Dear Didi,

In the Kathopanishad, you mentioned that a dream consists of vichara thoughts devoid of vasana thoughts. The “I” was thrown out of balance hearing this. Comparing this to Buddha’s dependent origination, is it a scenario where the ignorance ends on Step 6 – Phassa?

Answer:

In the dream, there cannot be a craving for the dream object to continue or an aversion towards the dream object. The agency of identification is limited in the dream. Only after You-the-Turiya return to the Waking, do you say ‘I liked the dream’ or ‘I disliked the dream’. Labels were not being applied while witnessing a dream. The pleasantness or unpleasantness was only contacted there – Step 6 of the Dependent Origination given by the Buddha. The ‘like’ and ‘dislike’ towards the pleasantness or unpleasantness is actually happening in the Waking, in retrospect. In the dream, there can only be Vichara or Dependent Origination Links – Avijja [ignorance] to Phassa [Contact].

Let’s understand Phassa or contact better:
– There is contact with a pleasantness wave coming from the flow or Vichara; this itself is the content of the fantasy.
– There is contact with an unpleasantness wave coming from the flow or Vichara; this itself is the content of the nightmare.

The content of the dream cannot be considered as a reaction because of the dimmed down identification, after transitioning from the Waking to the Dream:
– The pleasantness of the fantasy world is not a reaction; it is the projection of pleasantness. What is projected is perceived.
– The unpleasantness of the nightmarish world is not a reaction; it is the projection of unpleasantness. What is projected is perceived.

Dreams end at Phassa. This can be understood allegorically.

The agency that pretends to be the reactor to a situation is loudest in the Waking and quieter in the dream and silenced in Deep Sleep. That agency is the Witness. In the Waking, it pretends to have a solid identity. In the Dream state, its solid identity has disappeared, so non-reactivity ensues. That disappears totally in Deep Sleep. It is like the dimmer lights, moving from being super-bright to ambience light to the absence of light.

Similarly, Deep Sleep stops at Vinyana. The absence of light is symbolic of Sankharas turbulently moving sub-surface, devoid of projection above the surface. The Awakened Witness senses the Deep Sleep as a Tamasic thought born of aversion to Rajas of Waking and Dream. The Mind Consciousness cannot arise here as the recognition of the Tamasic thought is beyond the Mind.

Question:

If it stops at Phassa, then how is the fear felt in a dream? Sometimes it’s so intense that the waker is sweating.

Answer:

The Waker is not in the dream. The Waker cannot sweat. It is always the Dream situation, in which the Dream character is sweating. That Dream sweat is the projection. The projection of sweat is being perceived. The sweat is not a reaction to the perceived.

When the Waker appears along with its Waking state, he analyzes the dream in retrospect and says, “I am sweating, I am fearful.” This is because the Waker assumes he was asleep and dreaming.

Once you start walking the Advaita Vedanta path and recognize you are Turiya, there is clear recognition that it is the Witness that was witnessing a Dream, and it is the same Witness that is now witnessing the Waker saying that the dream was pleasant or unpleasant. There is a clear realization that the Waker was not sweating. The Waker had just assumed that he was the dream character in the jungle who was running and sweating.

Attempt to recognize the superimposition there, dear. The Dream is superimposed on the Turiya. The Turiya carries the same superimposition to the Waking when it identifies with the Waker, hence the Waker feels that he was sweating.

Superimposition or Adhyaasa is at the base of this Ignorance!