Guiding Light of The Month

O Lord, how ardently do I call and implore Thy love! Grant that my aspiration may be intense enough to awaken the same aspiration everywhere: oh, may good- ness, justice and peace reign as supreme masters, may ignorant egoism be overcome, darkness be suddenly illu- minated by Thy pure Light; may the blind see, the deaf hear, may Thy law be proclaimed in every place and, in a constantly progressive union, in an ever more perfect harmony, may all, like one single being, stretch out their arms towards Thee to identify themselves with Thee and manifest Thee upon earth. - The Mother

WALKING IN LIGHT - A Peek at Physical Culture

Is it possible to know our dreams intimately? We must have encountered many instances of dreams which are hazy, incongruent, with images put together incoherently, being hardly able to remember them upon waking. We too may have dreams that are crystal clear, where we are clearly aware of sensations, thoughts, feelings, and when we awake, with a vivid sense of having been in a particular place, all the more elevating if it happens to be a wonderful experience. When one takes a serious view of dreams as gateways into one’s sub-conscience, our deeper but spontaneous self, one would make an attempt to know the dreams intimately. This deeper self is generally not revealed during the period of waking, in the ordinary sense, because suppressed or covered up by the facades put up by the mind. Once one starts analyzing dreams, then there is a good chance of delving into a deeply hidden mystery which will bring us a step closer to knowing ourselves a little better. This whole exercise appears as an important aid to self-discovery. This mindset will probably lead one to be more vigilant with dreams and to note them down and understand them, probing as deeply as one can into one’s deeper being to make sense of the images one lives in dreams and their connections to our outer or surface consciousness.

In response to a sadhak’s question, The Mother refers to sleep as a school. If one is able to learn well his or her lesson, then there is a chance that “the inner being may be independent of the physical form, conscious in itself and master of its own life.” For it is so with us presently that only when the physical body is in total immobility that the inner parts of the being can have a life of their own, independently, and consequently revealing to us our deeper nature. Besides this, sleep, as we all know, provides a sort of repose to the physical body and its parts, the mind and the vital as well. Mother has elaborated other ways of resting the mind and the vital besides through sleep, such as silence, vital equilibrium and inner harmony. She has also written about a state in sleep where the mind in silent, and the vital in repose and the body in relaxation, with a “stoppage of all activities of the being”, and then one enters into “Satchidananada”, and even three minutes of this state is sufficient than all the rest that eight hours of sleep can give.

The Mother informs us about how she has been able to cultivate a total consciousness in herself throughout the night while her body was in total repose, by taking note of all her dreams and experiences and within fourteen months, was able to follow all her dreams from their beginning. However, she cautions against this practice for one who is very active during the day and truly needs sleep during the night, in its ordinary sense.

There is an extended discipline involved in sleeping right. The period before sleep and the period just after sleep are also periods of preparation. A certain right concentration is called for with the aspiration of the highest kind of repose that can be had for the purpose of the sadhana. The Mother points out that the consciousness in the night almost always descends below the level of what one has gained by sadhana in the waking consciousness…” This in itself indicates the challenges one faces in mastering sleep experiences, in converting them into enlightening experiences. However, as The Mother’s experiences and her assurance at other places assures us, the adherence to right guidance and persistence always pay off, sooner or later, according to, as in all cases, one’s level of aspiration and sincerity.
- Jayanthy

• The Mother (1978). Words of Long Ago. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry
• The Mother (1979). Questions and Answers 1954. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry
• Sri Aurobindo Society (1999). ‘How to Sleep Well’. Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry

No comments: