FROM THE WRITINGS OF H. P. BLAVATSKY

All quotations are from “Transactions of The Blavatsky Lodge” (primarily its 20 page section on dreams, p. 59-79) unless otherwise stated.

Many of HPB’s explanations on this subject assume that the reader is already familiar with the Theosophical teaching regarding our Seven Principles, i.e. the seven different components of the human constitution. If you are not, you may wish to refer to a simple explanatory chart here and the article Understanding Our Seven Principles.

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THE NATURE, CAUSE, AND PURPOSE OF SLEEP

“The Vedanta philosophy teaches as much as Occult philosophy that our monad during its life on earth as a triad (7th, 6th, and 5th principles) [i.e. Atma-Buddhi-Manas], has, besides the condition of pure intelligence, three conditions; namely, waking, dreaming, and sushupti – a state of dreamless sleep – from the standpoint of terrestrial conceptions; of real, actual soul-life – from the occult standpoint. While man is either dreamlessly,profoundly asleep or in a trance state, the triad (Spirit, Soul and Mind) enters into perfect union with the Paramatma, the Supreme Universal Soul.” (Editorial comment to “Devachan: Reply I: The Real and the Unreal,” “Theosophical Articles and Notes” p. 17)

“The three states of consciousness, which are Jagrat, the waking; Swapna, the dreaming; and Sushupti, the deep sleeping state [i.e. in this context, “dreamless sleep” and “deep sleep” are synonymous]. These three Yogi conditions, lead to the fourth, or – The Turya [i.e. Turiya], that beyond the dreamless state, the one above all, a state of high spiritual consciousness.” (Explanatory note in “The Voice of The Silence” p. 75, original edition, translated by HPB from The Book of The Golden Precepts) In “The Voice of The Silence,” a description of “Three Halls” corresponds to these three states of consciousness; the Hall of Ignorance relates to the waking consciousness and physical plane, the Hall of Learning to the ordinary dream consciousness and “the astral region, the Psychic World of supersensuous perceptions and of deceptive sights . . . the world of the Great Illusion,” and the Hall of Wisdom to the consciousness belonging to our inner being in deep dreamless sleep and thus to the higher mental or spiritual plane, “the region of the full Spiritual Consciousness beyond which there is no longer danger for him who has reached it.” (p. 75-76)

“During deep sleep, ideation ceases on the physical plane, and memory is in abeyance; thus for the time-being “Mind is not,” because the organ, through which the Ego manifests ideation and memory on the material plane, has temporarily ceased to function.” (“The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 38)

“. . . a sound dreamless sleep – one that leaves no impression on the physical memory and brain, because the sleeper’s Higher Self is in its original state of absolute consciousness during those hours . . .” (“The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 266)

“First comes the Svapna, or dreaming state, and this leads to that of Shushupti. . . . Physical sleep . . . is a necessity, in order that the senses may recuperate and obtain a new lease of life for the Jagrata, or waking state, from the Svapna and Shushupti. According to Raj Yoga [i.e. Raja Yoga], Turya is the highest state. . . . Sleep is a sign that waking life has become too strong for the physical organism, and that the force of the life current must be broken by changing the waking for the sleeping state. Ask a good clairvoyant to describe the aura of a person just refreshed by sleep, and that of another just before going to sleep. The former will be seen bathed in rhythmical vibrations of life currents – golden, blue, and rosy; these are the electrical waves of Life. The latter is, as it were, in a mist of intense golden-orange hue, composed of atoms whirling with an almost incredible spasmodic rapidity, showing that the person begins to be too strongly saturated with Life [i.e. Prana]; the life essence is too strong for his physical organs, and he must seek relief in the shadowy side of that essence, which side is the dream element, or physical sleep, one of the states of consciousness.” (p. 71)

The twelve-versed Mandukya Upanishad of Hinduism is a very concise but inspiring overview of the Avastha Traya, the three states mentioned above. As Bhavani Shankar hints in “The Doctrine of The Bhagavad Gita,” that Upanishad has a more deeply esoteric and initiatory significance to it than is apparent on the surface. It indicates that if we are able to make our Sushupti experiences, which we undergo every night, conscious to our personal self, “it will open the door to the state of abiding joy, the Turiya state.” The real meaning of this will become clearer from all that follows in this compilation.

