Is it REAL or you are in a Butterfly’s DREAM?
There lived a saint , who with his serene and calm presence delighted every villager living around. he resided in a simple cottage on the outskirts where his basic needs of food and shelter were fulfilled by the offerings of the natives. The saint used to visit the village on a daily basis to implore for food. It had been a while , the residents were concerned about the well being of the holy soul because they had not seen him for 2 days, out of concern they decided to pay a visit to his abode, on reaching they noticed him sitting on the outside in a very unusual meditative state. The saint in a moment smiled and unfeeling in the next , this continued for a while and out of curiosity one of the group member addressed the saint and asked , what has happened to you? Are you not keeping well and why is the sudden change of mood happening ? . The holy being listened to everyone's concern with patience and said with a smile that he has been really struggling with a question for a while but till now has not found an answer to it, the question is what the reason behind his shifting emotions further he asked , Can anyone among you help with the solution ? People with genuineness replied it will be there good fortune if they can be of any help .
The saint narrated a dream that he had , where in he sees himself as a beautiful butterfly moving from one flower to another , enjoying the freedom , beauty and peace of the nature . Everyone around him were clueless and responded , what’s the concern here, one can imagine themselves whatsoever in their dreams but then the saint added that he woke up in the middle of this dream and when something like that happens , you tend to remember the image . Now in all this a strange question arises to him that if he can imagine himself as a butterfly after sleeping what if a butterfly has slept and is dreaming of becoming a man ? or Am I in a dream of a butterfly is my existence real? what’s the truth ?
Half of the group didn't get the question and the other half who understood were stupefied , the dream that we see is that the truth or what we see after waking up that is a dream? Probably the saint knew the answer to it that’s why he would start smiling and then after a while turn quiet.
Reality or Truth is defined to be eternal, something that does not changes with time but the world where we live in is believed to be ever changing . Its an irony, that you fail to record the exact moment or time when from an infant you turn a toddler, a toddler to teen then an adult and finally old age. This body which we identify with so strongly , is it really who we are or something beyond this exists that doesn't change or get destroyed?
The ancient Vedic scriptures especially the Mandukya Upanishad is the source that give us the answer to this question , wherein what is reality , if its not the dream or the awake state . As per the revelations there are Four states of consciousness and are defined as waking, dreaming, deep sleep and turya(the fourth state , which is the state of enlightenment).
WAKING STATE : In this state the consciousness is turned outwards to the external world .It is experiencing gross material objects through senses and is transient in nature the moment you close your eyes and slip into sleep all the outside world mountains, rivers, worldly objects and relations seems to disappear and comes down to zero and the moment you wake up everything comes back to life from zero. Every experience good or bad that we come across in this state is a projected reality of the state of mind we have in that moment, the same flower that seems to be a symbol of love for someone may trigger the most negative of feelings that you may have experienced in the past with connection to it. This is the reason why we are unable to elucidate the reality of our experiences .
DREAM STATE : In this state the consciousness is turned towards the inner world just the opposite of the wake state where it is projected outside. The mind can work out its unfulfilled wants , wishes, desires, attractions and aversions that are not allowed to play out in the external world . When you are in a dream it seems to be real in every form and even if someone comes to you in that state itself telling that “ Its a Dream” you wouldn’t pay heed to it. But it is when you get up the realisation of having a dream will struck your mind. Thus both Dream and Wake state are flip side of the same coin.
DEEP SLEEP STATE : In this unconscious state, there is neither the desire for any gross or subtle object , nor any dream sequences. The deep impressions of the mind are stored here in their latent form , like seeds . When certain conditions are met , they can play out in dreams or grow into actions in the waking states. In this state the ego and soul experiences profound peace .
TURYA STATE : The literal meaning of Turya is Fourth , it is the background of all other states of consciousness. The state in which the above three states are being projected, the state in which bliss and emptiness is projected, the state in which desire and world is being projected that is called pure awareness. Nothing can be within or outside it, neither can it be known nor can it be touched , One can only be in Turya.
Eventually on going through all these states it is inferred by the profound saints that both waking and dream states are incomplete , which can be called as illusion that are being projected by mind and ego . Friends the moment you realise that everything whether it be failure or success, happiness and sorrow is not something happening to you but is projected within you and one is beyond all these experiences and can attain the ultimate state of awareness which is the truth you state of Turya.
