Seeker: Hey, Ramji.
I thought I’d give a dream description to see if you can cull something out of it. It felt vibrant and at a time when feeling I was very Vedanta-inspired.
So in it I’m transitioning from a bad feeling to getting old-me feeling back while returning to a restaurant where I used to work. The managers welcomed me and a few girls had romantic feelings for me, and everyone welcomed me back.
I walk out and I see you dining there with your wife, but it is a new venue like part of some vacation spot in a desert or western town with your wife. It’s been a while since we last met, so I’m a bit reserved, but you seem genuinely happy to see me as if an old friend has appeared. You shake my hand and hold to it for a while and the implied meaning is “be grounded” or “remember the beauty of the self.” You are still my teacher but it’s been a big struggle to keep me aware of the Big Picture because my mind is so undisciplined. Then you ask how things have been with me and guide me to a car with other friends and student/disciples are around you guys eating as well. You direct me to take some rich pasta, like catered food some place, as it helps others. Anyway, so your wife stayed behind but she has aged and gives me kind words of advice. And so I head off thinking I’m going back to my home town, but I’m in my car driving, going to meet up with my mother, but realize I somehow dropped my phone. So now I’m lost a bit on a desert highway not sure which direction to go because I don’t have GPS or the info my mom gave me and I can’t give the heads-up that I’m going to be late.
James: It means that you are about ready to get on the Vedanta bus and have a nice rich picnic meal if you follow the teachings, but if you don’t you will end up confused in the desert of samsara without a GPS. The GPS is the scripture and the guru.
It’s a positive dream, for sure, but you need to capitalize on it. The thing about seeking is that you need to know how to seek. Once you realize the value of Vedanta your seeking stops and you follow the program: listening, reasoning and assimilating the knowledge. First karma yoga, then jnana yoga, then moksa, then nididhyasana unless you are perfectly satisfied as the self, which you will be if you are the self, not just a jiva thinking it is the self. It’s a program that you undertake under the guidance of a living teacher, no hopping around looking for experiences, etc.
