What a Sadhak Should Do When a Devi or Devta Gives Darshan in a Dream

The speaker opens with the case of a sadhak who sees their ishta devata talking to them again and again in a dream, or feels that their deity is speaking to them this way. He says that in such a situation it becomes very necessary to know what precautions to take, what to do, what not to do, and which decision to take at which time. The reason, he says, is that a Swapna is a medium through which any shakti reaches close to its own SadhakOne who undertakes a sadhana; the practitioner as distinct from the ordinary worshipper. — it is the one such medium. He adds that swapna shastra, swapna vidya and swapna tantra are a very special kind of tantra in their own right and hold importance within the place of tantra. The second point he makes is about a sadhak who has not attained any particular vachan siddhi — who has not awakened a shakti to the degree that it converses with them and has been taken into its word. In that condition, he says, the only way and the only medium left for the shaktis to reach their devotees and sadhaks is the dream.

Asked what a sadhak should do in this situation, the speaker says the first and most special thing is to take particular care that whenever any conversation with a deity takes place in a Swapna, remembering it is absolutely necessary. Whatever is being told in the dream must be remembered in the right way. Alongside this he gives a caution about how the message arrives: one must keep in mind that it will not be told as-it-is. He says it happens very rarely that a deity states the event about to occur, or whatever the matter is, exactly as it is.

The speaker says the second most special point is that a conversation with a deity in a Swapna should never, ever be told to anybody. He remarks on how much salt, chilli and masala people add when they tell it. If the deity has said only that certain tasks are such-and-such, people retell it with full relish — that in the dream they were told so much, all these things were told to them. He returns to this at the end of the talk: having received such guidance, keep all these things secret and do not make a noise about them.

The speaker asks what kinds of things can be told to a sadhak in a Swapna, and answers with a list. A particular scripture may be shown, with the instruction to study it. The form of a particular devi or devta may be shown, with the instruction to take that deity's name, worship them, or acquire knowledge related to them. A direction may come to do a particular paath for so many days. One may be told to light a lamp — in this deity's name, in this manner, do this kind of work. One may be told about BhogThe food offering placed before a deity before anyone in the household eats., PrasadWhat returns from the deity after an offering, and is then eaten rather than discarded. and puja, or about some puja-related thing one is forgetting. He adds a further kind: if some Abhichara prayog is being done against the sadhak, or an enemy is plotting some conspiracy against them, that information too reaches them in the dream, by their deity, through their ishta shakti. He explains that the Anga ShaktiThe Goddess's own limb-powers — one of the reasons Her worship is never complete without also worshipping the wider set of powers, like Mandala Shakti, that accompany Her. who regularly come and go at the sadhak's place of worship give this information, on that deity's order and by its grace.

Having listed what a deity may convey, the speaker says the first and the last thing to keep in mind is that in these conditions one has to take decisions very thoughtfully. The next most important point, he says, comes when the sadhak goes to follow what they were told — that they must now chant this mantra, offer a lamp to this deity, place BhogThe food offering placed before a deity before anyone in the household eats., puja and PrasadWhat returns from the deity after an offering, and is then eaten rather than discarded. here, whatever it may be. At that moment they should decide correctly what their own AvasthaThe state or stage a practitioner stands at, which governs what they are ready to receive and what a deity will disclose to them. is at the time of doing the work. He explains avastha with an example. Suppose a case is running against you in a court. In a dream you receive the direction, from somewhere, that you are to go to a Hanuman temple on five Tuesdays and light DhoopIncense offered during worship; its smoke is treated as an offering in its own right within the sequence of upacharas. and a lamp. That is your situation, and that is the order you have received. While doing the work you must keep in mind that the dream will not tell you that you are to light the lamp because of the case running against you. You yourself have to relate it: why have we been told to go and light a lamp at Hanuman ji's temple? So at the time of lighting the lamp, he says, you must mention it — O Hanuman ji, free us from this false case that is running, please stand with us. And if possible, sit there and do the paath of Hanuman Chalisa and the like, or Sundarkand, according to your capacity; do not do it once and run off in a hurry, but do it well. Then, somewhere or other, by the deity's grace that matter is accomplished.

To make the matter clearer, the speaker gives an analogy. Suppose you are an English teacher at a school and have many favourite students. One of them tells you he has a problem in physics but cannot bring himself to speak to the physics teacher, because that teacher is a bit strict and he lacks the courage. What do you do? You speak on his behalf — look after this student a little, he is a bright boy, he was afraid to ask you. Between the two of you there is no difficulty; you are friends. Then you tell the boy to go and ask his question, that you have spoken and there will be no problem. The boy gets special treatment, is happy, his work gets done, and his confidence grows. The same thing, he says in simple words, happens here. Whatever Ishta Devata or ishta shakti you serve — when it feels that a certain area is connected with Hanuman ji, and so this person should do seva there — then in the dream, through its Gana, through whatever attendants it has, the message is given to you: do it this way. And the petition is lodged with Hanuman ji in advance. When you then go and do that thing, your work gets done quickly.

The speaker turns to what he calls over-smart people. When they receive this kind of information in a dream — that it is to be done in such a way — they first go and ask in ten places. He voices their objections: we worship Durga ji, we worship Kali ji, why were we told about Hanuman ji? Why should we worship Hanuman ji, when Hanuman ji himself serves Kali ji — why should we worship him? He calls this many kinds of senseless prattle. He singles out in particular the servants of Krishna ji in today's times, whose case, he says, is altogether different and peculiar: having gone into bhakti they have reached the utmost pitch of bhakti, and they acknowledge nothing and nobody besides Krishna ji. In such a situation, he says, when you make this kind of mistake, the problem is yours. He says he has placed this subject before everyone so that they understand it correctly, correlate the guidance to their own AvasthaThe state or stage a practitioner stands at, which governs what they are ready to receive and what a deity will disclose to them., and then complete their work accordingly, so that they also obtain success.

Closing the subject, the speaker says that whenever this guidance is received, one should also keep in mind that whichever devi or devta one worships, whenever a direction comes from them, one should thank them for it — again and again. He gives the words: Prabhu, you showed such grace; O Mother, you showed such grace that you made yourself a medium in a Swapna for me and told me that this thing should be done this way. Express gratitude to them, he says, because such a great shakti is showing grace upon you. He ends by asking that all these things be kept secret, with no noise made about them, and hopes everyone has benefited from the subject.