dreams, grace, diksha...

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

Since the subject of dreams has arisen....

The passages below were posted sometime last year and may be useful to

reflect upon again, especially the very last paragraph, imho.

 

Peter

 

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Seeing God in any form and speaking to Him is as real as your own reality.

In other words, when you identify yourself with the body in the waking

state, you see gross objects; when in the subtle body (the mental plane) as

in dream, you see objects equally subtle; in the absence of all

identification, as in dreamless sleep, you see nothing. The same applies to

visions of gods. By long practice, the figure of God as meditated upon

appears in dream and may later appear even in the waking state.

(Gems from Bhagavan, ch.viii, selected by A. Devaraja Mudaliar)

 

 

A man might have an experience such as getting anugraha (grace) in his

dream, and the effects and influence of it on his entire subsequent life may

be so profound and abiding, that one cannot call it unreal, whilst calling

real some trifling incident in the waking life that just flits by, which

casual, of no consequence and is soon forgotten.

(Gems from Bhagavan, ch.vi, selected by A. Devaraja Mudaliar)

 

 

 

The Maharshi

MAY/JUN 2001 VOL.11, NO. 3

 

More Than A Dream

By T. P. Ramachandra Aiyer

 

 

IN THE EARLIER DAYS, the presence of Bhagavan was sought above all by people

who desired liberation. Our ambitious aspirations saw no bounds in the grace

of his presence. My intense feeling was, that whether there was significance

or not in all these dikshas and initiations, if Sri Bhagavan was to give me

initiation, it would be a blessing for me in any case. His pithy utterances

were very cryptic, ever pregnant with meaning and power: "Who is the Guru?

Who is the sishya? Who is to give and to whom? What is there to give? You

think the 'Self' to be the body and take yet another body for the 'Guru' and

demand the one to bless the other. Is the 'Guru' regarding the body as the

'Self'? There is neither Guru nor disciple other than the 'Self'. Guru is

Self." Though convinced by his presence and utterances, there yet remained a

lurking sense of something missing and unfulfilled. It was at that time that

I had an extraordinary experience which left an impress on my whole being.

It was neither a dream nor a waking state experience. I was perfectly alive

to it and aware of its permeating nature, which consumed and overpowered me.

After the experience, I immediately wrote the following in a notebook and

later went to the Ashram. Reaching Sri Bhagavan's presence before dusk, I

left my notebook with him for his perusal. This was the record:

 

18th November, 1939, 3:00 a.m.

It was an apparent dream. I was in a huge quadrangle of some college

buildings. I was studying when I suddenly saw that Sri Bhagavan had come

down, youthful and vigorous in appearance, and had the impression that he

was going to manifest himself and speak. Oh, it was a wonderful sight.

Thousands of people gathered round at a distance encircling Bhagavan,

perched on all walls, upper floors and any available space around. I saw

Dandapani sitting at a distance echoing Sri Bhagavan's speech which was in

turn echoed by another. It had never occurred to me that this would happen

or that Sri Bhagavan would ever come here, and I, who was at a distance

could not stand any separation. I darted towards Sri Bhagavan and embraced

him with so firm a grip the like of which I have not the strength to do or

achieve in physical consciousness. And Sri Bhagavan embraced me. In each

other's embrace, we left the place. At once I found him in my house. First

welcoming Sri Bhagavan was my mother, more robust than she ever was in life.

Then my father, calm and unperturbed as he always was, followed by my

sister. Sri Bhagavan had a cold bath, myself pouring pots of water over him.

Then in a few moments he went up and down our house throwing us all in

confusion, but I alone followed him without a second thought. By this time

my mother appeared to be losing her confidence and faith. In the midst of

this embarrassment, and in her presence, Sri Bhagavan appeared to put me to

the test, as it were, and asked me, pointing to my sacred thread and other

things: "What is all this! Now I say, throw, throw them away and I shall

give you this." He was holding in his hands a bunch of darba (kusa grass)

and I did not perceive how it came into his hands. At first I hesitated for

a moment to discard my sacred thread for kusa grass, but a moment's

reflection made me surrender to his will and with all vehemence I tore off

the sacred thread and flung it on the ground, to the dismay of my mother and

perplexity of my father. Immediately, Sri Bhagavan gave me two handfuls of

kusa grass in a 'horseshoe' shape, and the moment I touched and received

them a great serenity pervaded my entire being. Just then I experienced a

descent of dynamic force into my being, flowing as it were from and through

the sahasrara, permeating downwards slowly to the heart-centre, at which

moment I felt apprehensive that my physical frame could not withstand this

permeation and impact any more without jeopardy.

 

With courage and determination I looked up at Sri Bhagavan to ask him what

all this was about. There was no answer, but I saw Sri Bhagavan's form

change into the shape of Sri Rama and tell me something that I could not

catch. So I asked, "Who are you?" and the reply was "I am Sri Rama, Sri

Rama," whereupon this vision disappeared and I saw Sri Bhagavan in itsplace.

 

My mother began to cry aloud, having lost her balance of mind by this time,

and said, "I will die, I will die, thinking I fell a prey to Sri Bhagavan's

lures."

 

The mention of death caused irrepressible laughter in me, and Sri Bhagavan

said at once, "Yes, die; you should die." When Sri Bhagavan said so, I

turned around to my mother and with ferocity cried out, "Yes, die! Die!"

 

She was rolling on the ground when Sri Bhagavan asked me, "What is the

earliest train to Bombay and the cheapest route?" He said he had to go there

and to one or two more places, and then go on a tour in the north. I was

thinking how best to take Sri Bhagavan and go with him when I felt

completely awake and began reflecting on the event. Did it have any

significance or was it merely a dream phenomenon?

 

As usual, the following morning I entered the Old Hall. Sri Bhagavan's

welcome nod and penetrating look overwhelmed me, and even as I was halfway

through doing my obeisance he turned to the shelf beside him, took out the

notebook and handed it to me. Immediately he began, "Don't you know what

Madhavan did? One day he was massaging my limbs. Leaving him to his job I

reclined, closing my eyes. After some time I felt some variation in the

friction, so I opened my eyes and saw him with his head bent down clutching

my feet in his hands. I asked, 'What are you doing?' 'Nothing,' he replied,

resuming his task. He took it as diksha by the feet."

 

Immediately I said that I had had an unusual experience by Sri Bhagavan's

touch, which stirred my being, though in a dreamy condition, and asked if

initiation or diksha could be had in this way also and whether these were

real and effective regardless of the swapna (dream) state?

 

Sri Bhagavan slowly spoke, interspersed with short intervals of silent gaze:

"Jagrat and swapna are states that come and go. If these states are real

they must be unchanging, permanent. Our real nature is constant being. It

never changes. Be it upadesa or diksha, the efficacy of the Guru's influence

or God's grace is not conditioned by the different states. The influence is

an experience being itself. Guru, God and Self are one and the same. So long

as the Guru, God or the Self are deemed external, all upadesa, initiation

and the several dikshas mentioned have a relative meaning and significance.

But 'Guru' is external and internal, and is the very Self. Such influence is

efficacious whether the experience is in the jagrat or swapna states"

 

 

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