Eloping with your beloved or bashing up your boss….these are what dreams are made of. Getting terrorised by gangsters or ghosts or getting hopelessly lost in an unfriendly foreign land…these are our dreams turning into nightmares.
Riding our wishes, we become what we desire to be in our dreams. Dreading our fears, we face what we never desire to happen. Deep in sleep, our secret desires or fears buried down in our minds come to life as we dream. All these pleasures or tortures vanish in a 2nd when we wake up to our stark reality. And we wish if only these come true. Or, that our fears never materialise.
Despite their power to please, amuse, bewilder or frighten us, our dreams dominate us. Rarely, we get dreamless sleep because our minds go on ticking even when we are asleep. We talk and listen, see all colors and feel all emotions in our dreams. Yet dreams remain mysterious.
Both our desires and fears in our dreams are an illusion, called ‘maya‘ by the Eastern mystics who add that even when we are not sleeping, the world around us is also merely an illusion or maya. A life survived through the mind is a life of dreams. That is the meaning of the concept of maya.
Says Osho, “Dreams are only a version of thought in the language of sleep and thought is nothing but a version of dreaming in the language of the day. You go on moving between the two: dreaming and thinking. Both are desiring. So the problem is not dreams but desiring. Now the challenge is how to overcome having these desires for when the dreams are over everything is the same. Nothing has happened and nothing will happen after they are over.”
So the crucial question is: how do we stop dreaming in our sleep and even while awake? In both cases, the challenge is to go beyond the illusion or maya to face the reality. Being more and more aware at all times is the answer. The Zen masters of Japan practise a very demanding system. When the disciples sit in meditation with eyes closed, the master watches them with a stick. The moment he sees 1 of them losing heed or awareness, he hits him with the stick. After numerous years, when the disciples become very aware during the daytime, the same procedure is started when they sleep! Fortunately, Osho has gifted us easier techniques with his meditations. Let’s stop the ticking of our minds with them and wake up.
Editor, Author, Special Correspondent, Publisher, Media Consultant, Kul Bhushan has worked for a UN bureau and travelled to over 50 countries. He specialises in writing on NRI (Non Resident Indians) affairs. He has authored 26 books.A disciple of the enlightened master, Osho. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/stress-management-articles/dreams-and-nightmares-our-desires-and-fears-1419047.html
