Howard and Keith’s Dreams

Howard:  I awaken three or four times, and each time I am flat on my back looking up at the stars, which are always in different positions.  My sense of time is confused.  The sidereal shifts dizzy me.  Then, just before morning, I dream.  I dream of devotees clustered about a beautiful golden youth.  To see him is to be captivated.  His transcendental body radiates an absolute beauty unseen in the world.  Stunned, I inquire, “Who is he?”   “Don’t you know?” someone says. “That’s the Swami.”  I look carefully, but see no resemblance.  The youth appears around eighteen, straight out of Vaikuntha.  “If that’s Swamiji,” I wonder to myself, “why doesn’t he come to earth like that?”  A voice somewhere inside me answers: “People would follow me for my beauty, not for my teachings.”  And I awake, startled.  The dream is clear in my mind – more like a vision than a dream.  I feel strangely refreshed, bathed in some unknown balm.  Again I see that the constellations have shifted and that the dimmer stars have faded into the encroaching dawn.  I remember Swamiji telling me that although most dreams are simply functions of the mind, dreams of the spiritual master are of spiritual significance.

Keith also had a dream that night.

Keith:  I saw Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield of Kuruksetra.  Arjuna was inquiring from Krishna, and Krishna was reciting the Bhagavad-gita to him.  Then that picture phased out, and the images changed.  And there was Swamiji, and I was kneeling in front of him, and the same dialogue was going on.  I had the understanding that now is the time, and Swamiji is presenting the same thing as Krishna, and we are all in the position of Arjuna.  The dream made it very clear that hearing from Swamiji was as good as hearing from Krishna.