Dreams as an aid on the spiritual path

 Hari Aum.

Dreaming is an experience that many of us go through every night when we sleep (whether or not we remember). My Guru, Sivananda, has written an entire book on the subject and I had discussed this in a previous post (Feb 2018).

I'm writing this post to say that, even as spiritual beginners, our dreams can give us indications of whether things are going well or less well in our lives. Many dreams are based on our real life experiences. However, some dreams occur to encourage and help us on the spiritual path, or to warn us of difficult times ahead. Occasionally, we may have dreams that predict what is just about to happen in our lives, or dreams of things that may have happened before this lifetime. As a spiritual beginner, I have had experience of these types of dreams.

Dreams can be a form of communication between Ishwara/God and us. When we are going through a difficult time, God may appear in our dream to give us encouragement and hope. This has happened with many spiritual seekers including myself and is always a wonderful experience. The dreams that I have had have been of various forms of God (Krishna, Vishnu, Shiva, Kali, Devi) and saints (Sivananda, Chidananda, Aurobindo, Ammachi, Dalai Lama). Sometimes they have contained messages relevant to my life in the waking state; while at other times, they have felt like an encouragement to keep going on the spiritual path (for example, when I have been going through a challenging time). 

I have been doing daily japa without a break since November 2011 (i.e. around nine years), and can say that the frequency of this type of spiritual dream has certainly increased with time. The interesting thing is that I am still very much a beginner on the spiritual path and have some way to go before attainment of mental purification and the spiritual goal. So, based on my experience, encouraging spiritual dreams can occur even in spiritual beginners (not only in advanced yogis).

It is therefore worth keeping a diary of unusual dreams, particularly those of God, saints, mantras, and also disturbing dreams, and reflect upon whether there may be any meaning to them. In Sivananda's book on dreams, there is a section at the end on the interpretation of dream symbols which I have found very useful. This is a link to the book (see below):

https://www.dlshq.org/download/dream.htm

I hope the first month of the new year has treated you well. I wish you the best for your spiritual practice in the coming months. May these challenging times during the pandemic enable us to learn lessons for quick spiritual progress.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat