WHY LUCID DREAMING ? 
ARE THERE ADVANTAGES ?

 The Ancestors have instructed that I should only write or talk about my own experience. This time, however, I am going to deviate from this and fill in a few gaps in the dream paradigms described in the blogs both for you and myself. My approach to dreams revolves around how spirit guides script our dreams but  discussion of other methods would be incomplete without mention of lucid dreaming. 

The question is - can anyone lucid dream? In spite of attempts to do this and learn how, I admit to being mostly unsuccessful. The best I have done is to reenter a dream for a second time which is more or less a repeat of the first. This tells me that this dream is extremely important. I bought a piece of land in South Africa based on this type of a dream which was more of a command than a dream although I did see the land in the dream.  I had to take out a second mortgage on my house to acquire it. Crazy? - yes but the later result turned out to be a life saver so again this was maybe a scripted instruction rather than a lucid dream. 
My impression is that we each have our own specific and unique dream proclivity so that as with all other spiritual endeavors - the Ancestors teach; "you need to find the way (spiritual practice, destiny etc.) that was designed uniquely for you."

I believe this applies to dreams as well. 

Concerning lucid dreaming the Rinpoche counsels ...

                               

Lucid dreaming may not be for everyone including myself.

The key to lucid dreaming is an awareness that one is dreaming and this comes easily for some but not for others. Most lucid dreamers enjoy lucid dreaming as entertainment and enchantment (rather than for spiritual growth and transformation.) That being said I like the Native American wisdom that advises; 

"If you cannot grow corn with it what use is it?"

                                        

These general principles below gleaned from experts have helped me understand lucid dreaming even if I have not mastered it. For meaningful lucid dreaming it does not serve to become enamored with and distracted by Astral dreamscapes. One needs to impose free will in the dream and change it by will, intention and passion. 

 With the awareness and (thats the challenge) that one is in a dream the mind must overcome sensory samsara with intention. One should not direct the dream but follow it once intention has been made. This requires trust, surrender and letting go without trying to control - in other words a non directed intention.

Suggestions when lucid are much more powerful since you are closer to the Source and to one's guides who can help or direct you. In this way it may be similar in some ways to hypnosis. 

Lucid dreaming is also great practice for being in the intermediate stage of death in the Astral.  Ancient wisdom teaches that there is no difference between awake time and dream time - they just have differing forms and qualities. Both according to the Tibetans are Maya - illusion. The one is just as real or unreal as the other.

While dreaming we travel to the Astral realms and can get a glimpse of what this world looks like after death where we will eventually go to reconcile with our karma. We can encounter our guides in the early hours of the morning in R.E.M. sleep when the veil between the worlds is more permeable. Here we can also visit past lives and what the Buddhists call "Store Consciousness" and parallel universes which may help us correct past unskillful karmic patterns. We meet people we know in the dream but cannot recall knowing when we wake up. Lucid dreaming allows us to go more deeply into this potential.

It can also help us reprogram our subconscious. We usually act of the background of the subconscious and not what we would like to think we are acting on. One can heal and be healed in a lucid dream even more powerfully.

"As you think it so it can be, as you believe and imagine it so it will be. " Ancestors

There is another saying; "Imagine, believe, achieve!" 

This is much easier to do in lucid dream than in real time. It resembles being in the Astral after death where what you imagine occurs and we can create our own reality instantaneously. Will, faith and courage are essential for this.

One cannot control the dream only our awareness and intention. The nature of lucid dreaming is instability and illusiveness. It requires a lot of practice to lucid dream effectively.

Click to highlight and download and then play

_MP3s/10_The_Dream.mp3

YOGANANDA & DREAMS

Yogananda was not only an accomplished Yogi but was also adept at dream yoga. He stated that God dreamed the world into existence which is in keeping with the Ancestors' teaching that "to think like God is to think with imagination."

He noted that there were many reasons for dreaming besides instruction and prophesy:

 For fun and entertainment

 As a rehearsal for life and for dealing with unfinished business and dysfunctional karma

As a source of inspirational ideas (for instance the dream that lead to the invention of the sewing machine) 

For working through subconscious worries and fears 

He also confirmed that like awake time it was illusion or Maya and the two were no different.

Patanjali's Sheaths of Consciousness

 Patanjali's in describing his five energy sheaths stressed that most dreams arose from the subconscious and the Mind Sheath (monkey mind, narrow mind or ego) and connected one to the Astral or Imaginal realm which is also a template for the intermediate stage of death or what the Tibetans call the Bardot. We connect with this vibration in the R.E.M. (rapid eye movement) phase of sleep in the early hours of the morning. This is also the time when the veil between worlds is most permeable and we can connect with our spirit guides for guidance and empowerment. Sangomas know this since this is the time to drum and dance so the ancestors can come through with messages. 

Yogananda did not enjoy being in the Astral realm during sleep because of its low vibration. The Intellectual Sheath of Patanjali is also referred to as the Causal and this is where Yogananda chose to be. 

He defined different states of consciousness as follows:
The Conscious state
The Subconscious
The Superconscious ( Patanjali's Cataleptic Consciousness) 
Semi-superconsciousness of the dream state in the Causal
...

 Our normal conscious waking state

 The subconscious which contains all memory which manifests especially in dreams

Superconsciousness. When superconscious in meditation yogis  actively tap into the higher vibration and awareness of the Causal (or Intellectual Sheath) in a delta state when the subconscious and ego are on hold. 

Patanjali stated that Cataleptic consciousness was also facilitated by Pranayama - the science and meditation of breath. 

