BABA DREAMS

 
What are dreams that we see when we are asleep? Beloved Avatar Meher Baba tells us that all of life itself which we experience as being real is only a dream. So a dream that we experience while in sleep state is nothing more than a dream-within-a-dream.

In His All-knowingness, the Beloved gives us this divine truth. But when translated into the language of a lover's intense longing for a glimpse of the Beloved, a dream presence is very real indeed. Baba-dreams do not belong to the dreamer, but to the compassionate Dream Giver who lets His loved ones have a sight of Him when necessary even in a dream-within-a-dream.

Someone asked Baba whether dreams in which He appears are not different from other dreams. Baba nodded empathically, "Yes, they are," and explained that dreams of Him are of great significance because of His Presence therein. Even illusion becomes illumined and transformed when the light of His Presence touches it.

I am reminded of the times when I have stood on our little verandah at Meherazad and watched the morning sun strike a dull bush growing near by. Suddenly the bush would be enlivened with myriad points of light which were not there before the sun had arisen and touched it!

The dream that I have chosen as the first one here, shows how real a Baba-dream can be — so real that it rolls on without a break into the dreamer's awake state.

~ Mani
Meherazad
May 1996

I dreamt I was standing outside in Mehera's garden at Meherazad. It was nearing sunset time, and Baba had retired to His room. As I stood facing the house and Mehera's porch, I had this huge surge of longing within me to go see Baba and bow down at His feet. When I could not hold back my longing anymore I ran up the steps into the house, and turned towards Baba's room.

But there I was suddenly stopped short by the sight of Narayan Maharaj, one of the five Perfect Masters, standing at the door of Baba's room. He looked very young and full of light. It was clear that He was the Doorkeeper to Baba's room, and none could go in without His permission. I looked at Him, rather startled. He smiled and conveyed by a subtle nod that it was all right for me to go in.

I hurried in. Baba was seated on His bed with His feet resting on a little cushion. Filled with an indescribable feeling of love and joy, I fell at His feet. After a timeless period, wanting to look at Baba, I started to lift up my head from His feet, but was astonished to find that I could not do so! Again and again I tried to raise my head but to no avail. At last, rather concerned, I asked myself, "Why can't I lift up my head?" And instantly the answer was revealed: I could not lift up my head from Beloved Baba's feet because my head was not on His feet. Instead, Baba's feet were on my head! And only when Baba had raised His feet was I able to raise my head.

In the morning when I woke up, I found that I had a horrible stiff neck, but didn't connect it to my dream. Not until tea time in the Trust Office, when one of my companions who had heard me recount the dream, exclaimed, "Of course the stiff neck is the result of all the tugging your head did at Baba's feet in your dream last night!"