Dream Theory in ArutkuRaL
                                                                By Dr K.Loganathan
 

ArutkuRal  is  a massive text I wrote a few years back in a metrical style known as kuRal  in Tamil literary tradition.  Thereare three chapters  and hence 30 couplets on dreams and related states of consciousness.While many have appreciated the views expressed,  there  has also been severe criticisms. My contention that dream experiences can help the attaining ofABSOLUTE UNDERSTANDING has not been that well received. I shall select some of these couples and explain theessential contents of my dream theory before considering the view of others and actually enter into the exciting part ofinterpreting interesting dreams. I have actually kept a record of most of my dreams for the last ten years and have beenstudying very closely some of them.

1. Dreaming is a Learning Experience.

By learning is meant here the destruction of IGNORANCE, a DARKNESS inherent to the souls and which is there
already with them from beginningless times. It is ANATI, unoriginated and hence nothing to do with Freudian
UNCONSCIOUS that results because of repression or suppression.  It is not the  Collective Unconscious of C.G.JUNG as
it not the source of archetypes.  It is simply the absence of consciousness , a state of Being that we shall call
ABCONSCIOUS to distinguish it from other related states of Being. It is Darkness generated by GIGGOSUM that in
Tamil Saiva literature is called ANAVAM.

a] A dream experience pierces through this enveloping Darkness simultaneously disclosing a TRUTH that has been
hidden, covered up and so forth. A dream experience is ILLUMINATING, lights up an area of Darkness that has
remained unlighted up so far. The experience comes along with the reflective experiences of the day but usually showing
some elements that have escaped our notice. It is in a way INFORMATIVE of something related to that experience but
which we failed to access during the day while in active commerce with the senses.

1. kanavenpatu oortaling kaNNathu kaaNpatu
karutaR kariyameyk karu

¸É¦ÅýÀР  µ÷¾Ä¢í ¸ñ½Ð ¸¡ñÀÐ
    ¸Õ¾ü ¸Ã¢Â¦Áöì ¸Õ
 

b] But the understanding of the dreams belongs to the field of HERMEUTIC SEMIOTICS for all dreams need to be
interpreted to be understood. Furthermore the dreams are METAPHORICAL in nature and hence what is communicated
is essentially semiotically related. It is hermeneutical because the dream disclosure is a TEXT that has a Surface Structure
and a Deep Structure. The interpretation is actually onto-pretation the going from the Surface Structure elements to the
Deep Stucture elementsts which is the MEANING of the dream.

6. UnakkaN utavA  meykaLai kanavinvazi
Njaanak kaN Ukkum nallaruL

°Éì¸ñ ¯¾Å¡ ¦Áö¸¨Ç ¸ÉÅ¢ýÅÆ¢
    »¡Éì¸ñ á즸ªõ ¿øÄÕû
 

C]  Some dreams are peculiar in that the deep archetypes emerge into the consciousness camouflaged in earthly forms thatare with the normal experience of the individuals. Such dreams are the  sources of the mythologies  and folklores and arefull of the magical and mystical. They can be easily misunderstood as the bizarre and fantas-tic, quite unbelievable etc.
But such incredulity arises only because the interpretive norms of naive hermeneutics of ordinary experience is applied to
them without considering their archetypal and hence the essentially mythical character.

  9. purANa urukkaLin putumozip payilumE
      aRituyi lAngkAtci yil

Òá½ ¯Õì¸Ç¢ý ÒЦÁ¡Æ¢ô À¢֧Á
    «È¢Ð¢ Ä¡í¸¡ðº¢ Â¢ø
 

2.Dreaming Experiences Bring About Releasement

a]    One of the basic facts of human existence is that  there is bodily and mental constraints of various kinds. The bodily
constraints are obvious, men cannot conceive and give birth to a child like a woman. Less obvious are the inner cognitive
constraints. The mental functioning is deeply constrained by prejudices of various kinds thatTolkAppiyar calls vinai or
vilangku, i.e. chains of a kind. The mind cannot be creative, productive and innovative unless these chains are destroyed
and  the cognitive functioning is made more fluid and flexible. One of the functions of dreams is to bring about this
fluidity, flexibility and productivity. The mind is made to experience a bewildering variety of the fantastic and magical,
the unbelievable and the impossible. The straight jackets of the mind is loosened and the person is made to think along
lines he dares not under normal circumstances.

