The Yoga of Sleep and Dreams

3

Remembering and Understanding Dreams

The subconscient [during sleep] remains in the body. The being really goes out into different planes of consciousness, but its experiences are not kept in the memory, because the recording consciousness is too submerged to carry the record to the waking mind. ⁶⁶

SRI AUROBINDO

*

Why do we forget our dreams ?

Because you do not dream always at the same place. It is not always the same part of your being that dreams and it is not at the same place that you dream. lf you were in conscious, direct, continuous communication with all the parts of your being, you would remember all your dreams. But very few parts of the being are in communication.
For example, you have a dream in the subtle physical, that is to say quite close to the physical. Generally, these dreams occur in the early hours of the morning, that is between four and five o’clock.at the end of the sleep. If you do not make a sudden movement when you wake up, if you remain very quiet, very still and a little attentive - quietly attentive - and_concentrated, you will remember them, for the communication between the subtle physical and the physical is established - very rarely is there no communication.

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Now, dreams are mostly forgotten because you have a dream while in a certain state and then pass into another. For instance, when you sleep, your body is asleep, your vital is asleep, but your mind is still active. So your mind begins to have dreams, that is, its activity is more or less coordinated, the imagination is very active and you see all kinds of things, take part in extraordinary happenings .... After some time, all that calms down and the mind also begins to doze. The vital that was resting wakes up; it comes out of the body, walks about, goes here and there, does all kinds of things, reacts, sometimes fights, and finally eats. It does all kinds of things. The vital is very adventurous. It watches. When it is heroic it rushes to save people who are in prison or to destroy enemies or it makes wonderful discoveries. But this pushes back the whole mental dream very far behind. It is rubbed off, forgotten: naturally you cannot remember it because the vital dream takes its place. But if you wake up suddenly at that moment, you remember it. There are people who have made the experiment, who have got up at certain fixed hours of the night and when they wake up suddenly, they do remember. You must not move brusquely, but awake in the natural course, then you remember.
After a time, the vital having taken a good stroll, needs to rest also, and so it goes into repose and quietness, quite tired at the end of all kinds of adventures. Then something else wakes up. Let us suppose that it is the subtle physical that goes for a walk. It starts moving and begins wandering, see­ing the rooms and why, this thing that was there, but it has
come here and that other thing which was in that room is now in this one, and so on. If you wake up without stirring,

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you remember. But this has pushed away far to the back of the consciousness all the stories of the vital. They are forgotten and so you cannot recollect your dreams. But if at the time of waking up you are not in a hurry, you are not obliged to leave your bed, on the contrary you can remain there as long as you wish, you need not even open your eyes; you keep your head exactly where it was and you make yourself like a tranquil mirror within and concentrate there. You catch just a tiny end of the tail of your dream. You catch it and start pulling gently, without stirring in the least. You begin pulling quite gently, and then first one part comes, a little later another. You go backward; the last comes up first. Everything goes backward, slowly, and suddenly the whole dream reappears: "Ah, there! it was like that." Above all, do not jump up, do not stir; you repeat the dream to yourself several times - once, twice - until it becomes clear in all its details. Once that dream is settled, you continue not to stir, you try to go further in, and suddenly you catch the tail of something else. It is more distant, more vague, but you can still seize it. And here also you hang on, get hold of it and pull, and you see that everything changes and you enter another world; all of a sudden you have an extraordinary adventure - it is another dream. You follow the same process. You repeat the dream to yourself once, twice, until you are sure of it. You remain very quiet all the time. Then you begin to penetrate still more deeply into yourself, as though you were going in very far, very far; and again suddenly you see a vague form, you have a feeling, a sensation... like a current of air, a slight breeze, a little breath; and you say, "Well, well. ... " It takes a form, it becomes clear and the third

category comes. You must have a lot of time. a lot of patience, you must be very quiet in your mind and body. very quiet, and you can tell the story or your whole night from the end right up to the beginning.
Even without doing this exercise which is very long and difficult, in order lo recollect a dream, whether it be the last one or the one in the middle that has made a violent impression on your being, you must do what l have said when you wake up: take particular care not even to move your head on the pillow, remain absolutely still and let the dream return.

