distinguishably
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  active. In the waking state.
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  All these obscure tracts have to be cleared, or else there can be
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  no change of property. You should not allow yourself to
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  be disturbed by the Press of vital or subconscious dreams,
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  for these two make up the larger part of dream experience.
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  But aspire to get rid of these things and of the activities
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  they indicate to be conscious and reject all but the Divine
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  truth. The more you get that truth and
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  cling to it in the waking state, rejecting all else, the more all
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  this inferior dream stuff will get clear.
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  End Quote reference Trioro Bindo Bases of yoga, chapter 5.
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  Physical consciousness, subconscious sleep and dream
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  illness. Page 99.