I dreamed of a woman kneeling before a priest and the priest is putting a cross symbol on her forehead like on Ash Wednesday. I walked on and then I saw the woman again with a bunch of people who had the same cross symbols but this time the crosses on their foreheads were burning. What is the meaning of this?
—Emily Mathews, Philippines
Dear Emily,
From the point of view of the teachings represented and practiced by us at Ananda, the forehead is, of course, the seat of the spiritual eye, the place of enlightenment and inner light. The cross, in the context of your dream (involving a Catholic priest and a church) symbolizes Jesus Christ (the messiah, the guru) and salvation. The burning cross at the forehead therefore must be considered a sign of blessing and purification in the universal sense that fire is purification (leading to enlightenment or a spiritual blessing).
If you had felt that the image was one of a threat or harm, that might be different but I have no sense that your experience was in any way a threatening one.
While the symbol of the cross is undeniably Christian, it also has metaphysical or yogic implications: the vertical line is the spine; the horizontal, our relationship to the world. The two together uniting inner world with outer world is itself, a symbol of enlightenment or upliftment (quite apart from crucifixion or anything specific to Christianity).
I hope this helpful and makes sense to you.
Blessings!
Nayaswami Hriman
Seattle WA USA
www.Hrimananda.org
