TattvaTales - Part III

Raja Janaka ruled over the country of Videha. He was once reclining on a sofa. It was the middle of the day in the hot month of June. He had a short nap for a few seconds. He dreamt that a rival king with a large army had invaded his country and slew his soldiers and ministers. He was driven out of his palace barefooted and without any clothes covering him.

Janaka found himself roaming about in a jungle. He was thirsty and hungry. He reached a small town where he begged for food. No one paid any attention to his entreaties. He reached a place where some people were distributing food to the beggars. Each beggar had an earthen bowl to receive rice water. Janaka had no bowl and so they turned him out to bring a bowl. He went in search of a vessel. He requested other beggars to lend him a bowl, but none would part with his bowl. At last Janaka found a broken piece of a bowl. Now he ran to the spot where rice water was distributed. All the foodstuff had been already distributed.

Raja Janaka was very much tired on account of long travelling, hunger and thirst and heat of the summer. He stretched himself near a fireplace where foodstuff was cooked. Here some one took pity over Janaka. He gave him some rice water which was found at the bottom of a vessel. Janaka took it with intense joy and just as he put it to his lips, two large bulls tumbled fighting over him.

The bowl was broken to pieces. The Raja woke up with great fear. Janaka was trembling violently. He was in a great dilemma as to which of his two states was real. All the time he was in dream, he never thought that it was an illusion and that the misery of hunger and thirst and his other troubles were unreal.

The queen asked Janaka, “O Lord! What is the matter with you?” The only words which

Janaka spoke were, “Which is real, this or that?” From that time he left all his work and became silent. He uttered nothing but the above words.

The ministers thought that Janaka was suffering from some disease. It was announced by them that anyone who cured the Raja will be richly rewarded and those who fail to cure the Raja will be made life prisoners. Great physicians and specialists began to pour in and tried their luck, but no one could answer the query of the Raja. Hundreds of Brahmins well versed in the science of curing diseases were put in the state prison.

Among the prisoners was also the father of the great sage Ashtavakra. When Ashtavakra was a boy of only ten years of age, he was told by his mother that his father was a state prisoner because he failed to cure Raja Janaka. He at once started to see Janaka. He asked the Raja if he desired to hear the solution of his questions in a brief and few words as the question itself is put or full details of his dream experience may be recited. Janaka did not like to have his humiliating dream repeated in presence of a big gathering. He consented to receive a brief answer.

Ashtavakra then whispered into the ear of Janaka, “Neither this nor that is real.” Raja Janaka at once became joyful. His confusion was removed.

Raja Janaka then asked Ashtavakra, “What is real?” There upon there was a long dialogue between him and the sage. This is recorded in the well-known book, “Ashtavakra Gita,” which is highly useful for all seekers after Truth.

Cobb: You create the world of the dream, you bring the subject into that dream, and they fill it with their subconscious.

Ariadne: How could I ever acquire enough detail to make them think that its reality?

Cobb: Well dreams, they feel real while we're in them, right? It's only when we wake up that we realize how things are actually strange. Let me ask you a question, you, you never really remember the beginning of a dream do you? You always wind up right in the middle of what's going on.

Ariadne: I guess, yeah.

Cobb: So how did we end up here?

Ariadne: Well we just came from the a...

Cobb: Think about it Ariadne, how did you get here? Where are you right now?

Ariadne: We're dreaming?

Among Sigmund Freud’s conclusions in the famous ‘Interpretation of Dreams’, he says nearly all dreams are 'wish-fulfilments', that is, they reveal a deep motivation or desire which wants to be fulfilled, often a wish going back to earliest childhood - dreams are the arena in which the unconscious mind could express itself, and they are primarily concocted to represent the fulfillment of a wish.

One of Freud's key points is that dreams are always self-centered. "The wishes fulfilled in them", he writes, "are invariably this self's wishes". When other people appear in a dream, often they are merely symbols of ourselves or symbolized what another person means to us. Freud believed that whenever a strange figure entered his dreamscape, the personage undoubtedly represented some aspect of himself that could not be expressed in waking consciousness. 

