MOVING FROM DREAM TO REALITY
There is a very beautiful story, a Zen story:
One day, early morning, a Zen Master came out of his bed and started crying.
His disciples were surprised to see him crying.
They gathered around him and said, 'You are an enlightened being. Why are you crying? It is really surprising to see that you are crying.' The Master replied, 'Last night I dreamt that I became a butterfly.'
The surprised disciples asked, 'It was only a dream. Now you are yourself again. You are out of it. Why are you crying now?'
The Master says very beautifully, 'Because now I do not know whether I am a Zen Master who dreamt that I had become a butterfly, or whether that butterfly is now dreaming that it has become a Zen Master!'
Understand, there is no scale, no proof to say if the state in which you are in is the authentic reality. There is no scale!
When you move from the deep sleep state to the dream state, you understand that the deep sleep state was illusory when compared to the dream state.
When you come out of the dreaming state into the waking state, you understand that the dream state was illusory, that it was not real. When you move from the waking state to turiya, you will realize that the waking state is also not reality!
You will realize that the waking state is not what you thought it was.
Again and again and again, you get a glimpse of this Truth every time you face a deep depression or low mood.
During deep depression, this understanding starts rising from within. But we are afraid of allowing the psychological revolution to happen in us at that time, because too much is at stake!
Too much of the life that we know, that we are clinging to, is at stake. If we allow the psychological revolution to take place, who knows what might happen?
What will happen to all our cherished desires and goals, our cherished ideals and ideas?
We are afraid that we may have to let go of everything!
So we manage not to allow the psychological revolution to happen in us.
Every instance of depression is actually an opportunity to allow the upheaval to happen, but we miss it.
The moment you hear that your whole life is an illusion, naturally you become afraid.
You feel you may renounce, you may leave everything, and life may change drastically.
But I tell you, when you understand that what is in front of you is not complete reality, you will renounce only one thing - your suffering!
When the psychological revolution happens, tremendous inner healing happens in you.
With inner healing, naturally, outer healing also happens.
Without the psychological revolution, every day that you live, every moment, will only be pravritti - going outwards, towards more suffering, low moods and difficulties.
With the psychological revolution, it will become nivritti – moving towards reality. You will become more and more relaxed, more and more restful, more and more aware.
With psychological revolution, with every decision that you make every day, the aptapramaanaas - the experiences of the enlightened Masters, will become atmapramaanaas - your own experiences!