Remember when Joseph said to his father: O my father! Verily, I dreamt eleven stars and the sun and the moon, I saw them prostrating themselves to me. He (the father) said: "O my son! Relate not your vision to your brothers, lest they arrange a plot against you. Verily! Satan is to man an open enemy! Thus will your Lord choose you and teach you the interpretation of dreams and perfect His Favor on you ... Verily, in Joseph and his brethren, there were signs for those who seek. The Quran, Sura Joseph, 12:4, 5, 6, 7.And Joseph raised his parents to the throne and they fell down before him prostrate. And he said: "O my father! This is the interpretation of my dream aforetime! My Lord has made it come true! ... "My Lord! You have indeed bestowed on me of the sovereignty, and taught me the interpretation of dreams;" ... The Quran, 12:100, 101
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Dream is such a mysterious phenomena! until recently in human history it has always been part of occult or esoteric spectrum of knowledge. Mystics, prophets, sages all told, so also agree modern day researchers that dream holds key 'to something'; this something depending on where you stand and how you look at the reality. Now modern neuroscience and consciousness research is focusing to unveil the mysteries of mind and its dreaming, but we are still in its infancy as far as understanding of consciousness and subconsciousness goes.
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The highly cultivated masters of humanity and the brotherhood and sisterhood of Light are blessed with the ability to appear over another persons dream. It is very often reported by many that sufi masters appear to their dreams, even many westerners who haven't heard about sufism whatsoever, are visited by sufi master which awakens them to another reality. Yogis of India have this ability, so do the Lama masters. In eastern tradition as well as western tradition, native american culture or shamanism and you name it; in virtually all traditions people appearing in dream can be traced. By appearing i mean not just appearing, but with esoteric significance.
One of the most interesting description of appearance in dream without any earlier encounter between the two is Sufi teacher Bawa Muhaiyaddeen's appearing to Coleman Barks' dream which opened the door of inspiration for Coleman's wondrous work on Rumi. Coleman Barks' fresh and original translations of Rumi's work are largely responsible for Rumi's becoming the best-selling poet in the west and specially in America. {>} Read in Coleman Barks' own words here.
Not only to Coleman, Bawa is reported to have appeared to many westerners who later became his disciples and embraced the path of sufi islam. And interestingly enough, Bawa is one of the most contemporary sufi master who left his body in 1986 only. In sufi literature of earlier times we find many accounts of sufi masters appearing to their devotees.
One of the most interesting description of appearance in dream without any earlier encounter between the two is Sufi teacher Bawa Muhaiyaddeen's appearing to Coleman Barks' dream which opened the door of inspiration for Coleman's wondrous work on Rumi. Coleman Barks' fresh and original translations of Rumi's work are largely responsible for Rumi's becoming the best-selling poet in the west and specially in America. {>} Read in Coleman Barks' own words here.
Not only to Coleman, Bawa is reported to have appeared to many westerners who later became his disciples and embraced the path of sufi islam. And interestingly enough, Bawa is one of the most contemporary sufi master who left his body in 1986 only. In sufi literature of earlier times we find many accounts of sufi masters appearing to their devotees.
. Similar is the extra ordinary experience of Daniel Ladinsky and his vision of Hafiz. {>} read here.
Only few days back i met (in virtual world) sister Waliya Inayat, now an initiated sufi, who when asked about her last name, replying to my email wrote: "Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan, peace and blessings upon him, came to me in a dream before I had ever heard of sufism over 35 years ago."
This world and its apparent realities are really something!
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Apart from the event of sufi teachers appearing in people's dream, we ordinary people also appear in others dream. and strangely we have little mastery over it, the mystery behind it remain veiled. i am just an ordinary person, heavily ignorant one (astagfirullah) and not even initiated into sufi path so to speak (waiting for my teacher yet). so forgive me what i mentioned earlier as an intro to this post and what i'm gonna mention next.
What triggered the thought of this post is this morning's email from my good friend anise, mentioning that i was in her dream last night. i was surprised cause anise and i have never met physically and for sometime we were also out of communication even by email.
Anise's mail this morning reminds me about Marvin from Mexico, long long time back (7 or 8 yrs back, it was pre-blogging era, internet forum was the cool thing then) we exchanged our thoughts on religion etc. i remember him saying one day that he dreamt of me. and it was so strange that time cause we hardly knew each other!
What triggered the thought of this post is this morning's email from my good friend anise, mentioning that i was in her dream last night. i was surprised cause anise and i have never met physically and for sometime we were also out of communication even by email.
Anise's mail this morning reminds me about Marvin from Mexico, long long time back (7 or 8 yrs back, it was pre-blogging era, internet forum was the cool thing then) we exchanged our thoughts on religion etc. i remember him saying one day that he dreamt of me. and it was so strange that time cause we hardly knew each other!
Then sister SF from Texas (like anise we have't met yet in physical reality) mentioned her dreaming me in an email sometime end of last year. She wrote:
saw u in a dream ... a home, a cave ... a spiritual quest ... dont remember anything else ... Allah knows best!
This is what anise, may she always be blessed, mentioned about her dream just this morning:
I had a dream with you in it last nite. I don't remember most of it except that when I saw you I was surprised that you looked nothing like your pictures. Anyhow, I wanted you to know that my dreams are thinking of you loved one.
love love,
anise
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i know not dream interpretation. but i wished to tell anise that none of us, look true to what we truly are (be in photo or in flesh) :) our reflection, our image behold us not. as zen masters aptly remind us in the famous zen koan, "what is your original face before you were born?". indeed that real face is unseen, uncaptured and perhaps anise's dream allude to that.
i know not dream interpretation. but i wished to tell anise that none of us, look true to what we truly are (be in photo or in flesh) :) our reflection, our image behold us not. as zen masters aptly remind us in the famous zen koan, "what is your original face before you were born?". indeed that real face is unseen, uncaptured and perhaps anise's dream allude to that.
It appears to me sometime that dreams are like remembrance of unconscious / unconscious mind that beckon us to the mysteries of beyond. coincidentally just today i picked up this book, The Book of Dreams by Brian Innes where it mentions a lovely passage from Upanishads on the subject of dream:
"A man has two conditions: in this world and in the world beyond. But there is also a twilight juncture: the condition of sleep. In the twilight juncture one sees both of the other conditions, this world and the other world. When someone falls asleep, he takes the stuff of the entire world, and he himself takes it apart, and he himself builds it up, and by his own bright light he dreams.
There are no chariots there, no harnessings, no roads; but he emits chariots, harnessings, roads. There are no joys or delight there; but he emits joys and delights. There are no ponds, lotus pools and flowering streams, but he emits ponds, lotus pools and flowering streams. For he is the maker."
There is a beautiful saying of Prophet Muhammad, upon him be God's unbound love, "The world is like a dream that a sleeping man sees." (credit)
Auzubillah. To God is refuge."A man has two conditions: in this world and in the world beyond. But there is also a twilight juncture: the condition of sleep. In the twilight juncture one sees both of the other conditions, this world and the other world. When someone falls asleep, he takes the stuff of the entire world, and he himself takes it apart, and he himself builds it up, and by his own bright light he dreams.
There are no chariots there, no harnessings, no roads; but he emits chariots, harnessings, roads. There are no joys or delight there; but he emits joys and delights. There are no ponds, lotus pools and flowering streams, but he emits ponds, lotus pools and flowering streams. For he is the maker."
There is a beautiful saying of Prophet Muhammad, upon him be God's unbound love, "The world is like a dream that a sleeping man sees." (credit)
Astaghfirullah. To Him is turning.
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