Some people do not have a passage between one state and another, there is a little gap and so they leap from one to the other; there is no highway passing through all the states of being with no break of the consciousness. A small dark hole, and you do not remember. It is like a precipice across which one has to extend the consciousness. To build a bridge takes a very long time; it takes much longer than building a physi­cal bridge.... Very few people want to and know how to do it. They may have had magnificent activities. they do not remember them or sometimes only the last, the nearest, the most physical activity, with an uncoordinated movement - dreams having no sense. ⁶⁷

THE MOTHER

*

It depends on the connection between the two states of consciousness at the time of waking. Usually there is a turn over of the consciousness in which the dream-state disappears more or less abruptly, effacing the fugitive impression made by the dream event (or rather their transcription) on

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the physical sheath. If the waking is more composed (less abrupt) or, if the impression is very strong, then the memory remains at least of the last dream. In the last case one may remember the dream for a long time, but usually after getting up the dream memories fade away. Those who want to remember their dreams sometimes make a practice of lying quiet and tracing backwards, recovering the dreams one by one. When the dream-state is very light, one can remember more dreams than when it is heavy. ⁶⁸

SRI AUROBINDO

*

Most people move mostly in the vital in sleep because it is the nearest to the physical and easiest to remain. One does enter the higher planes but either the transit there is brief or one does not remember. For in returning to the waking conscious­ness it is again through the lower vital and subtle physical that one passes and as these are the last dreams they are more easily remembered. The other dreams are remembered only if (1) they are strongly impressed on the recording consciousness, (2) one wakes immediately after one of them, (3) one has learned to be conscious in sleep,
i.e. follows consciously the passage from plane to plane. Some train themselves to remember by remaining without moving when they wake and following back the thread of the dreams. ⁶⁹

SRI AUROBINDO

*

Yes, certainly, dream experiences can have a great value in

them and convey truths that are not so easy to get in the waking state.
It often happens like that. There is a change or reversal

of the consciousness that takes place and the dream consciousness in disappearing takes away its scenes and experiences with it. This can sometimes be avoided by not coming out abruptly into the waking state or getting up quickly, but remaining quiet for a time to see if the memory remains or comes back. Otherwise the physical memory has to be taught to remember. ⁷⁰

SRI AUROBINDO

*

Is it not also necessary to remember one's dreams?

This is not so necessary. It is useful if one wants to have a great control over his sleep. But this also one must know how to do. To remember one's dreams .... In the morning when you get up, you must not be in a hurry. That is, you must not wake up just at the moment when you must get out of bed; you must have some time in hand and must take good care, must make a formation before going to sleep. and take good care when waking up not to make any abrupt movement, because if you make an abrupt movement, auto­matically the memory of your dreams vanishes. ⁷¹

THE MOTHER

*

Have dreams any significance! Is there any meaning

in the dreams of the subconscient?

A dream, when it is not from the subconscient, is either sym­bolic or else an experience of some supraphysical plane or a formation therein by some mental or vital or other force or in rare cases an indication of some event actual or probable in the past, present or future. A dream from the subconscious plane has no meaning: it is simply a kichadi" of impressions and memories left in the subconscient from the past. ⁷²

SRI AUROBINDO

*

Usually I give no "meaning'' to dreams, because each one has his own symbolism which has a meaning only for him­self. ⁷³

THE MOTHER

*

Sometimes in dreams one goes into house, streets,

places one has never seen. What does this mean?

There may be many reasons for this. Perhaps it is an exteri­orisation: one has come out of the body and gone for a stroll. They may be memories of former lives. Perhaps one has become identified with someone else's consciousness and has the memories of this other person. Perhaps it is a premonition (this is the rarest case, but it may happen): one

* hotch-potch (Ed.)

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sees ahead what one will see later.

The other day I spoke to you about those landscapes of Japan; well, almost all - the most beautiful. the most striking ones - I had seen in vision in France; and yet I had not seen any pictures or photographs of Japan, I knew nothing of Japan. And I had seen these landscapes without human beings, nothing but the landscape, quite pure, like that, and it had seemed to me they were visions of a world other than the physical; they seemed to me too beautiful for the physical world, too perfectly beautiful. Particularly I used to see very often those stairs rising straight up into the sky; in my vision there was the impression of climbing straight up, straight up, and as though one could go on climbing, climbing, climbing It had struck me, and the first time I saw this in Na­ture down there, I understood that I had already seen it in France before having known anything about Japan.
There are always many explanations possible and it is very difficult to explain for someone else. For oneself, if one has studied very carefully one's dreams and activities of the night, one can distinguish fine nuances. I was saying I thought I had a vision of another world - I knew it was something which existed, but I could not imagine there was a country where it existed; this seemed to me impossible, so very beautiful it was. It was the active mind which interfered. But I knew that what I was seeing truly existed, and it was only when 1 saw these landscapes physicalJy that I realised in fact that I had seen something which existed, but I had seen it with inner eyes (it was the subtle-physical) before seeing it physically. Everyone has certain very small indications, but for that one must be very, very methodical, very scrupulous,

