The Greatest Value of the Dream-State of Samadhi

 

The psychic powers that can develop as a result of entering into the inner realms of the vital and mental planes in the trance of Samadhi are useful for results in the outer world, but are distractions, more than anything else, for the seeker of the Supreme. The integral Yoga does not exclude the possibility of the use of these powers for any work in the outer world, but the seeker certainly should not allow them to divert the attention or miss the more important aspects of the development of consciousness that the Yoga seeks.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “The greatest value of the dream-state of Samadhi lies, however, not in these more outward things, but in its power to open up easily higher ranges and powers of thought, emotion, will by which the soul grows in height, range and self-mastery. Especially, withdrawing from the distraction of sensible things, it can, in a perfect power of concentrated self-seclusion, prepare itself by a free reasoning, thought, discrimination or more intimately, more finally, by an ever deeper vision and identification, for access to the Divine, the supreme Self, the transcendent Truth, both in its principles and powers and manifestations and in its highest original Being. Or it can by an absorbed inner joy and emotion, as in a sealed and secluded chamber of the soul, prepare itself for the delight of union with the divine Beloved, the Master of all bliss, rapture and Ananda.”

Sri Aurobindo