During my sleep I found a state where I feel like I’m going somewhere. It takes a lot of force to wake up and that’s scary. It feels like If I don’t wake & surrender, I will end up leaving my body and will not be able to come back. What’s that & should I surrender? What will happen if I don’t wake up and surrender myself? It feels scary and strange.
—Simran, india
Dear Simran,
Our dreams are most often products of patterns in our subconscious and may incorporate threads of recent or distant events, or even past lives. Sometimes nightmares happen during times of stress, emotional difficulties, or illness but not necessarily. We may even dream we have died, but that does not predict that we will die soon. Some people may have superconscious dreams: dreams where they connect to God in one of His aspects. Such a dream would be profoundly uplifting and bring great peace, calmness, and joy.
Yogananda, whose teachings we follow at Ananda, did write about the significance of dreams and gave techniques to ‘dream at-will.’ If you would like to read about these teachings, Savitri Simpson, a member of Ananda, has written a book on the subject, The Meaning of Dreaming, which is available from Crystal Clarity Publishers or at major on-line bookstores.
When you have a scary dream, bring your consciousness back into your body and recognize that your dream in no way defines who you are. This practice also serves us well in our daily waking-lives. Any particular experience that comes our way does not define us. We are a soul inhabiting a body, traversing this life, having experiences, and growing spiritually through them. Whether it be a dream-event or a waking one, learn to live from your center where the storms of daily trials cannot shake your inner peace and joy. Try to transform each disturbing thought into a reminder to remember who you really are—a child of God.
Many Blessings,
Nayaswami Mukti