  URRa vudampin uRuththum paRkaddu
  Viddazikka vidinthanak kanavukaL

    ¯üÈ× ¼õÀ¢ý ¯ÚòÐõ Àü¸ðÎ
    Å¢ð¼Æ¢ì¸ Å¢Êó¾Éì ¸É׸û

  kaadciyung  kanavung uLakaruL wiikkungkathir
  puuthipuR RaLaippukun tOdum

¸¡ðº¢Ôí ¸É×í ¯Ç¸Õû ¿£ìÌí¸¾¢÷
â¾¢Òü ȨÇôÒÌó §¾¡Îõ
 

b]    Certainly there are different types of dreams depending upon the Depths reached. The very deep dreams, compared tothe widely sexual and superficial ,  are archetypal in nature where the divine forces themselves emerge  into the deep
recesses of the human mind. The experience borders the religious. During such precious moments, the deep parts of the
mind where resides the GIGGOSUM itself is somehow reached and what's more the BLACK stuff thwarted somehow.
The bestial hold of Giggosum is violated and hence the self definitised somewhat.  The narrowness of outlook and vision
is changed so that it is broader and deeper. The person ascends in personal development so that he is a better person with
a more endearing personality. Along with the growth of such mental health there is growth in physical wellbeing as well.
Such deep dreams are in fact  self purificational.

  Azak kanavukaL aNumaiyaith thiiykkum
  Paazak  kanavukaL pAri
 
    ¬Æì ¸É׸û «Ï¨Á¨Âò ¾£öìÌõ
    À¡Æì ¸É׸û À¡Ã¢

  udarkaddu muLakkaddu mudaikkumee uRangkungkaal
  untikamalat tinezumuyar kanavu
 
    ¯¼ü¸ðÎ ÓÇì¸ðÎ Ó¨¼ì̧Á ¯ÈíÌí¸¡ø
    ¯ó¾¢¸ÁÄò  ¾¢¦ÉØÓÂ÷ ¸É×
 

  paRRellaam pazikkum paasaththaLai erikkum
  uRRuNarvaar uLaththezu kanavu

Àü¦ÈøÄ¡õ ÀÆ¢ìÌõ À¡ºò¾¨Ç ±Ã¢ìÌõ
    ¯üÚ½÷Å¡÷ ¯Çò¦¾Ø ¸É×
 

c]  The most important aspect of dream experience is related to the different experiencing of TIME. There are two
different modes in which we experience time: TEMPORALITY or psychological time and the physical WORLD TIME
that is the matter for astronomical calculations. Temporality is related to our basic COMPETENCE for time reckoning as
such. Dream experiences, in severing our commerce with the worldly, exposes us to TEMPORALITY of  TIME
consciousness in its purity.  There is only a succession of dream events with the dreamer caused to be in the Mode of
Being of awaiting for the yet to come. He awaits for the  NEXT, the yet to come without being able to pin the dream event into a spatio-temporaly  locatable event in world history. There is no OTHER with respect to whose experience he can locate his own dream experience. It throws him into a world where the normal spatio-temporal categories are inapplicable. This is one of the reasons why dreams are so difficult to understand and have to be looked at as belonging to
Hermeneutic Semiotics.

  kaddakaRRung kanavin kaalamung kuRuukum
  viddakal viduumpaRRu  muRRa

¸ð¼¸üÚí ¸ÉÅ¢ý ¸¡ÄÓí Ìê¯Ìõ
    Å¢ð¼¸Ä Å¢Þ¯õÀüÚ ÓüÈ
 
 

3.Experiencing the Mythical

a]   Western Historicism emphasizes the phenomenal reality and hence World Time consciousness and along with it
physical causality. A historical event must have a set of antecedent events which causally determine the event and its
nature under question. Any personal problem is also analyzed in terms of a set of causal events: the cultural background,
the sociopolitical patterns of life, the forms of upbringing, early childhood experiences   and such other external factors.
Dream experiences shatter all these by throwing us into the realms of the mythical and metaphorical. The world is begun
to be seen as a DRAMA enacted by forces that  are powerful and at the same time uncanny. The events in a person's  life
and in fact what a person is,  is constituted by these archetypal forces which are for most of the time unconscious. This
ahistorical way of seeing the world and what happens to one belongs to the field of transductive perception the beginning
of which is dreaming experience.  It is that which has been described as the THIRD EYE which is just a colorful way
describing what everybody has a competence that probably remains untapped. Everybody dreams but only  some who  can
recall them, a limitation that can be corrected by practice.

