Is the Material Creation and our Existence In It
a Dream?
BY: GAURAGOPALA DASA
Mar 07, AUSTRALIA (SUN) — Is the material creation and our existence in it a dream? Srila Prabhupada explains.
The following conversation is between His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and a university student that took place in Los Angeles, in January of 1974.
Student "In your books you say this world is like a dream".
Srila Prabhupada "Yes. It is a dream".
Student "How is it a dream?"
Srila Prabhupada "For example, last night you had some dream, but now it has no value. It is gone. And again, tonight when you sleep, you'll forget all these things and dream. You won't remember, when you are dreaming tonight, "I've got my house; I've got my wife." You'll forget it all. So all of this is a dream".
Student "Is it true, or is it not true?"
Srila Prabhupada "How could it be true? At night you forgot it. Do you remember when you sleep that you've got your wife and you're sleeping on a bed? When you have gone some three thousand miles away and seen something totally different in your dream, do you remember that you've got a place to reside in?"
Student "No".
Srila Prabhupada "So this is a dream. Tonight. What you are seeing now will become only a dream, just as what you know it was only a dream. So both are dreams. You are simply a visitor, that's all. You are seeing this dream and that dream. You, the spirit soul, are factual. But your material body and the material surroundings you are seeing this is dream".
Student "But I have the impression that this experience is true and my dream is not true. What is the difference?"
Srila Prabhupada "No. This experience is all untrue! How could it be true? If it were true, how could you forget it at night? How could you forget it, if it were true? At night do you remember all this?"
Student "No. I don't remember."
Srila Prabhupada "Then-how could it be true? Just as you don't remember the dream you saw last night and so you call it a "dream," similarly this experience-because you forget it at night-this is also a dream
."
Student "I have the impress"
Srila Prabhupada "This is a day dream; that is a night dream. That's all. When you dream at night, then you perceive that as being real. Yes. You think that is real. It is a dream, but you are crying, "There is a tiger! Tiger! Tiger!" Where is the tiger? But you are seeing it as a fact-a tiger. "I'm being killed by a tiger." But where is the tiger?
Or you dream you are embracing some beautiful girl. Where is that beautiful girl? But actually it is happening".
Student "It is happening"?
Srila Prabhupada "In one sense it is happening, because there is discharge of semen. Nocturnal emission. But where is that girl? Is it not a dream? But similarly, this so-call real-life experience is also a dream. You are getting the impression of factuality, but it is a dream. Therefore it is called maya-sukhaya, illusory happiness. Your nighttime happiness and your daytime are the same thing. At night you are dreaming you are embracing a nice beautiful girl, and there is no such thing.
Similarly, in the daytime also, whatever "advancement" you are making-this also like that. Maya-sukhaya: You are dreaming, "This process will make happy" or "That process is only a dream. You are taking this daydream as reality because the duration is long.
At night when you dream, the duration is just half an hour. But this daydream lasts for twelve-hour dream, and that is half-hour dream-but actually both of them are dreams. Because one is twelve-hour dream, you are accepting it as real. This is call illusion".
Student "Illusion".
Srila Prabhupada "Yes
. You are making a distinction between and animal and yourself, but you are forgetting that just as the animal will die, you will also die. So where is your advancement? Will you remain forever? You will also die. So where is your advancement over an animal?
That is stated in the Vedic literatures. Ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam-cal samanam etat pasubhir naranam this business eating, sleeping, sex life, and defending-this is also the animal's business, and you are doing the same. So how are you distinct from an animal?
You will die; the animal will die. But if you say, "I will die after one hundred years, and this ant will die after one hour," that does mean that you are in reality. It is a question of time, Or take this huge universe-it will all be destroyed.
As your body will be destroyed, this universe will also be destroyed. Annihilation. Dissolution. Nature's way-the whole thing will be dissolved.
Therefore, it is a dream. It is a long duration of dream, that's all. Nothing else. But the advantage of having this human body is that in this dream, you can realize the reality-God. That is the advantage. So if you don't take advantage of this dream, then you are missing everything".
Student "So I'm half-asleep?"
Srila Prabhupada "Yes, that is the situation. Therefore, the Vedic literatures say, uttistha: "Get up! Get up! Get up!" Jagrata: Become awakened!" Prapya varan nibodhata: "Now you have got the opportunity: utilize it." Tamasi ma jyotir gama:
Srila Prabhupada "Don't stay in darkness; come to the light." These are Vedic injunctions. And we are teaching the same thing, "Reality is here-Krsna. Don't remain in this dark place. Come to the higher consciousness".
(Los Angeles, in January of 1974)
Many have expressed amusement when told their existence in the material world is just the dream state of the marginal living entity (jiva-tattva). However, by reading Srila Prabhupada's books, we find that the material condition and creation is simply made up of their own self-centred imaginations, thoughts, and dreams all over shadowed by the reactions (karma) to their actions that are all a factual reality yet temporary.
This impermanent reality known as the mahat-tattva (material creation) is experienced by first choosing to leave Goloka (The eternal imperishable Kingdom of God), not as one's perpetual nitya-siddha or mukta body that is forever there in Goloka beyond the material gross and subtle body, but as their secondary nitya-baddha sub-conscious bodiless state, that is only able to have bodily form by entering unlimited material vessels or containers within the mahat-tattva, that are all created and manufactured from the dreams of Maha-Vishnu.
Srila Prabhupada "This material creation is the spirit soul's dream. Actually all existence in the material world is a dream of Maha-Vishnu, as the Brahma-Samhita describes "This material world is created by the dreaming of Maha-Vishnu. The real, factual platform is the spiritual world, but when the spirit soul wants to imitate the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he is put into this dreamland of material creation".
(Srimad Bhagavatam 4.29.83)
Srila Prabhupada - "Everything happening within time, which consists of past, present and future, is merely a dream. This is the secret in understanding in all the Vedic literature."
(Srimad Bhagavatam 4.29.2b)
Srila Prabhupada - "Our contact with matter is just like dream. Actually we are not fallen. Therefore, because we are not fallen, at any moment we can revive our Krishna consciousness, we break the dream. Similarly, we can break this So this situation"
(Tokyo Japan 1972: Srimad Bhagavatam 2.9.1)
Srila Prabhupada - "When the dream is finished, we come to another dream: "Oh, this is my house. This is my family. This is my bank balance." This is going on. Dream. One dream at night, one dream at daytime. But who is dreaming? That is the living entity. So his business is different. Not dreaming, daytime dreaming and night-time dreaming. He has to come to the actual platform. That is Krsna consciousness. If he takes to Krsna consciousness, that is his actual life. Otherwise, he's in the dreamland"
(Bombay, December 27, 1972)
Srila Prabhupada - "Our separation from Krishna is like that. We dream this body and so many relationships with other things. Just like in a dream we are thinking very long time, but as soon as we awaken we look at our watch and see it has been a moment only".
(Letter to Madhudvisa Swami and Australian devotees)
Hari Bol - Your fallen servant,
Gauragopala dasa