ORDINARY DREAMS, IN CONTRAST WITH ACTUAL “DREAM EXPERIENCES”

Note: Our Higher Ego or Inner God, the Manasaputra or Kumara, is always on its own plane. The Higher Ego is not that which passes through the stages of waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep. It naturally and inherently exists on, and belongs to, a high realm which we typically say corresponds to Sushupti or dreamless sleep. However, HPB does not refer to “dreamless sleep” in any of the following quotes but simply calls the Ego’s experiences during the sleep of the body “the real dreams and experiences of the higher EGO, which are also called dreams, but ought not to be so termed.” It seems that it is only when our physical brain and personality is in a state of deep, dreamless sleep, that our Higher Ego becomes entirely and completely free to act and function on its own level or plane. Unless we are willing to accept that our true “I” is that transpersonal Ego and not our personal self-consciousness, this will always be a very difficult and confusing concept. From some of the wording used, it appears that the short article “The Three Planes of Human Life” by William Q. Judge was written partly for the benefit of the new student of Theosophy who has not yet become acquainted with, or accepted as true, this great teaching about the real nature of our Ego.

“The “principles” active during ordinary dreams – which ought to be distinguished from real dreams [i.e. actual dream experiences belonging to our Higher Ego, the Higher Manas] . . . are Kama, the seat of the personal Ego and of desire awakened into chaotic activity by the slumbering reminiscences of the lower Manas. . . . [The Lower Manas] is the ray which emanates from the Higher Manas or permanent Ego, and is that “principle” which forms the human mind – in animals instinct, for animals also dream. The combined action of Kama and the [Lower Manas] however, are purely mechanical. It is instinct, not reason, which is active in them. During the sleep of the body they receive and send out mechanically electric shocks to and from various nerve-centres. The brain is hardly impressed by them, and memory stores them, of course, without order or sequence. On waking these impressions gradually fade out, as does every fleeting shadow that has no basic or substantial reality underlying it. The retentive faculty of the brain, however, may register and preserve them if they are only impressed strongly enough. . . . This aspect of “dreams” however, has been sufficiently observed and is described correctly enough in modern physiological and biological works, . . . That which is entirely terra incognita for Science is the real dreams and experiences of the higher EGO, which are also called dreams, but ought not to be so termed, or else the term for the other sleeping “visions” changed.” (p. 59-60)

The ordinary, lower, unimportant type of dreams are “Generally the physical brain of the personal Ego, the seat of memory, radiating and throwing off sparks like the dying embers of a fire.” (p. 72)

“The nature and functions of real dreams cannot be understood unless we admit the existence of an immortal Ego in mortal man, independent of the physical body, for the subject becomes quite unintelligible unless we believe – that which is a fact – that during sleep there remains only an animated form of clay, whose powers of independent thinking are utterly paralyzed. . . . the physical man cannot feel or be conscious during dreams; for the personality, the outer man, with its brain and thinking apparatus, are paralyzed more or less completely.

“We might well compare the real Ego to a prisoner, and the physical personality to the gaoler [i.e. jailor] of his prison. If the gaoler falls asleep, the prisoner escapes, or, at least, passes outside the walls of his prison. The gaoler is half asleep, and looks nodding all the time out of a window, through which he can catch only occasional glimpses of his prisoner, as he would a kind of shadow moving in front of it. But what can he perceive, and what can he know of the real actions, and especially the thoughts, of his charge? . . . the real Ego does not think as his evanescent and temporary personality does. During the waking hours the thoughts and Voice of the Higher Ego do or do not reach his gaoler – the physical man, for they are the Voice of his Conscience, but during his sleep they are absolutely the “Voice in the desert.” In the thoughts of the real man, or the immortal “Individuality,” the pictures and visions of the Past and Future are as the Present; nor are his thoughts like ours, subjective pictures in our cerebration, but living acts and deeds, present actualities. . . . This Ego . . . is the higher Manas illuminated by Buddhi; the principle of self-consciousness, the “I-am-I,” in short. It is the Karana-Sarira, the immortal man, which passes from one incarnation to another. . . . It often happens, indeed, that we have no recollection of having dreamt at all, but later in the day the remembrance of the dream will suddenly flash upon us. Of this there are many causes. . . . Something of what was seen, done, or thought by the “night-performer,” the Ego, impressed itself at that time on the physical brain, but was not brought into the conscious, waking memory, owing to some physical condition or obstacle. This impression is registered on the brain in its appropriate cell or nerve-centre, but owing to some accidental circumstance it “hangs fire,” so to say, till something gives it the needed impulse. Then the brain slips it off immediately into the conscious memory of the waking man; . . .”   (p. 60-61, 63-64)

