(53) DREAMS -- DELUSIONS
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28th July, 1946
Sometime back a North Indian came here and stayed for some days. One afternoon at 3 o’clock, he came to Bhagavan and related his experiences through a Tamil devotee, thus: “Swami, I was sleeping in the guest house yesterday. You were there speaking to me in my sleep.
After some time I woke up and even after that, you were speaking to me. What is that?”
Bhagavan said, “You were sleeping, weren’t you? Then with whom could you be speaking?” “Only with myself” he said. Everyone laughed.
“You say you were sleeping. How could there be any conversation with someone who is asleep? ‘No, I was conversing,’ you say. That meant that, even though the body was asleep, you were awake. Then find out who that ‘you’ is.
After that we will consider the conversation during sleep,” said Bhagavan. There was no reply at all. Looking at all the people with a kind look, he said, “There are only two things: creation and sleep. There is nothing if you go to sleep. You wake up and there is everything. If you learn to sleep while awake, you can be just a witness. That is the real truth.”
In the same manner, some time back Subbaramayya asked Bhagavan, “What is meant by asparsa rupam?” “It means that a thing is visible but not tangible.” “What is meant by chhaya rupam?” he again asked. “That is the same thing. It appears as a shadow. If you examine it, you will find nothing.
Call it God, devil, dream, vision, inspiration or whatever you like. All this is existent if there is someone to see it. If you find out who it is that sees, all these will not be there. That which is nothing, that which is the source of everything, is the Self. Without seeing his own self, what is the use of a man’s seeing other things?” said Bhagavan.
Recently a person told Bhagavan that he had a friend who could see the limits of sukshma sakti (subtle powers), that he had seen the limits of the subtle power of Mahapurushas (great souls), that among them Sri Aurobindo’s subtle power-light extended to a distance of seven furlongs (eighth of a mile), that of Bhagavan’s, he could see upto three miles, but could not see to what further distance it extended and that the power-light of Buddha and others had not extended to that much distance.
Having heard him patiently till the very end, Bhagavan said with a smile, “Please tell him that he should first look into his own power-light before looking into the extent of the subtle powers of so many others. What is all this about the limits of subtle powers and examining them? If one looks into one’s own self, all these silly ideas do not come up. To him who realises himself, all these are mere trifles.”
