#24. Everything Is A Dream | Vigyan Bhairav Tantra

Namaste and a very warm welcome to all of you in this daily live meditation session with me,

Dhyansa.

We are meditating on 112 meditation techniques of Vigyan Bhairav Tantra.

Chvang Tso,

A Taoist master,

Once had a dream that he was a butterfly.

In that dream,

He was a butterfly flying from here and there,

From one flower to the other,

Enjoying the sunshine,

Enjoying the breeze.

And suddenly,

He woke up,

Found himself in his bed,

As a man,

And then he had a thought.

He thought,

Was he a man who had a dream of being a butterfly?

Or is he a butterfly who now is in a dream of being a man?

Is that a dream or a reality?

Are you in a dream or a reality?

Ask yourself,

Are you in a dream or in a reality?

How do you judge whether you are in a dream or in a reality?

If you have this doubt,

Whether you are in a dream or in a reality,

You are in a dream.

If you think that you are in a dream,

You are perhaps in a dream.

If you think that you are in reality,

You are certainly in a dream.

What is this dream?

What is this reality?

How do we understand what is dream?

What is reality?

Are these two different things or are these one and the same thing?

Think about it.

Is the dream that you have,

Are these two different things or this dream and this reality one and the same thing?

This is such a fascinating subject,

This fascinating experience that we have been for thousands of years analyzing what is a dream,

What is a reality.

Others,

Psychologists,

Philosophers,

They have given all their life,

They have dedicated their entire life work on understanding what is a dream or interpreting what is a dream and then there are spiritualists who have dedicated their entire life in understanding,

In interpreting what is reality.

On one hand,

We are exploring what a dream is,

What is this dream that we get when we are asleep and what is the reality,

What we call as reality.

Are these two different things or are these two one and the same thing?

Contemplate about it what is a dream.

If you will observe carefully,

You will see that this dream and this reality,

What we call as two different things,

This duality which appears to be two different things are one and the same.

The only difference between a dream and a reality is of consciousness.

When you are in this experience which you call as a dream,

If your consciousness is within the experience,

If your consciousness is enclosed in this experience,

It is a reality for you.

It is what we call as reality.

In the dream what you take in the night,

What happens,

That experience,

What you call as dream in the night,

In the dream it is real for you.

Because your consciousness is enclosed within the dream,

Therefore it is a reality for you.

Only when your awareness,

Only when your consciousness breaks out of the dream,

It sees the dream from the outside,

Then that experience becomes a dream.

Therefore both dream and reality are one and the same thing.

These are not two different things,

These are not two different explorations,

Not two different experiences,

They are one experience.

The only difference is of consciousness.

If the consciousness is enclosed within the experience,

You call it as a reality.

When the consciousness is outside that experience,

Is outside that enclosure,

Then you call this as a dream.

Take a moment to reflect on this from your own experience,

From your own dreaming,

Be it a sweet dream,

Be it a nightmare.

Whatever you go through in the night,

In that experience,

In that moment,

It is real for you.

When you have this slight awareness,

When you have this awakening,

When your consciousness comes out of the dream,

You find that,

Oh,

This was not the reality and the reality is something else.

But this applies to also your physical reality.

Not only the reality,

The experience that you have in your sleep,

But in this waking state as well.

This what we call as physical reality,

It remains as a reality as long as the consciousness is enclosed in this reality.

The moment the consciousness expands,

The moment the energy is liberated out of this enclosure of the physical reality,

It suddenly becomes a dream as well.

It suddenly,

This reality that we call as our physical reality,

Also becomes a dream.

There is a trend of psychedelics,

Where people are taking psychedelics to change this experience of physical reality and moving to another reality,

Another experience.

And they are referring to this as higher reality.

It is not another higher reality,

It is just another dream.

Because it is only a matter of consciousness,

When the consciousness was trapped in the physical,

We called that as real.

When we took a shortcut,

For example,

With the psychedelic,

We expanded that consciousness out of the physical reality and whatever we experienced,

We started calling that as a reality,

As a higher reality.

But it is one and the same,

It is also a dream.

It is also only your own projection,

This Maya,

This illusion which was earlier limited to the physical.

Now it is more vivid,

Now it is more colorful.

Now it has multiple dimensions.

All is a dream.

When you come to this awakening,

When you come to this expansion of consciousness in all directions,

Infinitely,

You see that everything is a dream.

And there is no reality.

There is nothing that we can call as a reality.

Dreaming is just a dream.

Why are we talking about this?

Why is this so relevant?

Why is this such a significant understanding,

Wisdom on the path of meditation?

Because this dreaming gives us clues.

If there was no dreaming,

If there was absolutely no dreaming,

We would have never known that what we are enclosed in and are calling as reality,

There is something more to that.

Only because we have those dreams where we are having either the sweet dream or the nightmare,

All those experiences and there is a possibility to transcend that,

There is a possibility to wake up out of that,

Only that clue becomes significant and opens up this awareness,

This consciousness to going beyond the physical reality as well.

And when you are out of this physical reality as well,

When your consciousness expands and you see everything as a dream,

Then suddenly you realize that this world is a Maya and this world is a dream,

This world is an illusion and there is nothing to worry about in the dream.

