8-9-45 Morning

Mr. Subba Rao of Bezwada asked Bhagavan, "What is
the difference between imagination and vision?"

Bhagavan: One is voluntary and the other is not. But in
the ultimate analysis, though not in the immediate present, even vision must have had its origin in the voluntary sphere.

Subba Rao: As dreams have their origin there?

B: Yes.

Another Visitor: It is said that our waking life is also a
dream, similar to our dream during sleep. But in our dreams
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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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