Yogananda claimed that he was also able to enter this deep delta Causal state of "Turiya" during sleep. This joyous state of sleep he called Semi-superconsciousness and was where he preferred to be rather than in the Astral. This state occurs in the early phase of sleep and for most of us is dreamless. Yogananda was able to visit other worlds or parallel universes or "Locas" in this state and connect with gurus and teachings. Kabbalists and accomplished dreamers are able to do something similar. One can be "awake" or lucid in this sophisticated form of dreaming, in other words, know one is dreaming. 

Ancient wisdom teaches that dreams can be a rehearsal for death by paying attention to what it is like to be in the Astral where many of us go in R.E.M. sleep. 

Spiritual masters, moreover, are able to change their vibration during deep meditation or sleep and access the Causal in Semi-superconsciousness. 

A prelude to this is the ability to lucid dream. However, most lucid dreamers use this state for entertainment and enjoyment since whatever they imagine will materialize (as is true for the Astral intermediate stage of death.) Those fortunate enough to be lucid can experience directly what this particular phase of death is like. Presumably if they were able to raise their spiritual vibration and have the right intention they might be able to attain Yogananda's Semi-superconscious state of being in the Causal while asleep. Since I cannot do this myself I cannot speak from experience although every now and again I am in a peaceful realm which makes absolutely no sense when I awake but makes perfect sense when I am asleep.

Click to highlight then download and play

_He_Came_in_a_Dream.mp3

The next few blogs will be on dreams. 

The upcoming talk in July deals with how ancestors script our dreams but I thought I would add to the subject more generally in the next blogs. 

There are several dream paradigms besides the most popular psychological approach which relates to how our subconscious shapes our dream time.

Less well known is how we are informed by our guides while we sleep. This more Shamanic form of dreaming occurs when spirit guides reach and teach us usually from the Astral realm. The Astral is a vibration where we reconcile with our karma and reincarnate to perfect the soul. We lose free will in the Astral but can assist others on this or the other side of the veil between worlds especially in dreams. This is the subject of July's talk.

 Jungian dream analysis is more Shamanic in nature and acknowledges the importance of a source outside of the subconscious that he called the archetypal world or the collective unconscious. This is more akin the shaping of dreams by spirit forces. 

Yogic dream interpretation involves a more sophisticated accessing of the higher Causal realms we will deal with in a later blog. The Causal is the realm of self-realized enlightened beings who retain free will, can operate freely, and do not have to reincarnate. Highly accomplished yogis can access the teachings, and doctrines of their gurus and even download music from the "spheres" or what the Druids and Celts called the Oran Mor (see below.) Yoga dreaming also included shape shifting and the visiting of other locas in the dream world. Yogananda called this the semi-superconscious state and Patanjali, Cataleptic consciousness.

Kabbalists also connected with their teachers on the other side to obtain information. There is a story of a Kabbalist who was in a Yeshiva for many years. When he emerged to reconnect with old friends many years later and they asked him what he had learned in this school of higher learning. He answered; "I learned how to sleep." 

The Tibetans look at the dream time as a rehearsal for the Astral or what the Tibetans called the Bardot or the intermediate stage of death where we go before reincarnating. By paying attention to our dreams, learning to navigate them and especially being lucid one would more easily be able negotiate the Bardot and have less chance of getting lost or becoming earth bound. Here they can visit past lives, since the Astral is timeless, access prior karma or store consciousness and correct old unskillful behavior. These mystics seek to pierce the veil of Maya or illusion to glimpse transcendent truth and awaken out of the illusion of life's dream which is no different to the dream of sleep. Hence the Ancestors teach...

and..,

One of the features especially of Causal and even Astral dreaming is the power of prophecy. Prophecy is limited by free will and the number of variables involved. Hence it is difficult to obtain prophecy on complicated global events because of the huge number of variables each of which is governed by free will. Our guides in the Astral may be able to help us with the more immediate future because they are not localized in space and time and have access to our life book or Akashic records and know what our destiny is. The future too far ahead also has too many variables for accurate prophesy. This lower Astral order of prophesy has usually to do with keeping us out of trouble and warning us in our dreams though we can still ask specifically (because of free will) in the form of "how does it look for...?" this or that.

The Zohar

The Ancestors add...

Deep or dreamless sleep or the yoga Turiya occurs when we first fall asleep. Dreams occur during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep in the early hours of the morning when the veil between worlds is more permeable and our Astral guides can contact us. Click to highlight then download and play

_-_MP3s/08_Save_Your_Morning_Prayer.mp3

"Oran Mor; the Melody did not stop. It continued its song, filling all of Creation with its divine harmony. And so it continues today, for all those who listen. 

The primordial myth of Creation, common to all people, tells of a mighty melody – the very breath of the primordial God – that sang Creation into existence. To the Celts it was known as the Oran Mór, "The Great Melody", a melody that did not cease with the initial creation, but goes on and on and on, inspiring Creation along its holy pilgrimage of giving and receiving blessing." 

GREETINGS

Just got back from a week or R and R with an old friend that I grew up with and so hence no formal blog this week.

In view of the upcoming talk on Death May 20th (see events schedule) I thought I would include a few sayings to ponder over with a song or two.

All good things for the coming week.

The song speaks to the possibility that we all have of going to the Causal realm of the more enlightened and not having to reincarnate anymore to perfect the soul (addressed in the talk.)

Click to highlight, then download and play

-_MP3s/11_Golden_Chariot.mp3

And this one incentivizing the possibility 

-_MP3s/02_Dont_Let_Me_Take_This_Trip_Again.mp3