Are dreams about Krishna factual or just imaginary?

Answer Podcast:

And ghosts are also included in that.
If the spiritual master comes in a dream then are those factual experiences or are they just dreams? Is that right? Yeah. In general, our tradition is filled with accounts of what we could say as paranormal contacts or paranormal experiences. Madhavendra Puri came to know about the location of the Gopal deity through a dream.
Similarly, the Pujari of Ramuna was told that there is Madhavendra Puri, a great saint for whom he was told in a dream. And in both these cases, Prabhupada talks about how exalted these devotees were that the Lord came in their dream. Prabhupada, especially when he was talking about the Pujari Ramuna, Prabhupada says that even this Pujari was a great devotee, otherwise the Lord would not have come in his dream.
So, there are definitely many accounts of authentically the Lord appearing in a dream. So, that precedent is there but that does not necessarily mean that every perception of God that we may get in a dream is necessarily authentic. There is that incident that in the early days of Agnum Mithila Prabhupada, some devotee came to Prabhupada and told him that, Prabhupada, you came in my dream and you told me to take LSD.
So, Prabhupada said that was not me, that was Maya in my dress. So, here the point is that yes, Krishna is completely free and we may say that yes, those who are Balaji Pujari are very great devotees and we are all struggling sadhakas. So, Krishna can come in their dream, Krishna cannot come in our dream.
We cannot restrict Krishna like that. Krishna is completely free, Krishna can come in the dream of even a neophyte devotee. But, the test is that Krishna when he gives any instructions by paranormal means, those usually reiterate his normal instructions.
They never contradict his normal instructions. So, if Krishna is telling me in a dream that take LSD, then that is a contradiction of the normal instructions that Krishna has given to the spiritual master. So, either it is Krishna or it is the spiritual master coming in the dream.
So, those instances where we see Krishna, where Krishna appears to tell us something which is contradictory to the normal instructions, those we can say that these are non-authentic paranormal divine interventions. They are concoctions of the mind. But, in other cases, it is quite possible that Krishna can come.
But, again like I mentioned that our spiritual growth depends on what we do in the Jagruti stage. So, whether Krishna comes in my dream or not is not as important as what I do after I wake up. If I say that Krishna came in my dream and therefore, I don’t need to wake up and chant Hare Krishna.
Now, I become pure devotee. Then, I am pure illusion. So, yes, in general, we see in the Madhavendra Puri pastime also where when Gopinath steals Kheer for him and Madhavendra Puri doesn’t stay there to bask in the glory of I am such a great devotee that Krishna stole Kheer for me.
He needs to use that place. So, generally speaking, if a devotee gets a dream in which Krishna, the spiritual master appears and some special instruction is given, a devotee usually doesn’t publicize that. So, rather than, if we are given some instruction, act on that instruction.
You can see that if Krishna has come in a dream and maybe we are giving some devotional points of action that we are planning to take, we can take that as a confirmation after that maybe consulting some senior trustworthy devotee. But we don’t even publicize that. We publicize that and we are cheapening the mercy that Krishna is giving us.
Rather than using that mercy to go closer to Krishna, we are using that mercy to create a perception that I am so advanced, I am so special that Krishna came in my dream. So, in general, there is no need. If Krishna can come in the dream of some devotees, but the general culture should be that the devotee doesn’t claim that I am special just because Krishna has come in my dream.
Rather, if there is any specialness, that specialness should be seen in the increased commitment to bhakti in tangible terms that happens. So, there are a few incidents. There was one devotee in Vallabh Vidyanagar in India and he was an elderly devotee and Prabhupada came in his dream and told him, you should donate your house to Krishna.
And he actually woke up and donated his house. So, that’s where the temple is now. Now, this is, yes, Krishna, Prabhupada, the spiritual master can come and inspire us to increase our devotional service.
So, A, what we get in the whatever perceptions we get in the dream. Now, one extreme is to say that everything that is there in the dream is true. The other extreme is to say that anyone who claims that something special has happened to me in the dream is a scourge here.
That is also false. That is also another extreme. Balanced is, the centre of our bhakti is not what happens in our dreams.
The centre of our bhakti is what we are doing tangibly in our life. So, if someone claims to have or the word claim has a negative connotation, if someone believes that Krishna came in my dream or my spiritual master came in my dream, then we don’t have to uncritically accept it nor do we have to sceptically reject it. If that is, if that dream vision inspires a devotee to practice bhakti more intensely, we can encourage that but we can also tell that devotee that there is no need to publicise this.
Because people may misunderstand and that may also set a wrong trend. So, in general, we accept the possibility of paranormal divine interventions but we stress the normal performance of devotional surveys as both the process for spiritual advancement and as the standard for evaluating spiritual advancement. So, that way, we accept the possibility of the paranormal but focus on the normal.
Does that answer the question? Thank you.