Page 30 - NAMAH-Apr-2025

Namah Vol. 33, Issue 1, 24th April 2025

serve to show the stubborn parts of the being experiences in Yoga usually commence in
that still linger — such as insecurity, fear and sleep (and in indrawn meditation) rather
helplessness. Having these kinds of dreams than in the outer waking consciousness,
can lend itself to progress, if one can examine “Usually in Yoga these things begin in an
them afterwards with consciousness and indrawn state and not in the waking condition.
recognition of their purpose in Yoga. “All It is only if or when the waking mind is ready
these obscure tracts have to be cleared or else that they come as readily in the waking state
there can be no change of the Prakriti [the (4)”.
nature],” Sri Aurobindo writes. “You should
not allow yourself to be disturbed by the press It seems imperative then, in saadhanaa to use
of vital or subconscient dreams — for these two the opportunity of sleep to make contact
make up the larger part of dream-experience with your inner being and to allow it to
— but aspire to get rid of these things and of help you make spiritual progress. Your
the activities they indicate, to be conscious and inner being will then work on the vital,
reject all but the divine truth (2).” mental and physical planes of the nature,
touching upon elements that need to be
These bothersome dreams are part of one’s purified and transformed. Often inside of
spiritual clearing-out. Stripping the layers of the more chaotic, vital dreams, I will feel
the being back, these unsavoury or addled a sense of a calm witness looking on at
dreams aim to show you through the contours the scene, helping me to understand that
of bizarre scenarios and strange role-play what what is being presented is not my true inner
remains in the nature to be surrendered to the being. Perhaps this sense of ‘witnessing’ is
Divine. If one wants to become more purified, the centralising activity of the inner being
less encumbered by the old patterns, childhood upon the more insubordinate parts of the
and societal conditioning, and unwanted nature during dreamtime.
energies, then one should note these dreams
without judgment, with curiosity. The Practice of Remembering, in Respect
to the Dream-Maker
Even though it seems it would be the opposite:

“You are more conscious in your sleep than in
your waking condition,” Sri Aurobindo writes,
“In your sleep the inner being is active and the
psychic there can influence more actively the
mind and vital (3)”.

So, the inner being is more present in sleep
than in the waking state. In the waking
state, the inner being does not have the most There have been stretches of time when I’ve
advantageous circumstances to emerge, lost sight of the power of dreams and sleep
given the noise and stress of material life. to help me spiritually progress, especially if
Sri Aurobindo also writes that spiritual my waking hours are scattered, forgetful of

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