   kanavum mERkaadciyung kaaaNpaarkku  nutalvizi
   nookkuN dee nunit tuyara

¸É×õ §Áü¸¡ðº¢Ôí ¸¡ñÀ¡÷ìÌ Ñ¾øŢƢ
    §¿¡ìÌñ§¼ ÑÉ¢ò ÐÂÃ

b] The dreaming experience allows us a peep into our own unconscious,   the hidden recesses within our mind where the
forces at PLAY are made  to  work. But it is not always the case that we have dreams that are archetypal and sublime,
something bordering deep religious experience. The soul must be ready for such deeply satisfying dream experiences.
The worldly people, tied to the earthly are denied such accesses. One must be desirous of  Deep Wisdom, the Absolute
TRUTH,  a true  understanding of the world free of various prejudices that condition our worldly existence. There must be a fine tuning  and a receptivity of the mysterious and subterranean  forces that may be dark  and unsavory at times. One must be brave to face the Dark Side of oneself by discarding the false face-masks that one wears for the world and also for oneself. One must be ready to unmask and be NAKED , ready for a certain of kind NIRVANA,  a psychological
nudity , a baring of oneself of prejudices that condition our ordinary experiences.

   kaadcik karitaaya karukkaLaik kaaNpar
   mIdci viruppin vittakar

    ¸¡ðº¢ì ¸Ã¢¾¡Â ¸Õ츨Çì ¸¡ñÀ÷
Á£ðî Å¢ÕôÀ¢ý Å¢ò¾¸÷

c]   Thus dreaming experience is purificatory in a way and  when one persists in it , interpret and gain a proper
understanding of them, there is the destruction of IGNORANCE or the anjnjaanam in the Indian  philosophies. And as we
persist more and more in this task, more of this Abconsciousness is destroyed and inner self flooded with INNER
RADIANCE or uLLOLI. It is actually wiping clean the dirty windows so that the light that is always there shines within
undistorted and unsullied. The SEEING becomes PURE so that the understanding becomes free of falsities. In the end it
leads to enjoying the ABSOLUTE understanding i.e. civanjaanam, the TRUTH. One gains an understanding of
METAPHYSICA UNIVERSALIS that is in bosom of every person only waiting to owned and appropriated as the
understanding of self itself..
 
   kanvenung kuRimozi kaNtuunyn taRivaarkku
   uNavau muyarciva njaanam

    ¸É¦ÅÛí ÌÈ¢¦Á¡Æ¢ ¸ñÞöóò ¾È¢Å¡÷ìÌ
    ¯½ÅÕ ÓÂ÷º¢Å »¡Éõ
 

d] The deeply symbolic dreams are actually archetypal in nature and hence disclosures of BEING itself. Each archetype
is a presentation of BEING and not the product of mental fictions. One does not fantasize or imagine them even
transcendentally. They are presentations of BEING , shapes BEING assumes in order to enact the DRAMA of life
however BEING remaining forever uninvolved in the PLAY. BEING does not play as a  sport or anything like that, it is
not a LILA , game of amusements but a more serious   unfoldment of the GRACE of BEING, an infinite KINDNESS that
knows only the sufferings of the souls.  Being FULL OF LOVE, BEING  assumes these archetypal forms to instruct and
illuminate the psychic beings suffering in their worldly entanglement.  Such deep dreaming experiences are
LIBERATING  through providing ILLUMINATIONS of a profound kind.

   kanavin kaadciyin karuttin palllutippin
   ninaivil vArAvIsannin RAduvAn

¸ÉÅ¢ý ¸¡ðº¢Â¢ý ¸Õò¾¢ý ÀøÖ¾¢ôÀ¢ý
    ¿¢¨ÉÅ¢ø šáţºý¿¢ý È¡ÎÅ¡ý
 

   nuzaivinait tantu nuthalvaa niRaivan
   kanaviR Ranakkaatti yaruLi

    ѨÆÅ¢¨Éò ¾óРѾøÅ¡ É¢¨ÈÅý
¸ÉÅ¢ ȨÉ측ðÊ ÂÕÇ¢
 
 