Certain Karmas are worked out in dreams also. A King experienced a dream in which he acts the part of a beggar and suffers the pangs of starvation. Certain evil Karmas of the King are purged out in this experience.

If a man is not able to become a king on account of evil influence of some planets, he plays the part of a king in his dream. His strong desire materialises in the dream state.

One derives more pleasure in dream than in the waking state when he experiences pleasant dreams because the mind works more freely in dream.

The strong thoughts of the waking state find expression at once in the dreaming state.

When a strong desire is not gratified in the waking state, you obtain its gratification in dream. The mind has more freedom in the dreaming state. The mind is then like a furious elephant let loose.

Bhrigu approached his father, Varuna, as a spiritual preceptor and asked to be taught about Brahman.  In response, his father declared, "Brahman is That from which the world has proceeded, That by which the world is sustained, and That into which the world dissolves.  So practice austerity and reflect, my son, and discover what Brahman is.

Following his father's instruction, Bhrigu practiced reflection for a year on what he had studied in the scriptures as well as his own experience. Bhrigu concentrated on the idea of anna or food that nourishes and sustains all beings. Then he returned to his father with his conclusion as the physicality of food to be the first principle, which pervades all matter and nourishes it. Varuna quietly replied, "Continue practicing austerity and reflect; delve deeper into the origin of food"

Bhrigu continued the practice of manana (reflection), and after another year of practice he returned to his father with the conclusion that prana is Brahman.  Matter in itself is blind and inert, but a subtle energy, or vital force (prana), moves and sustains every atom and electron in the vast universe of matter.  Again Varuna, with a twinkle in his eye, told his son to continue practicing austerity.

Upon further reflection, Bhrigu realized that there must be mind behind prana.  The world is not in a state of disarray or chaos.  There is a tremendous design behind everything.  Bhrigu therefore announced to his father that mind is Brahman.  Unsatisfied with his son's level of realization still, Varuna sent Bhirgu back to continue the practice of manana.

Upon deeper reflection, Bhrigu realized that intellect or vijnana was higher than the mind, which ever fluctuates due to sensory input, thoughts and desires.  It is intellect, vijnana that has the ability to organize and direct the thoughts in a particular way.  "Intellect is Brahman" claimed Bhrigu, but again, Varuna instructs his son to continue reflecting.

As his practice deepened, Bhrigu was led to inquire what exists beyond the intellect.  He realized that a deeper part of his being, the unconscious, continues to exist even during deep sleep.  Further, the bliss of Brahman diffuses through the veil of the unconscious since the ego is temporarily absent in deep sleep and one is closer to God.

Going beyond the unconscious plane of ignorance through the experience of samadhi or super consciousness, Bhrigu had a direct experience of the bliss of Brahman--the true nature of Brahman. When he relayed to his father that ananda, or bliss, is Brahman, his father became extremely happy, and told Bhrigu that it was no longer necessary to practice austerity.  By negating each previous level of understanding, his reflection had finally led him to the highest experience of Brahman. The atman, the Self, is manifested in five different sheaths, five different energy levels, each as essential and central to the knowledge of Brahman as the other. The understanding of the five koshas leads one back to the Self.

Know only that which makes the unknown known,

Before the sands of fleeting life are blown

What you think you’ve grasped is but a void

The bird in hand is that one which has flown

Morpheus: Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?

What is real? How do you define 'real'? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.

Infinite consciousness is the screen on which the hero & heroine are dancing. The white screen is immaculate, unmoving, on which alone the moving shadows can give the story. Without the screen – no movie! What is without which, nothing can exist? That substratum that supports is consciousness. Movement or change can be perceived only against a motionless background. But you are not aware of that. Your attention is on the movie… But, when the film breaks… Ah! The screen is seen.

Between every 2 bogies of a train there is a gap. So also, between 2 thoughts there is always the underlying consciousness.

The above Part III covers the three states of waking, dreaming & deep sleep as well as the five sheaths. It closes with an introduction to 'Atman' or the true 'Self' which is different from the three bodies, the witness of the three states and is beyond the five sheaths.