The dream state is where the thoughts are present and we have no awareness of outside world. Dream means vikalpa.

*Chapter 3 - Bubbles On The Water*

*Day 19*

The dream state is where the thoughts are present and we have no awareness of outside world. Dream means vikalpa. 

At night, you can see the stars, but once the sun comes up you cannot see the stars. They are still there, but you cannot see them because the sun is shining. 

We are dreaming while we are

awake, but we do not see it as a dream. While we are sleeping we feel it is a dream because we are not aware of the outside world. 

Even without the awareness of outside things, dreams continue inside, just like the stars seen in the sky at night. 

While dreaming, things that we experienced before automatically appear. When we say "vikalpa," what does it mean? 

When the mind keeps on thinking about objects it does not want to think about, we call it vikalpa. In the mind, there is only one sankalpa and all other thoughts are vikalpa. 

"Sankalpa" means the mind's decision to do something after careful examination. Vikalpa

means thinking uselessly about objects. 

Analyse if you have more vikalpa in your mind or more sankalpa. There is 98% vikalpa. Vikalpa creates disturbance. 

Dreams mean vikalpa, and vikalpa drains energy from the mind. We dream when we are not in the present and struggling either with the past or the future. 

We do not understand things as they are. "Vikalpa" means to think about an object differently from how it actually is. 

It is an illusion. We need to come out of this dream. Only then our life will be jagrit, or awake, and we will be happy. Those who dream will never have happiness. 

Not only do we dream for ourselves, but we also dream on other’s behalf. We have 100’s of dreams in our head and not just one.

The state of deep sleep is lack of discrimination and of awareness. When you are asleep and are not aware of anything, that is "maya", "maya" is not being of aware of

anything.

A brave man enjoys the three states of waking, dreaming and sleep with detachment. Your life is a long sleep in which you talk, toss and turn. 

Sometimes, children fall sleep before taking milk and so the mother wakes them up to feed them, and then they fall sleep again. 

They might not even remember this happened. Like this, your life is a long slumber, in which you are awake for a very short time. 

Then you turn to your other side and fall asleep under the blankets again. When parents wake their children up for Saturday morning school, the certain reply is, "Let me sleep for a few more minutes".

It is the same story with everyone. Some wake up early on their own, while the majority continue to doze throughout life, promising to wake up soon.

A lack of discrimination due to maya is a sign that one is sleeping. What is sleep? It is not being aware of the present situation, or aviveka. 

In sleep, no learning happens. Instead, we repeat mistakes over and over again. We do not make new mistakes, which we can learn from, but instead repeat the same old mistakes over and over again. 

This is aviveka, the work of maya. Your whole life, you are constantly using your mind to imagine things as they are not. 

Most of the time, you worry about other’s opinions about you, but do other people have time to think about you? Day in and day out you worry about your honour and reputation.

A lady was telling everyone, "My son is a good boy, and he wouldn't disobey us in any matter." That boy married a girl from a different caste against the will of his parents. 

This lady was constantly thinking about what others thought, and after the surprise of her son's act, what happened? 

She could appear before others and so she locked herself inside her home. She thought that she could not go to other marriages because people would ask about her son's inter-caste marriage. 

She cried, "My pride, my honour, my respect - all lost" It was not just for one or two days, but for a whole year that she could not leave the house. 

She kept worrying about what others would say and think about her. So I told her, when do others have time to think about you? 

And seeing you, even if they do say something, why should you get upset?" This is called maya.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

SHIVA SUTRAS