4. Dreaming Experience as Pedagogical

a]   The sensorial experience which is basic and common to everybody is peculiarly important in that it provides the most
assured sense of reality. However this confidence in the sensorial is misplaced for the most important aspects of reality are
unconscious and become available for experiencing only when we enter dream-like experiences . Things that are there in
the world become ACCESSIBLE only during these states of consciousness. And because they open up new realms of
reality , light up the hitherto UNKNOWN  realities as present there as the POWERS that in fact constitute what one is ,
such experiences become pedagogical. There is LEARNING not in the behavioral sense but rather in the sense
understood in Agamic Psychology, learning in the sense of REDUCION of  INNER DARKNESS, or  ignorance.  The
scope of experience itself becomes EXTENDED so that the mind and along with it , the cognitive processes are made
deeper and more profound. New creative capabilities  become available for the individual
 

   kAriruL azivin kAdciyung kanavum
   pAlavan padaikkum pAdam

¸¡Ã¢Õû «Æ¢Å¢ý ¸¡ðº¢Ôí ¸É×õ
    À¡ÄÅý À¨¼ìÌõ À¡¼õ
 

B]   We are using the term "dreaming-experience" in an extended sense communicated by the frequently occurring phrase
kanavum kAdciyum. Broadly speaking there at least TWO distinct dreaming states: dreaming while asleep and dreaming
while awake (which is not day dreaming) The mechanisms are the same though the quality and contents are different. The
sensorial commerce is disengaged because of sleep for sleep-dreams and meditative stance for  awake-dreams.  Continuous
practice leads one to enjoy also the awake-dreams in which the archetypes are experienced in the phenomenal drama,
how in fact they constitute the worldly events. In Saiva Literature these states of higher dreams are called yOkak kAdci ,
vinjAnak kAdci civanjAnak kAdci etc. The states of consciousness are also distinguished into  suzuththi , turiam and
finally tiyAtiitam. The last named is the highest . In all such higher states, BEING itself discloses itself so that the
archetypal presentations of BEING are directly experienced in their phenomenal  disclosures.

   kanavung kAdciyung kadantaturi  yatiRkANpar
   uruvilaa turuvAkumoN poruL

¸É×í ¸¡ðº¢Ôí ¸¼ó¾ÐâÂò ¾¢ü¸¡ñÀ÷
    ¯ÕŢġ ÐÕș̌Á¡ñ ¦À¡Õû

c]  The understanding that comprehends ALL these states of consciousness finally attains an understanding in which there is NO UNCONSCIOUS at all, no more DARKNESS or ignorance. The understanding is absolutely TRANSLUCENT, there is NOTHING that it does not comprehend. As such it is the final state of consciousness or understanding called sivanjAnam in Saiva literature. It is that TOWARDS which all our efforts are directed though under normal circumstances we are not clear and rather confused about it. But as our earthly involvement become  loosened , this NEED surfaces to the fore and becomes the consuming passion of an individual. It is only at this point an individual becomes philosophic or metaphysical, deeply committed to the experiencing the hidden realities, the mysterious and mystical, the real stuff of religious experience.

   turiyattin atiitatiR RonRntoR civanjAnam
   vizikaLvE   Rilainutal viziyE

ÐâÂò¾¢ý «¾£¾ò¾¢ü §È¡ýÚ󦾡ü º¢Å»¡Éõ
    ŢƢ¸û §ÅÈ¢¨ÄѾø ŢƢ§Â

   aRivariya iRaivanai aRivaakk maRituyil
   aRithavat tinmeyp payan
 
«È¢Åâ ­¨ÈÅ¨É «È¢Å¡ìÌ ÁȢТø
    «È¢¾Åò ¾¢ý¦Áöô ÀÂý

d]  The dream experiences , in this extended sense of the word, are genuinely meta-physical, the going beyond the purely
physical.  As such they also constitute the genuinely re-ligious , the connecting back with BEING by overcoming the
severance with BEING of ordinary experience. Once we begin to explore the UNCONSCIOUS as a field of
HERMENEUTIC SCIENCE , a science where everything experienced including the dreams are taken as TEXTS that
need  to be INTERPRETED to be understood, we also transform the religious dimensions  of human experiences as a field of SCIENCE and hence a field of RATIONAL ACTIVITY. The religions will cease to be DOGMATIC but rather a
scientifically tuned explorations of the metaphysical realms. We accomplish by this also the dream of Husserl of founding
philosophy as a rigorous science but philosophy understood as the same as metaphysics.