Swapna Avastha (Dream State)

Swapna Avastha (Dream State) is the second state mentioned as part of Traya Avastha (Three States).

In Swapna, the dream state, only the mind is fully active and it is the mind which creates, sustains and ends the dream. The mind projects the dream world using the impressions formed from the experience of the outer world during waking state. Swami Tejomayananda says that the dreams are the unfulfilled wishes or the garbled impressions of the waking state.

In the dream state, the Self or the Consciousness does not identify with the physical body, but only identifies with the Sukshma Sharira (subtle body) which consists of the mind and the intellect.

The Consciousness in the dream state is called Taijasa (light). Interestingly as per the name, the dreams are always well lit like a movie.

In our waking state, our ego is fully manifested, but in our dream state, our ego is partially manifested, there is no notion of doership and hence there is no merit or demerit created in the dream. Dreams may be highly illogical with flying horses, talking animals, etc., might seem unreal to the waker, but they appear very real to the dreamer.

In the dream, everything we feel appears very real at that time. The thirst, hunger, joy, fear, etc., we experience in the dream are exactly the same way, we experience them in the waking state. In this experience, the dream state is carrying a very important message for us. If we have a frightening experience in the dream, it appears so real that we might sweat, breathe faster and sometimes we even wake up only to realize that it was just a dream and feel relieved. That means in the notion of “I” there is no difference at all between the dream and waking states.

We clearly know that during the dream our gross body is completely taking rest, lying still on the bed and not playing any part in the dream. That means, for the feeling of I, the physical body is not required at all. This is the most important message that the dream state is giving us.

Yet in the waking state, we completely identify ourselves with the body, we even point to our body and say this is I. But the dream state is showing us that the feeling of I is unchanged in the dream and remains the same as it is in the waking state. Hence for the feeling of I, the physical body is not essential.

That means the real I, “the Self, the Atman is definitely not the body, it is subtler than that”.

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