Dream on or Wake up🔗

It was early in the morning one fine day. My Master sat peacefully enjoying the fresh morning air. I approached Him frantically and started to rattle away "Master, you won't believe what happened in my dream last night. I was being kidnapped by four well built men and I was fighting them all by myself. In the midst of exchanging blows, I was woken up abruptly and I was sweating all over. When I opened my eyes, I saw my wife was beside me offering me a cup of water reassuringly. She said that I had screamed so loud as to wake up the neighborhood"

My Master nodded silently with his inward gaze and ever smiling face, as though asking me to go on. After a brief pause, I continued "Master, now that I look back I feel like laughing at myself for being so terrified in a mere dream".

He calmly asked me "When did you get to know that it was a dream?" I failed to understand why He asked me this question. I blurted out "When I woke up of course!"

"So, while you were dreaming you felt your identity completely with that character being kidnapped, didn't you? You felt it so real, though it was just a passing dream. We always think that whatever we are is permanent. We try to possess it and identify with it"

I suddenly was engrossed in my own chain of thoughts. I looked up showing obvious confusion on my face "Then Master, can it be that this life is yet another dream?"

For this he laughed and said "That is the question you have to ask yourself. If you delve deep into it, you will realize that your life is indeed a dream. It is transient, temporary, fleeting. Only you hold so tight to it and do not want to let go. So what do you do to yourself in the process? You start to experience all the pain, suffering, misery of this life as though it is affecting 'you'. This identity to which you are holding on to is just an image of yourself created by your mind and people around you. Only when you wake up to Reality you will experience what I say. Right now, what I say may appear to be senseless because you are still dreaming and believe that what you see or feel is true. Be very clear, your core nature, your true Self knows no pain or joy. It is above all this drama."

Suddenly excited about this new concept, I asked him curiously "Can I also wake up from this life's dream and experience what you just told me".

My Master replied instantly "Why not? Learn to look at your life; just watch it. In Sanskrit we call this vipassana. Look at every little detail that you are going through, just as you would sit back and watch the characters in a movie. Do you cry if the hero in a movie meets with an accident? You know very well it's just a movie, so you pacify yourself. In the same way, watch your own life and learn to laugh at it, laugh with it. You will suddenly realize that you are no more experiencing the hardships of life, but just are flowing with it, as a mere spectator”.

I was trying hard to internalize what was just said but was still unable to understand many related issues. I pestered my Master to clarify “So Master, if what you are saying is true; if life is just another dream; another drama; why do we treat life so seriously? Does life have any meaning at all then?”

He said “Be very clear, as long as you think life is all about achieving set goals, life has no meaning. Only when you realize that life has no meaning at all can you really start living. What you think is worthy is not really worthy. What you think is being purposeful is not really purposeful. What we think are greatest treasures in life to be achieved, are meaningless. When we realize that life is but another drama, you suddenly start to enjoy the drama without being a part of it. Life suddenly becomes meaningful, blissful.”

I added “Master, then are you saying that since life is meaningless and we are just a witness, we should give up all interest and initiative in doing anything in life?”

My Master knew this was coming. He instantly retorted “Did I say anything about losing interest or zest for life? I tell you, when you start employing this witness attitude, you will have much more enthusiasm in life for any little thing you do. You will be brimming with creativity, with ideas. Not just to come up with ideas, but the drive and energy to fulfill them will also accompany. Each step in the journey of life becomes joyful. You don’t care about the destination anymore because you are enjoying every step. This is the meaning of life; the juice of life. What follows from such a witness attitude is constant joy, energy, bliss, Nithyanandam!