Can dreams be considered unreal because they are temporary?
So if we argue that the dream world is unreal because it is temporary and the waking world is real because it continues on. Yes, one sense in which it is valid, one sense in which it is not. Because in one sense even the external world that we experience is also temporary.
We may have a 6 hour dream and we may have a sleeping state and we may have a 60 year dream and we are in the waking state. So in that sense both are temporary. But the major difference is that usually in the dream we don't consciously choose.
It just happens. I do this, I do that. We don't really consciously deliberate and act.
So basically the free will that we have is exerted much more in the conscious state, in the jagruti state. And in that sense purification, elevation of consciousness, all this happens in the wakeful state. In the what state? In the wakeful state, the jagruti state.
So in the dreams we may have some spiritual experiences. Somebody may see an image of God. Somebody may hear some sacred sounds or whatever.
That's good. But that something just happened to us. The conscious exercise of our free will for the purpose of purification and elevation that can be done only in the jagruti state.
And that's how we become purified. So in that sense we can say that this reality, the physical reality is actually more consequential than mental reality. So in that sense we could say it is more real.
Although both of these are temporary but the dream does not have further consequences unless we act on it. In a sense in the dream we are simply experiencing the consequences of our past actions. Good dreams, we are getting good reactions to past good actions.
Bad dreams, we are getting the bad reactions to past bad actions. But we are also not consciously choosing to act in particular ways. We just act at that time.
But the conscious exercise of free will which can either lead to greater karmic entanglement, greater entanglement with karma or it can lead to purification, liberation. All that can be done in the wakeful state. So in that sense the wakeful state is a more consequential level of reality.
And it is primarily through the wakeful state that we can ultimately attain the liberated state. So sometimes we may get a dream of Krishna. That's good if we get a dream of Krishna.
But more important for our spiritual elevation is what we do after we wake up. After I wake up if I devote myself to Krishna then I will get purified and ultimately I will get liberated.