Dreams and Karma

By Sadhguru – Founder, Isha Foundation

When an individual dreams, it is called a fantasy. When a group of people dream, it becomes a society. When the universal dreams, it generally passes off as reality. A dream is a certain reality, and reality is a certain dream. The best thing about a dream is, when you wake up, it’s over. So it is with the so-called reality — when you wake up, it’s over.

You know reality only the way your senses interpret it for you, not the way it is. So what you call “reality” and what you call “dream” is an interpretation of your mind. What happens in your mind is another kind of reality. We can call it “psychological reality.” For most people, their dream is far more powerful than their thought process. Unfortunately, they don’t remember most of it.

Unwinding Karma

The process of life can be interpreted as an unwinding of that which has already been done. So we say, “Your life is the way it is because that’s your karma.” But life situations may not collaborate very well with the karmic substance that you have. In a dream, you are able to create an atmosphere that is conducive for the kind of winding that you have. If life has gone beyond the unconscious unwinding of karma and has become a conscious process, then, wakefulness is more meaningful. If life is limited to unwinding of that which has already been done, a dream is definitely a better space to do it.

In the yogic culture, Shiva, the Mahadeva, is described either as utter sleep or absolute wakefulness. This is the state of a fully conscious one: either he does not exist, or he is on. There is no in-between reality for him because if there is nothing to unwind, there will be only stillness and awakening. There will be no dream state. When I say “dream,” I’m not talking only about the scenery that happens when you are asleep. Even with your eyes open, your experience of the creation is completely dreamy. It is not the way it is.

Can you accumulate karma in a dream? The accumulation of karma is in the volition of one’s action. There is no volition in a dream. So a dream is only a process of unwinding. Even during the day, most of the time you are only unwinding that which has already been done. Your anger, your ambition, your frustration, your love, your passion, your hatred, most of this is only unwinding of karma, not your doing. This unwinding of the karmic process seems so real, seems like it is you who is doing this. When one believes that whatever he is doing, he is doing out of his intentions, it is a very basic state of ignorance.

Shedding self-interest

There is a chant that says, “It’s all you, Mahadeva, it’s all you. My evil is my mind’s doing, my actions are my body’s doing – where am I? I don’t even exist. It is all yours.” If a true devotee says this, it is a very beautiful state of realization. If the mind says this, it is a very gross level of cunning. Only if you are willing to pass both your likes and dislikes, failure and success, your wellbeing and distress to someone, it’s okay. If you are only willing to pass your distress, not your wellbeing — you are trying to make a bad deal with someone. Only an absolute fool will buy this deal.

When human beings get more and more intelligent, they are less and less concerned about their self-interest. If one’s intelligence truly flowers, he has no self-interest. Being interested in the limited self when he could be interested and involved in the grandeur of the cosmos, is a foolish thing. It’s a terrible loss that is happening to an individual human being and to humanity as a whole.

[Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic, visionary and a prominent spiritual leader. An author, poet and internationally-renowned speaker, Sadhguru’s wit and piercing logic provoke and widen our perception of life.

[www.ishafoundation.org]