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VEDÂNTA-SOTRAS.
the conditions of time. One person lying asleep at night dreams that it is day in the Bharata Varsha ; another lives, during a dream which lasts one muhůrta only, through many crowds of years.-- In the third place there do not exist in the state of dreaming the requisite efficient causes for either thought or action ; for as, in sleep, the organs are drawn inward, the dreaming person has no eyes, &c. for perceiving chariots and other things; and whence should he, in the space of the twinkling of an eye, have the power of-or procure the material for-making chariots and the like ? In the fourth place the chariots, horses, &c., which the dream creates, are refuted, i.e. shown not to exist by the waking state. And apart from this, the dream itself refutes what it creates, as its end often contradicts its beginning; what at first was considered to be a chariot turns, in a moment, into a man, and what was conceived to be a man has all at once become a tree.—Scripture itself, moreover, clearly declares the chariots, &c., of a dream to have no real existence, "There are no chariots in that state, no horses, no roads, &c.'-Hence the visions of a dream are mere illusion.
4. (Not altogether) for it (the dream) is indicative (of the future), according to Sruti; the experts also declare this.
Well then, as dreams are mere illusion, they do not contain a particle of reality ?—Not so, we reply; for dreams are prophetic of future good and bad fortune. For scripture teaches as follows, When a man engaged in some work undertaken for a special wish sees in his dreams a woman, he may infer success from that dream-vision.' Other scriptural passages declare that certain dreams indicate speedy death, so, e.g. If he sees a black man with black teeth, that man will kill him.'-Those also who understand the science of dreams hold the opinion that to dream of riding on an elephant and the like is lucky; while it is unlucky to dream of riding on a donkey, &c.; and that certain other dreams also caused by special mantras or devatás or substances contain a particle of truth.-In all
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| SR No. | 007681 |
| Book Title | Questions of King Milinda Part 01 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | T W Rhys Davids |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1890 |
| Total Pages | 2695 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 47 MB |