The world, as we know, is nothing but illusion. It is just like a film; you know it’s unreal and yet you get deceived, says OSHO
Is it possible to become enlightened in a dreamIJ Not only possible — whenever it happens, it always happens in a dream. Whatever you think is your waking consciousness, that too is not waking; that too is dreaming. While sitting here in front of me, do you think you are awakeIJ I don’t see it. I can hear your snore. And if you listen minutely, you will be able to hear it yourself: a deep snoring inside, and dreams and dreams.
In sleep, only dreams can happen. That’s what we have been insisting in this country continuously: That your world is illusory, it is maya. When Shankara says the world is maya, he’s not talking about his world. He’s talking about your world. Because in sleep, how can you know that which is realIJ The sleep distorts. A totally different world is created by sleep: A world of dreams. Whatever you call your life is made of the same stuff as dreams. It is dream-stuff. So, whenever you become awakened and enlightened, it will always be in a dream.
Buddha became enlightened — or Jesus, or Zarathustra, or lao Tzu — they all became enlightened in a dream. The dream was shattered; they awoke out of sleep. They looked around: The dream was never found anywhere; it was a totally different thing. That’s what they call God, nirvana, truth, Brahma, the kingdom of God. That’s what they call it. It is not your world; it is a waking. Enlightenment is just an awakening out of sleep. It is to become aware.
You are lost in your dreams. Your subjectivity is completely engulfed by the dreams. It is just like when you go to see a movie. You know well that there is nothing on the screen. Still, you get deceived. When the movie starts, the screen is full of pictures. Just a play of light and darkness, just very subtle dream-stuff, and you are lost. You forget yourself. You forget the spectator, you become part of it.
Sometimes you cry and weep when some tragedy happens on the screen. Sometimes you laugh; sometimes you become very tense. You follow all that is happening on the screen. There is nothing happening, but for two, three hours, you are completely lost. This is what life is. For 70 years, 80 years, you are completely lost. Buddha is one who becomes awakened in a movie house and suddenly shakes himself and understands that there is nothing — only a wide screen covered with white and black shades; just covered with false, dreamlike stuff. He laughs — not at what he is seeing; he laughs at himself — and comes back home. There is no point being there now. He has understood. He is no more a part of sleep; he has become awakened.
Try this. One day, go to the movies and watch how you become so unaware that that which is not real starts becoming real. Then bring yourself back and back, again and again. Become aware. Give a jerk to the body, look again, and remember it is a white screen and there is nothing there. Then again watch. Within seconds you are again gone. Again your consciousness has been taken possession of by the dream stuff. Again you are enjoying, or moving with the story. Remember again! This is the same process that a Buddha is doing in the world.
That’s why I say you can wake up wherever you are. You may be seeing yourself as a sinner. Or, you may be thinking of yourself as a mahatma. It makes no difference. The mahatma is as much in a dream if he believes what he is seeing and if he’s affected by the worship that is being done to him.
Excerpts from Come Follow to You