“During sleep the physical memory and imagination are of course passive, because the dreamer is asleep: his brain is asleep, his memory is asleep, all his functions are dormant and at rest. It is only when they are stimulated, as I told you, that they are aroused. Thus the consciousness of the sleeper is not active, but passive. The inner man, however, the real Ego, acts independently during the sleep of the body; but it is doubtful if any of us – unless thoroughly acquainted with the physiology of occultism – could understand the nature of its action.” (p. 64)

“To the dreamer (the Ego), on his own plane, the things on that plane are as objective to him as our acts are to us. . . . The external life is a “dream” to this Ego, while the inner life, or the life on what we call the dream plane, is the real life for it.” (p. 62, 67)

“Since dreams are in reality the actions of the Ego during physical sleep, they are, of course, recorded on their own plane and produce their appropriate effects on this one. But it must be always remembered that dreams in general, and as we [i.e. as the personal ego] know them [i.e. in our waking consciousness], are simply our waking and hazy recollections of these facts.” (p. 63)

“There are many kinds of dreams, as we all know. Leaving the “digestion dream” aside, there are brain dreams and memory dreams, mechanical and conscious visions. Dreams of warning and premonition require the active co-operation of the inner Ego. They are also often due to the conscious or unconscious co-operation of the brains of two living persons, or of their two Egos.” (p. 72)

“We may roughly divide dreams also into seven classes, and subdivide these in turn. Thus, we would divide them into: 1. Prophetic dreams. These are impressed on our memory by the Higher Self, and are generally plain and clear: either a voice heard or the coming event foreseen. 2. Allegorical dreams, or hazy glimpses of realities caught by the brain and distorted by our fancy. These are generally only half true. 3. Dreams sent by adepts, good or bad, by mesmerisers, or by the thoughts of very powerful minds bent on making us do their will. 4. Retrospective; dreams of events belonging to past incarnations. 5. Warning dreams for others who are unable to be impressed themselves. 6. Confused dreams, the causes of which have been discussed above. 7. Dreams which are mere fancies and chaotic pictures, owing to digestion, some mental trouble, or such-like external cause.” (p. 78-79)

ESOTERIC ANATOMY: THE ROLE OF THE CEREBELLUM

The human brain is 80% cerebrum, 20% cerebellum. “Cerebellum” literally means “little brain” and is the lower part of the brain, situated under the back of the cerebrum. According to Theosophy, the mind transcends and is not confined to the brain. Nonetheless, it might aid our comprehension of these teachings to bear in mind that modern science associates the conscious mind with the cerebrum and the subconscious or “unconscious” with the cerebellum.

“The instinctual mind finds expression through the cerebellum, and is also that of the animals. With man during sleep the functions of the cerebrum cease, and the cerebellum carries him on to the Astral plane, a still more unreal state than even the waking plane of illusion; for so we call this state which the majority of you think so real. And the Astral plane is still more deceptive, because it reflects indiscriminately the good and the bad, and is so chaotic.” (p. 27)

“Whatever the name may be, the cerebellum alone – as you were already told – functions during sleep, not the cerebrum; and the dreams, or emanations, or instinctive feelings, which we experience on waking, are the result of such activity. . . . the waking consciousness recalls to activity the cerebellum, which was fading below the threshold of consciousness.” (p. 33)

“There is a sort of conscious telegraphic communication going on incessantly, day and night, between the physical brain and the inner man. The brain is such a complex thing, both physically and metaphysically, that it is like a tree whose bark you can remove layer by layer, each layer being different from all the others, and each having its own special work, function, and properties.” (p. 64)