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very careful in one’s observation and not neglect the least signs, and above all not give favourable mental explanations to the experiences one has. For if one wants to explain to oneself (I don't even speak of explaining to others), if one wants to explain the experience to oneself advantageously, to draw satisfaction, one does not understand anything any more. That is, one may mix up the signs without even notic­ing that they are mixed up. For instance, when one sees somebody in a dream (I am not speaking of dreams in which you see somebody unknown, but of those where you see some­body you know, who comes to see you) there are all sorts of
explanations possible. If it is someone living far away from

you, in another country, perhaps that person has written a letter to you and the letter is on the way, so you see this person because he has put a formation of himself in his let­ter, a concentration: you see the person and the next morning you get the letter. This is a very frequent occurrence. If it is a person with a very strong thought-power, he may think of you from very far, from his own country and concentrate his thought, and this concentration takes the form of that person in your consciousness. Perhaps it is that this person is calling you intentionally; deliberately he comes to tell you something or give you a sign. if he is in danger, if he is sick. Suppose he has something important to tell you, he begins to concentrate (he knows how to do it, as everyone does not) and he enters your atmosphere, comes to tell you something special. Now if you are passive and attentive, you receive the message. And then. two more instances still: someone has exteriorised himself more or less materially in his sleep and ha. come to see you. And you become conscious of this

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person because (almost by miracle) you are in a corresponding state of consciousness. And finally. a last instance. this person may be dead and may come to see you after his death (one part of him or almost the whole of his being according to the relation you have with him). Consequently, for someone who is not very, very careful it is very difficuLt to distinguish these nuances, very difficult. On the other hand, quite often imaginative people will tell you, “Oh! l saw this person - he is dead.” I have heard that I don't know how many times. These are people whose imagination runs freely. It is possible that the person is dead, but not because he has appeared to you!.. One must pay great attention to the outer form things take. There are shades very difficult to distinguish, one must be very, very careful. For oneself, if one is in the habit of studying all this, one can become aware of the differences, but to interpret another’s experiences is very difficult, unless he gives you in great detail all that surrounds the dream, the vision: the ideas he had before. the ideas he had later, the state of his health. the feelings he experienced when going to sleep, the activities of the preceding day, in­deed, all sorts of things. People who tell you, "Oh! I had this vision, explain it to me!, that is childishness - unless it is someone whom you have followed very carefully, whom you yourself have taught how to recognise the planes, and whose habits, whose reactions you know; otherwise it is impossible to explain, for there are innumerable explanations for one single thing. ⁷⁴

THE MOTHER

*

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How is it that the symbolism of dreams varies according

to traditions, races, religions?

Because the form given to the dream is mental. If you have learnt that such and such a form represents such and such a mythological person, you see that form and say: “It is that." In your mind there is an association between certain ideas and certain forms, and this is continued in the dream. When you translate your dream you give it an explanation corre­sponding to what you have learnt, what you have been taught, and it is with the mental image you have in your head that you know. Moreover, l have explained this to you a little later in the vision of Joan of Arc (Mother takes her book and reads):

"The beings who were always appearing and speaking to Jeanne d' Arc would, if. seen by an Indian, have quite a differ­ent appearance; for when one sees, one projects the forms of one’s mind…. You have the vision of one in India whom you call the Divine Mother; the Catholics say it is the Virgin Mary, and the Japanese call it Kwannon, the Goddess of Mercy; and others would give other names. [t is the same force, the same power, but the images made of it are different in differ­ent faiths.'' ⁷⁵

THE MOTHER

*

The people of dreams are very often different from the people of actuality. Sometimes it is the real man who comes on another plane - sometime it is a thought, force etc. that

put on his appearance by some trick of association or other reason. ⁷⁶

SRI AUROBINDO

*

[In dreams] the figures of the physical mother and father and relatives are very often symbolical of the physical or the hereditary nature or generally of the ordinary nature in which we are born. ⁷⁷

SRI AUROBINDO

*

ln these dreams the parents or relatives mean the ordinary forces of the physical consciousness (the old nature). ⁷⁸

SRI AUROBINDO

How is it that one meets and recognises in dream

persons whom one is going to meet and recognise later
on in ordinary life?

There are many possibilities. But most often, it is that a communication has been established either on the mental or the vital plane or even on the subtle physical plane and it is this communication which brings about the meeting later - your dream is not only a premonition but also a condition: there is an inner relation close enough to enable you to come into contact in sleep, and circumstances so arrange themselves that you meet physically afterwards. Sometimes it is

only a premonition, but then the dream has a special quality - you see someone coming and he does come physically a little later.
Generally it is an already established relation; it is someone whom you meet, whom you frequent, whom you speak to, with whom you Iive some hours of the night. Then after­wards when you both meet, you have the impression that you know each other very well.That's a fact, you already know each other, before having met physically. ⁷⁹

THE MOTHER

*

Mother, at night if one sees someone dying, and a few months later one sees again the same person dying, what does it mean? Is this person in danger?

In a dream, one sees a person... and a few months later one sees him again?...

Yes, dying.

One sees a person dying and then some months later one sees him dying a second time, the same person! He is dead or alive?

Alive.

