day by day.pdf

we make no conscious effort to get rid of the dream and to
awake, but the dream itself comes to an end without any
effort on our part and we become awake. Similarly why
should not the waking state, which is in reality only another
sort of dream, come to an end of its own accord, and without
any effort on our part, and land us in jnana or real awakening?
B: Your thinking that you have to make an effort to get rid
of this dream of the waking state and your making efforts to
attain jnana or real awakening are all parts of the dream. When
you attain jnana you will see there was neither the dream during
sleep, nor the waking state, but only yourself and your real state.
I pressed Bhagavan, “But what is the answer to the
question? Why should not the waking state also pass like our
dreams without any effort on our part and land us in jnana, as
a dream passes off and leaves us awake?”
B: Who can say that the dream passed off of its own
accord? If the dream came on, as is generally supposed, as
the result of our past thoughts or karma, probably the same
karma also decides how long it should last and how after that
time it should cease.
I was still unsatisfied and, as the result of further talk with
Bhagavan, I feel that the waking state, though a sort of dream,
is clearly distinct from the dream during sleep in this, namely
that during dream it never occurs to us that it is a dream, whereas
in the waking state we are able to argue and understand from
books and gurus and from some phenomena that it may be
only dream after all. Because of this, it may be our duty to
make an effort to wake into jnana. Bhagavan says that we don’t
deem a dream, a dream till we wake up, that the dream looks
quite real while it lasts; and that similarly this waking state will
not appear a dream till we wake up into jnana. Still, it seems to
me that, because of the above difference between the dream
and the waking states, our effort is called for.
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