ON THE NATURE OF THE DUAL EGO

[“Individuality” is] “One of the names given in Theosophy and Occultism to the Human Higher EGO. We make a distinction between the immortal and divine Ego, and the mortal human Ego which perishes. The latter, or “personality” (personal Ego) survives the dead body only for a time in the Kama Loka; the Individuality prevails for ever.” (“The Theosophical Glossary” p. 154-155, Entry for “Individuality”)

“Manas is a “principle,” and yet it is an “Entity” and individuality or Ego. He is a “God,” and yet he is doomed to an endless cycle of incarnations, for each of which he is made responsible, and for each of which he has to suffer. . . . Try to imagine a “Spirit,” a celestial Being, whether we call it by one name or another, divine in its essential nature, . . . In its very essence it is THOUGHT . . . individualised “Thought” . . . called in its plurality Manasa putra, “the Sons of the (Universal) mind.”” (“The Key to Theosophy” p. 183-184)

“The Higher Manas or EGO is essentially divine, and therefore pure; no stain can pollute it, as no punishment can reach it, per se, the more so since it is innocent of, and takes no part in, the deliberate transactions of its Lower Ego. Yet by the very fact that, though dual and during life the Higher is distinct from the Lower, “the Father and Son” are one, and because that in reuniting with the parent Ego, the Lower Soul fastens upon and impresses upon it all its bad as well as good actions – both have to suffer, the Higher Ego, though innocent and without blemish, has to bear the punishment of the misdeeds committed by the lower Self together with it in their future incarnation. The whole doctrine of atonement is built upon this old esoteric tenet; . . . The Secret Doctrine shows that the Manasa-Putras or incarnating EGOS have taken upon themselves, voluntarily and knowingly, the burden of all the future sins of their future personalities. Thence it is easy to see that it is neither Mr. A. nor Mr. B., nor any of the personalities that periodically clothe the Self-Sacrificing EGO, which are the real Sufferers, but verily the innocent Christos within us. . . . It is, then, true to say that when we remain deaf to the Voice of our Conscience, we crucify the Christos within us.” (p. 67-69)

“Were the Personalities (Lower Manas or the physical minds) to be inspired and illumined solely by their higher alter Egos there would be little sin in this world. But they are not; and getting entangled in the meshes of the Astral Light, they separate themselves more and more from their parent Egos.” (p. 66)

“All is impermanent in man except the pure bright essence of Alaya. Man is its crystal ray; a beam of light immaculate within, a form of clay material upon the lower surface. That beam is thy life-guide and thy true Self, the Watcher and the silent Thinker, the victim of thy lower Self.” (“The Voice of The Silence” p. 57, original edition, translated by HPB from The Book of The Golden Precepts)

WHAT WE REMEMBER AS A DREAM IS OFTEN NOT WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED

“But if we admit the existence of a higher or permanent Ego in us – which Ego must not be confused with what we call the “Higher Self,” we can comprehend that what we often regard as dreams, generally accepted as idle fancies, are, in truth, stray pages torn out from the life and experiences of the inner man, and the dim recollection of which at the moment of awakening becomes more or less distorted by our physical memory. The latter catches mechanically a few impressions of the thoughts, facts witnessed, and deeds performed by the inner man during its hours of complete freedom. For our Ego lives its own separate life within its prison of clay whenever it becomes free from the trammels of matter, i.e., during the sleep of the physical man. This Ego it is which is the actor, the real man, the true human self.” (p. 60)

“The senses of the sleeper receive occasional shocks, and are awakened into mechanical action; what he hears and sees are, as has been said, a distorted reflection of the thoughts of the Ego. The latter is highly spiritual, and is linked very closely with the higher principles, Buddhi and Atma. These higher principles are entirely inactive on our plane, and the higher Ego (Manas) itself is more or less dormant during the waking of the physical man. This is especially the case with persons of very materialistic mind. So dormant are the Spiritual faculties, because the Ego is so trammelled by matter, that It can hardly give all its attention to the man’s actions, even should the latter commit sins for which that Ego – when reunited with its lower Manas [i.e. in a subsequent incarnation] – will have to suffer conjointly in the future.” (p. 62)

