Daily Readings from the Works of Swami Venkatesananda


Venkatesa Daily Readings Vol 1 — Dreaming

March 27, 2024

Dreaming

     Swami Venkatesananda in Canada We dream not only at night while asleep, but during the day as well! Is it possible for us to become aware of this daydreaming, without disturbing its course? If so, I discover that it is easier to understand this than to understand the dreaming in sleep.

     If you and I pay more attention to our daydreams, it is possible to discover the way our mind functions. It raises hopes to balance the reality of our failures. It strives to restore some sort of haphazard order by covering our errors and faults with anxieties and fears - then covering these up again with unrealistic visions of the future. This forms the substance of our daydreams.

     Once the dynamics and contents of the daydream state are clearly understood, and once we learn to watch this phenomenon, it is possible that we also discover how to bring about order in the mind, without this blind and ineffectual attempt at dreaming. Some great yogis believe that true meditation consists in this self-watchfulness, which is ever alert and awake - not only during the day, but also during sleep (both with and without dreams). For if we see that there is truly no difference between daydream and night-dream, no difference between what we call a premonition, a hunch and a prophetic dream, we arrive at the truth that all this is but a modification of the same mind stuff.

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