Dare to Dream?

“Dare to dream” is an expression that encourages individuals to pursue their aspirations and ambitions, even if they seem unrealistic or challenging. It emphasizes the importance of having the courage to envision a better future and to work diligently in order to achieve one’s goals. The phrase suggests that dreaming allows you to experience, in your mind, something that you aim to achieve which can then serve as an inspiration to bring it to experience in the world.

That is why many motivational speakers and government authorities use this phrase to inspire people.

Then, why does Advaitha philosophy teach one to disregard dreams?

Advaita philosophy uses dreams as an analogy to explain that they are unreal. According to Advaita, the world and life itself are like a dream—meaning they do not have inherent purpose. They suggest that by waking up from this “grand dream,” one will experience Brahman, the Supreme Reality. They assert that nothing else is real except Brahman, the Supreme. As the saying goes—‘jagame maya’—everything is illusory. Is it?

Let us contemplate and address two sets of audiences here:

Dear ‘advaithins’…

One who is in a dream will never know that they are in a dream. Similarly, if you say that life is an illusion, you will not know that it is an illusion unless you are someone who does not belong to this world.

Once, a speaker was telling an audience that life is an illusion when, suddenly, an elephant came charging toward the stage. The speaker ran for safety. Someone from the audience asked, “Why are you running if life is an illusion?” The speaker replied, “The elephant is an illusion, and my running away from it is also an illusion!” Does this make sense?

An analogy often used in Advaita to describe our perception of life is the example of mistaking a rope for a snake in a dark room. Advaita suggests that we are under the illusion that life is real, when, in fact, it lacks inherent existence; only Brahman—the Supreme Reality—exists as the ultimate truth. But why do we mistake the rope for a snake and not something else, like a tree or a house? There is a connection between the rope and the snake, either in its form, texture, or our past experience with snakes. Therefore, the rope itself is not deceiving us. We are simply in the “dark” about what the object is and how to respond to it. However, this darkness does not imply that the rope is unreal or that it is something else entirely.

Dear Seekers…

Nothing is illusory—neither dreams nor life itself. Everything is real, Sathyam. It is not Mithya (illusion). Sathyam is defined as that which serves a purpose.

For a dream to be called sathyam, it must serve a purpose. What purpose is it serving?

If you dreamt of winning an award or a lottery or found a pot of gold coins or had the taste of a sweet mango, you would share that feeling with a friend. You would feel, Ah, I wish that was ‘real’. That dream served the purpose of an experience. Whether or not the experience is materially in the world here or mentally in the world inward is a different question. By definition, it is a real experience because it served some purpose

A dream provides you with a temporary experience on a different plane, at a different time, and composed of many aspects and objects, but it is still a real experience. Someone other than you is ‘editing’ the scenes to give you a unique experience through the dream. The same ‘editor’ also ‘edits’ scenes for everyone, giving each person certain collective experiences in this world, at varying levels and intensities. The first (the dream) occurs on an individual level, while the second (the world) unfolds on a collective level. That ‘editor’ is the supreme reality, known as God. The name you refer this ‘all-knowing’ supreme being as —Narayana, Vishnu, Jesus, Allah, or any other is a different subject.

Hence, a dream and this world are real. Don’t escape from dealing with them in all fairness and by all means. It is our responsibility to deal with those experiences properly.

How can we be sure of this?

Throughout history, when many believed that life and the world were imaginary, illusionary, or unreal, Ramanujacharya clarified that everything is real, and it is God who creates the setup through which we experience things, both in dreams and in the waking world.

He is the supreme ‘editor’ – like an editor who creates movies – mixing scenes taken from elsewhere and at other times into one unit to give an experience.

To explain this, Ramanujacharya referred to a manthra in the Vedas.

na thathra ratha:h na rathinaha na pantha:naha sasrujathi

There is One who creates, even though there are no horses, no chariots, no charioteers, no paths.

He created all of them to give us some sort of experience so that the accumulated past records on our account can be consumed, and we can be set free from them. Those past records are called karma. If you think there is no purpose to this life and that it is unreal, you are missing out on the opportunity that the Supreme reality presents to you; and the consequences will unfold.

Therefore, we must conduct ourselves responsibly. That’s all that is required of us. What happens to our karma is not something we need to concern ourselves with. The Supreme Power is the master of that, and He is compassionate—leave it to Him. Let’s seek to understand life in its truest sense. And, accordingly, let’s live and let live!

– From the address of HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji
– 12th Feb 2024 – Ramanuja Vijnana Vedika
– Samatha Kumb 2025

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