[The “thought-actions” of the Ego during the sleep of the body] “are reflected on the brain of the sleeper, like outside shadows on the canvas walls of a tent, which the occupier sees as he wakes. Then the man thinks that he has dreamed all that, and feels as though he had lived through something, while in reality it is the thought-actions of the true Ego which he has dimly perceived. As he becomes fully awake, his recollections become with every minute more distorted, and mingle with the images projected from the physical brain, . . .” (p. 62)

“But, as a rule, our memory registers only the fugitive and distorted impressions which the brain receives at the moment of awakening.” (p. 59-60)

“. . . dreams are in reality the actions of the Ego during physical sleep, . . . But it must be always remembered that dreams in general, and as we know them, are simply our waking and hazy recollections of these facts.” (p. 63)

“The dreamer only catches faint glimpses of the doings of the Ego, whose actions produce the so-called dream on the physical man, but is unable to follow it consecutively. . . . The Ego acts as consciously within and without him as the nurse acts in tending and watching over the sick man. But neither the patient after leaving his sick bed, nor the dreamer on awaking, will be able to remember anything except in snatches and glimpses. . . . In sleep there is a connection, weak though it may be, between the lower and higher mind of man, and the latter is more or less reflected into the former, however much its rays may be distorted.” (p. 75)

The short article “Remembering The Experiences of the Ego” by William Q. Judge may assist us in trying to improve our clarity and comprehension of these nightly Egoic experiences. In short, it emphasises the necessity during our waking state of the continual practice of Theosophical Raja Yoga (keeping the mind always conscious, concentrated, and elevated) in daily life.

THE ASTRAL BODY AND OTHER “PRINCIPLES” DURING SLEEP

“Q. What is the condition of the Linga Sarira, or plastic body [i.e. the astral body, astral double], during dreams?
“A. The condition of the Plastic form is to sleep with its body, unless projected by some powerful desire generated in the higher Manas. In dreams it plays no active part, but on the contrary is entirely passive, being the involuntarily half-sleepy witness of the experiences through which the higher principles are passing.” (p. 76)

“You may “dream,” or, as we say, sleep visions, awake or asleep. If the Astral Light is collected in a cup or metal vessel by will-power, and the eyes fixed on some point in it with a strong will to see, a waking vision or “dream” is the result, if the person is at all sensitive. The reflections in the Astral Light are seen better with closed eyes, and, in sleep, still more distinctly.” (p. 71-72)

“The memory of the Sleeper is like an Æolian seven-stringed harp; and his state of mind may be compared to the wind that sweeps over the chords. The corresponding string of the harp will respond to that one of the seven states of mental activity in which the sleeper was before falling asleep. If it is a gentle breeze the harp will be affected but little; if a hurricane, the vibrations will be proportionately powerful. If the personal Ego is in touch with its higher principles and the veils of the higher planes are drawn aside, all is well; if on the contrary it is of a materialistic animal nature, there will be probably no dreams; or if the memory by chance catch the breath of a “wind” from a higher plane, seeing that it will be impressed through the sensory ganglia of the cerebellum, and not by the direct agency of the spiritual Ego, it will receive pictures and sounds so distorted and inharmonious that even a Devachanic vision would appear a nightmare or grotesque caricature. Therefore there is no simple answer to the question “What is it that dreams?” for it depends entirely on each individual what principle will be the chief motor in dreams, and whether they will be remembered or forgotten.” (p. 72-73)

DREAMS OF DECEASED LOVED ONES

“Although there is hardly a human being whose Ego does not hold free intercourse, during the sleep of his body, with those whom it loved and lost, yet, on account of the positiveness and non-receptivity of its physical envelope and brain, no recollection, or a very dim, dream-like remembrance, lingers in the memory of the person once awake.” (“The Key to Theosophy” p. 30)