All this chase that we are constantly after,

All the miseries that we are constantly going through are all just a part of the dream.

There is no reality and the only state to be in is in enlightenment,

Is in this expanded consciousness,

In that expanded consciousness,

In that infinite continuous expansion,

There is inner peace,

There is love,

There is all what is there to be experienced as awareness.

Everything else is a dream.

All these dreaming of the physical,

Of the non-physical,

They have their own place,

But on the spiritual journey,

On the journey of meditation,

It is not coming to an end,

It is not reaching its highest crescendo until you realize that everything is a dream,

There is no reality.

Let us hear what Bhairava has to give us as a technique to come to this experience,

To come to this enlightenment of everything being a dream.

Bhairava in Vigyan Bhairavtantra says,

Consider everything as a dream and wake up.

Consider everything as a dream and wake up.

Very small technique,

Very small sutra,

In a few words it is saying a lot of things.

Consider everything as a dream and wake up.

This technique,

This meditation technique has been used in all different traditions.

If you pick up Tibetan Buddhism,

There is a slogan about everything being a dream.

If you pick up Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,

There is a technique,

There is a reference to coming out of this dream and now also in Tantra.

In fact,

This is a Tantra technique more than a Yogic technique,

More than a Tibetan Buddhist technique.

This in its pure essence is a Tantra vibration that consider everything as a dream.

You don't have to believe in it,

But just for a moment,

Just for few moments of meditation of these silent,

Aware moments,

Consider everything as a dream.

Whatever you hear,

Whatever you see,

Whatever thoughts that arise in you,

Whatever is going on in your consciousness,

Just consider them as a dream.

When you start considering all of these experiences,

All of these elements which create your experience as a dream,

There is a push to your consciousness to wake up.

Because if that is a dream,

Then the consciousness cannot be held in it.

The moment you realize in the night that you are in a dream,

That's the moment you wake up.

So it is utilizing the same principle that the moment you consider,

You start to consider that everything that you are experiencing as a dream,

Your consciousness,

It finds ways to break out of that dream and suddenly there is a ray of awareness which comes out of this dream and you are outside this enclosure of the dream.

So it is a very simple technique which you can practice in the session.

If you feel touched in the session,

Practice this outside the session as well.

You are sitting in a park,

You are sitting in nature,

Looking at the mountain,

Looking at the green fields,

Looking at a river flowing,

Wherever you are,

Where you have these moments of contemplation,

Moments of meditation,

Consider everything as a dream.

Whatever comes from your senses,

From your five senses,

Whatever you hear,

Whatever you see,

Whatever you smell,

Touch and taste,

And all the thoughts that you have,

Even the idea of yourself,

All that,

Consider that as a dream and be awake.

Let us practice this in our own experience,

Take this,

Internalize this technique with our own experience.

Please close your eyes and take a posture that is comfortable for you.

With your head,

Neck and back straight,

Shoulders down,

Posture that is in balance,

That is comfortable,

Restful,

Yet alert.

Your breath flowing in and out,

At its natural pace,

Allowing your body to rest alone.

Your awareness in your inner space.

And for the next minutes,

Consider everything that arises in your consciousness as a dream.

What you see in front of your closed eyes is a dream.

What you hear from your surroundings is a dream.

It is a dream.

What you smell in this moment is a dream.

What you hear from your surroundings is a dream.

What you smell in this moment is a dream.

What you feel,

The touch on your skin is a dream.

What you smell,

The touch on your skin is a dream.

What you smell,

The touch on your skin is a dream.

What you smell,

The touch on your skin is a dream.

What you smell,

The touch on your skin is a dream.

What you smell,

The touch on your skin is a dream.

All your thoughts are just a dream.

Your body.

Is a dream.

Your breath.

Is a dream.

All what you know,

All your knowledge is just a dream.

What you smell,

The touch on your skin is a dream.

Your past,

Your future,

Your present,

All is a dream.

You,

The dreamer.

The dreamer is also a part of the dream.

You,

The dreamer.

Everything that arises in your consciousness,

Consider it as a dream.

Everything that arises in your consciousness,

Consider it as a dream.

Let go of all effort.

Stay in this silence,

In this awareness.

Let go of all effort.

Let go of all effort.

Let go of all effort.

Letting go of everything,

Of this dream,

Of this reality.

Simply staying in silence,

In awareness.

And very gently and slowly,

You may open your eyes.

Once again,

To the dream.

With a taste of something that is beyond the dream.

That is beyond what we call as reality.

Remember that taste as you move in this dream,

As you move in this reality,

What we call as the physical one.

If you were touched by this experience,

If you were moved by this experience and would like to share,

To connect,

To go deep into meditative silence,

Meditative awareness with other meditators from around the world,

We formed a small community to share our love,

To share our experience,

To be there for each other in this connection that we all feel for each other.

If you have that calling,

If you wish to be a part of this community,

Please write me an email with a little bit about yourself,

Who you are,

What brings you to this community,

What will you give back to this community and you will hear from me very soon.

Thank you very much once again.

Namaste.