35. WAKING STATE AND DREAM STATE

D: Is the waking state different from the dream state?

A: It is not when considered from the standpoint of the Truth.

D: Then, does it mean that everything is a concoction of the mind?

A: Yes.

D: Will Acharyal please explain?

A: In the dream state, we see a world that appears to be real when we are witnessing the dream. We see a world in the waking state. This also seems to be real. We experience joy and sorrow in the waking state. Likewise, we experience them in the dream too. Therefore, both the states are similar and hence, unreal.

D: In the waking state, if a book is placed on a table, it remains at the same place the next day also. However, a book placed on a table in the dream is not to be found there when one wakes up the next morning. Considering this difference, can it not be said that the waking state is real while the dream state is unreal?

A: Suppose, for example, that you keep a book on the table in a dream. Then you go to do some other work in that dream itself. On returning, will not the book be found in the same place?

D: Yes, it will be there.

A: This example should have cleared your doubt. In this waking state, if a book is kept at a spot, it remains in the same place. Similarly, during a dream, a book remains where it is placed. No doubt, a book of the dream state vanishes when one wakes up but, then, similar is the case of a book of the waking state vanishing when one goes to sleep.

D: There seems to be another difference also.

A: What is it?

D: Some others see us sleeping. They can assert that we were definitely asleep. So, dreams are unreal.

A: Let us assume in the course of a dream you see yourself sitting and daydreaming. In your dream, some people see you sitting. As far as they are concerned, your sitting at that place is real but what you are imagining is unreal. Is it not?

D: Yes.

A: Were you really sitting near those people?

D: No.

A: The reason is that both your sitting at that place and your being observed by other people belong to the dream. Similar is the case with people watching another sleep.

D: The waking state continues for years, while a dream persists only for minutes or an hour. What about this difference?

A: If this reasoning is adopted, you will have to answer the following question. If one dream lasts thirty minutes and another ten minutes, will you say that the dream that lasted thirty minutes is more real than the dream that lasted ten minutes?

D: No.

A: Therefore, just by giving the reason that the waking state lasts longer than a dream, it cannot be concluded that the waking state is more real than the dream state. Further, the passage of time too is something imagined. In a dream, one may think that a long time has lapsed but, with regard to the waking state, only ten minutes might have passed.

D: I accept that the world in the waking state is very similar to the world experienced in the dream. However, a doubt has arisen.

A: You can express any doubt without hesitation.

D: We are not aware that whatever we experience in the waking state is unreal. Why?

A: In the course of a dream, are you usually aware that it is unreal?

D: No.

A: When is it known by you that the perception had in the dream is false?

D: Only when I come to the waking state.

A: Likewise, we will realise unmistakably that the world of the waking state is false only when we awaken from this dream of the waking state.

D: When will one wake up from this dream?

A: When one attains the realisation that one is the Ātman, which is devoid of all bondage and is of the nature of Supreme bliss.

D: When will such a realisation occur?

A: When one completely purifies one’s mind and fixes it on the Ātman.

D: What role do the Guru and the śāstra-s play in this matter?

A: The teachings of the Guru, which are in accordance with the śāstra-s, produce the knowledge of the Truth.

D: Do not the śāstra-s and the teachings of the Guru belong to this unreal world? If so, how can they generate the knowledge of the Truth?

A: These teachings also belong to the world. Still, right knowledge can dawn because of them. Let us assume that in a dream, a tiger is chasing us. We may wake up on account of fear. In the same way, the dictates of the śāstra-s and the teachings of the Guru wake us up from this big dream.

D: Then, what is creation?

A: Perception alone is creation. There is no creation other than perception. Perception of a thing is its origination.

D: What about Īśvara?

A: He too is a part of your dream. In reality, there is neither cause nor effect. One has bondage as long as one considers that one has bondage. He who feels that he is free is indeed free. That is why it has been said:

(AG, I. 11)

(He who considers himself liberated is a liberated one. He who feels that he has bondage is bound.)

Therefore, one should remove the wrong impression that one has bondage.

D: Is the removal of the wrong idea that one has bondage the means to attain mokṣa?

A: Yes. So far, I was speaking with the dṛṣṭi-sṛṣṭi-vāda (perception-is-creation view) in mind. This, however, is not suitable for many people because their minds are not pure enough to imbibe it. People accept that the dream state is unreal. However, if told that the waking state is equally unreal, they would feel disturbed. On hearing, “The waking state is on par with the dream state” some may decide that dreams too are real! That is why the śāstra-s do not speak much of the dṛṣṭi-sṛṣṭi-vāda.

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❑ Incidents from Acharyal's Life

Acharyal describes the method of reflection on the unreality of the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep and of discerning the reality of the Ātman:

“The states of waking, dream and deep sleep are neither natural to Me nor absolutely real. This is because while I persist unchanged in all these three states, the state of waking is absent during the states of dream and deep sleep; the dream state is absent during the states of waking and deep sleep; and deep sleep is absent during waking and dream. What appears and disappears like a mirage cannot be absolutely real. Being subject to annulment, the states of waking, dream and deep sleep are false. I am unstained by them like the desert by mirages.”

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