“We are with those whom we have lost in material form, and far, far nearer to them now, than when they were alive. And it is not only in the fancy of the Devachanee [i.e. the departed soul in their own individual “heaven” state known as Devachan], as some may imagine, but in reality. For pure divine love is not merely the blossom of a human heart, but has its roots in eternity. Spiritual holy love is immortal, . . . A mother’s Ego filled with love for the imaginary children it sees near itself, living a life of happiness, as real to it as when on earth [i.e. a reference to the illusory yet blissful and often very necessary Devachanic experience] – that love will always be felt by the children in flesh. It will manifest in their dreams, and often in various events – in providential protections and escapes, for love is a strong shield, and is not limited by space or time. As with this Devachanic “mother,” so with the rest of human relationships and attachments, save the purely selfish or material. Analogy will suggest to you the rest.” (“The Key to Theosophy” p. 150)

BECOMING CONSCIOUS IN OUR DREAMS

“One must be far advanced on the “path” to have a will which can act consciously during his physical sleep, or act on the will of another person during the sleep of the latter, . . .” (p. 66)

But the mere fact of being conscious that one is dreaming is something different, for HPB says: “Now, it frequently happens that we are conscious and know that we are dreaming; this is a very good proof that man is a multiple being on the thought plane; so that not only is the Ego, or thinking man, Proteus, a multiform, ever-changing entity, but he is also, so to speak, capable of separating himself on the mind or dream plane into two or more entities; and on the plane of illusion which follows us to the threshold of Nirvana, he is like Ain-Soph talking to Ain-Soph, holding a dialogue with himself and speaking through, about, and to himself. And this is the mystery of the inscrutable Deity in the Zohar, as in the Hindu philosophies; it is the same in the Kabbala, Puranas, Vedantic metaphysics, or even in the so-called Christian mystery of the Godhead and Trinity. Man is the microcosm of the macrocosm; the god on earth is built on the pattern of the god in nature. But the universal consciousness of the real Ego transcends a millionfold the self-consciousness of the personal or false Ego.” (p. 74)

INTERPRETING OUR DREAMS

“Q. Are there any means of interpreting dreams – for instance, the interpretations given in dream-books?
“A. None but the clairvoyant faculty and the spiritual intuition of the “interpreter.” Every dreaming Ego differs from every other, as our physical bodies do. If everything in the universe has seven keys to its symbolism on the physical plane, how many keys may it not have on higher planes?” (p. 78)

DOES EVERYONE DREAM?

“All [people] dream more or less; only with most, dreams vanish suddenly upon waking. This depends on the more or less receptive condition of the brain ganglia. Unspiritual men, and those who do not exercise their imaginative faculties, or those whom manual labour has exhausted, so that the ganglia do not act even mechanically during rest, dream rarely, if ever, with any coherence.” (p. 70)

“No advanced Adept dreams. An adept is one who has obtained mastery over his four lower principles [i.e. Kama, Prana, Linga Sharira, Sthula Sharira], including his body, and does not, therefore, let flesh have its own way. He simply paralyzes his lower Self during Sleep, and becomes perfectly free. . . . In his sleep he simply lives on another and more real plane.” (p. 69)

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“So it was said that the day-time of the body is the night-time of the soul, and the night-time of the body is the day-time of the soul. When the body sleeps, the real man is most active, with the greatest degree of intelligence, but thinking and acting on another plane altogether, in a different state altogether, from any known to us in ordinary waking human existence.”
(Robert Crosbie, “Sleep and Dreams”)

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SOME PRACTICAL STEPS

“Upon awakening, a great hindrance is found in our own daily life and terms of speech and thought to the right translation of these experiences, and the only way in which we can use them with full benefit is by making ourselves porous, so to speak, to the influences from the higher self, and by living and thinking in such a manner as will be most likely to bring about the aim of the soul. This leads us unerringly to virtue and knowledge, for the vices and the passions eternally becloud our perception of the meaning of what the Ego tries to tell us. It is for this reason that the sages inculcate virtue. Is it not plain that, if the vicious could accomplish the translation of the Ego’s language, they would have done it long ago, and is it not known to us all that only among the virtuous can the Sages be found?” (William Q. Judge, “Remembering The Experiences of The Ego”)

“The subject is one of enormous extent as well as great importance, and theosophists are urged to purify, elevate, and concentrate the thoughts and acts of their waking hours so that they shall not continually and aimlessly, night after night and day succeeding day, go into and return from these natural and wisely appointed states, no wiser, no better able to help their fellow men. For by this way, as by the spider’s small thread, we may gain the free space of spiritual life.” (William Q. Judge, “The Three Planes of Human Life”)

