Dreams (svapna)

    The Vedic doctrine of 'tribandhu' speaks of the three types of Fire, Agni. These are soma surya, and anala. Normally, These are not exactly the Moon, the Sun and the Fire, but the forces, shakti, Chaitanya behind them giving them their respective powers and functions. The Moon is a satellite and Soma is the elixir! So also, the Sun is a fire ball of Hydrogen-Helium but surya is the Lord of Light, heat and life-force.. Anala is the highly inflammable oil and natural gas, wood, stone, and all that intrinsically fire! Everything is fire. there is nothing without fire, Chaitanya that works as chiti, chitta, chaitya, chetasa, etc. The jiva is nothing but fire! The human body maintains a certain amount of heat and it is treated as dead if it becomes cold and inert. The fire that digests food is the vaishvanara, and there are the ahvaniya, garhapatya, taijasa, praajnya, and other types of fire. The Mind is the store house of Energy. It is so powerful that it keeps the jiva living throughout its life span. The three types of fire that operate in our daily life are limited consciousness (chit-shakti). These are jagrata, svapna and sushupti. These levels of consciousness  keeps changing all the time with a small gap in between. The 'dream (svapna) state is a stage that comes between jagrata and the sushupti. Thus, we have three types of consciousness- jagrata, svapna and sushupti. The Mind operates in the first two stages and takes rest in the third.

    Dreams are caused by the vibrant mind and its restless activity. Mind never takes rest unless a person is deep sleep, samadhi, or a state of unconscious. The Mind has tremendous capacity to create, recreate, destroy and reconstruct images and impressions. It never sleeps unless some sedative is given, or the person has mastered over it by manolaya or manonasha yoga. The simplest technique to stop it vibration is to consciously observe it, find out wherefrom the thoughts arise! Normally, dreams are caused by indigestion, over-indulgences, and excessive mental activity. But nothing is certain. Some people enjoy day-dreaming, creating images and observing them even when awake!
   The mind is a source of energy. It is also the chest of memory and impressions and images are stored here. These images and impressions may be of several previous lives! It runs the life of the jiva in jagrata and svapna satges and takes rest in sushupti. We understand how it works in jagrata avastha to some extent since we are actively involved with it, but do not understand how it works in the svapna avastha. The psychologists study the dream state and have come out with a number of explanations that are not satisfactory. Some of these experts like Sigmund Freud and Jung have dealt with these elaborately, linking it with sex. However, these are not the reality. The ways of the mind in svapna avastha (dream state) is not easily understood. At best, it may be stated to be juxtaposition of pictures, images and impressions! .

   There are volumes and volumes of literature on dream interpretations. They may be mere conjectures, opinions, but rarely satisfactory explanations. Some say, the dreams come as premonitions and foretell what is forthcoming! But these are clouded with other trash images. For example, death is foreseen in the images of Rice balls and white cloth!  This may be true for those who conduct annual ceremonies for the departed souls! Some people see their loved ones- departed friends and relatives in dreams. This vision of the dead in dreams may foretell our own impending death! Who knows? So also, luck, money, success are indicated when there are scenes of women, elephants, cobra, shit and other refuges appear in dreams! Some of these may turn out to be true! Aspirations, anxiety and tension also may create dreams. sleeping postures do affect and dreams occur. Wild imaginations may create pictures in dreams. Thus, it is difficult to say anything certain about the dreams. But one thing is certain that the dreams are associated with not only past lives but the forthcoming ones, too!