This is becoming disquieting, my child. I don't know; it depends absolutely upon the case.
It can be a spiritual death, it can be a vital death. it can be

the death of something in the being which ought to disappear (and then it means a progress), it can be a premonition, it can be lots of things. Unless you have the context of your dream one can't explain it. But you should have what we could call a jurisprudence of your dreams. You have never compared the dream with the events which occur?... for example, hasn't it happened to you - I know it has - that you see someone dying and this person really dies? But you don't see him dying again a second time. If you see the same dream twice, it means one of two things: either that he has lost once more another state of being, you see, that he has entered a vital consciousness or later from this vital conscious­ness he has gone out to enter a psychic consciousness. It can be that. But then there are sure signs. The dream cannot de­ceive you, and it cannot be similar. Or it may be simply that there was something which was profoundly impressed in the thought, in the brain, and that in certain circumstances which can have many causes ... yet in certain circumstances… this impression begins to be active again and gives you the same dream once more. lf it is an identical dream, it can be this, just a cerebral phenomenon.

Many dreams are just phenomena of the brain. that is, of things which go into activity again under some stimulus or other and bring back the same pictures, sometimes exactly the same, sometimes with slightly different associations and connections; so there are differences.
At times some dreams are repeated, you know, often dreams which are lessons or indications, dreams which an­nounce something to you or want to draw your attention to something or put you on your guard against something. Very

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often it happens that they recur either at brief intervals or at a certain distance. And usualIy it means that the first time the impression was very faint, one doesn’t remember it well The third time or even after the second, one has a ague impression already : “Why! This isn’t the first time", when one sees it. Then the third time it is clear, precise, absolute, and one remembers: “Ah, I have already seen this thrice!"
Usually these dreams are extremely interesting and give you precise indications: either about something to be done or something not to be done, or about precautions to be taken or perhaps. about your relations with someone, what you shouId expect to receive from a person, how you shouId act towards him or in certain circumstances.
You see it is quite a small detail, a very small detail which recurs in this way; sometimes it comes immediately: one night, the second night, the third night: sometimes it takes weeks to recur. ⁸⁰

THE MOTHER

*

These arc dreams of the vital plane - they have probably

some reference to something going on in your vital, but these dreams cannot be precisely interpreted unless there is either a clue that is clear on the surface or else you yourself can relate it to something in your experience of which you are aware. The images of the ascent and the coming down of waler (consciousness or some other gift from above) are fre­quent and the general meaning is always the same - but the precise significance here is not clear. ⁸¹

SRI AUROBINDO

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A great many people have these dreams. It is the vital being that goes out in sleep and moves about in the vital worlds an.d has this sense of floating in the air in its own (vital) body. The waves of a sea having the colour of lightning must have been the atmosphere of some vital province. I have known of some sadhaks, when they go at first out of the body in a more conscious way, thinking they have actually levitated, the vividness of the movement is so intense, but it is simply the vital body going out. ⁸²

SRI AUROBINDO

*

The experience of being taken up into the sky is a very common one and it means an ascent of the consciousness into a higher world of light and peace. ⁸³

SRI AUROBINDO

*

The ladder is of course a symbol of an ascent from one stage to another. The snake indicates an energy, sometimes a good one, more often a bad one (vital or hostile). It may be that the energy was quiescent and therefore not alarming, but by touching it to see how it was you awoke it and you found it was something not safe to handle. There is no clear indication what this energy was. These dream-experiences do not depend on the waking thoughts as do ordinary subconscient dreams which are dreams only and not experiences. They have a life, a structure, an arrangement and forms and meanings of their own; but they are often connected with the

inner condition and experience or movement of the sadhana. ⁸⁴

SRI AUROBINDO

*

Often I have dreams about railways. I often miss the

train...

It is quite symbolical !

...because I have too much luggage. I run after it and at times I succeed in catching up with it and jumping into the last coach.

The train, the ship, and I suppose the aeroplane also are for those who do yoga, symbols of the way and of the Force that leads you - if you lose your time or if you have too much luggage or if you think of it too late, well, you miss the way and you must run hard to catch up. ⁸⁵

THE MOTHER

*

Snakes usually signify bad thoughts or bad will from people around you - or an adverse attack that can manifest as an illness. But...if you are not frightened and go on your way unperturbed, nothing bad will happen to you. ⁸⁶

THE MOTHER

*

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In dream I saw some people climbing up a mountain with great difficulty. I was also climbing with them. After a time I got tired, so I gave up climbing and began to think what was to be done. Then I felt that a force lifted me up lightly and carried me to the top of the mountain. On reaching the top, l saw that there were many beautiful houses of different colours and lights. Then I woke up. What does this dream signify?

It is a symbol of the two methods - one of self-effort, the other of the action of the Mother's Force carrying the sadhak. ⁸⁷

SRI AUROBINDO