“Let the student of occult sciences make his own nature as pure and his thoughts as elevated as those of these Indian seers, and he may sleep unmolested by vampire, incubus, or succubus [i.e. malevolent astral entities]. Around the insensible form of such a sleeper the immortal spirit sheds a power divine that protects it from evil approaches, as though it were a crystal wall.” (H. P. Blavatsky, “Isis Unveiled” Vol. 1, p. 460)

“Râja-Yoga (Sk.). The true system of developing psychic and spiritual powers and union with one’s Higher Self – or the Supreme Spirit, as the profane express it. The exercise, regulation and concentration of thought.” (H. P. Blavatsky, “The Theosophical Glossary” p. 275)

“Many poets and creative artists in moments of inspiration have intimations of their spiritual consciousness. Similarly, all men and women enter every night into a sublime state of dreamless consciousness where even for a few moments they enjoy glimpses of divine wisdom. These then become filtered through the kama manas – the desiring and rationalizing mind attached to a false sense of self – so that on waking up there is a vague feeling that something wonderful came to one in sleep. But there is also a painful awareness of its loss. Before going to sleep one should prepare one’s mind, body and heart, and, above all, one’s own highest longings for union with the immortal and sovereign spirit. With assiduity in devotion and in practice, one can eventually enter at will into the state of pure, universal consciousness. In the beginning, if one would like to test oneself, one may go to sleep with one idea and see if it can be maintained intact throughout sleep so that one wakes up with that idea. In this way, one can attain an increasing measure of continuity of consciousness in daily life.” (Raghavan Iyer, “The Candle of Vision“)

“Hence, the healing and restorative property of sleep which Shakespeare so suggestively describes as Nature’s second feast, man’s great restorer. The average human being deprived of the benefit of sushupti or sleep would simply not survive for long. Sleep and death are Nature’s modes of restoration of balance. In order to take full advantage of sleep, the seeker must initially experience the pain of forcing the mind to return to a point on which it is placed, to a chosen idea, bringing the heart back to the deepest, purest and most pristine feeling of devotion, warmth and love. If one did this again and again, then certainly one would not only become more deep in response to life but one would also become more of a spiritual benefactor to the human race, drawing freely from the infinite resources of Divine Thought and the Light of the Logos, Brahma Vach. . . .

“What happens involuntarily and naturally in deep sleep must be done consciously in waking life through philosophical negation, deep meditation, calm reflection and Pythagorean self-examination. If done daily, in time it will be possible to bring closer the astral vesture and the true divine Self that otherwise is only partially involved or only inadequately incarnated.  . . .

“True disciples will consecrate each day to Hermes-Budha, to the Manasaputras, the descending luminous beings that make human self-consciousness possible. All Lanoos will strengthen the centre of silence within themselves until it can be used for the calm release of a new current of energy, a new line of life’s meditation, which fuses thought, will and feeling in daily life for the sake of the larger whole. Wise men and women will take full advantage of this teaching to bring forth the greatest strength and sacrifice that can be released in their own lives for the sake of Universal Good, the Agathon on earth as in Heaven (Akasha), the summum bonum which flows from Saguna Brahman but is gestated within the bosom of Nirguna Brahman, boundless Space in eternal Duration.” (Raghavan Iyer, “Self-Transformation“)

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There are articles on this site explaining and exploring various subjects raised in this article, such as Prana, Tiredness, and Sleep, Ego Is Not A Bad Word, Manas – The Mystery of Mind, Antahkarana – The Path, Understanding Our Seven Principles, Death and The Afterlife, When We Die, The Psychic Is Not The Spiritual, Theosophy on The Astral Body, The Question of The Etheric Body, Astral Body, and Other Bodies (includes references to the “dream body”), The Raja Yoga of Theosophy, and Masters of Wisdom: Outwardly Mortal, Inwardly Immortal. Please make use of the site search function (the magnifying glass symbol at the top of the page) and visit the Articles page to see the complete list of over 300 articles covering all aspects of Theosophy and the Theosophical Movement.

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