She leaves the reader free to pursue his or her own convictions while providing points of entry into alternative ways of thought

Manjula Padmanabhan

This is an exceptionally well-written and sensibly argued book about that most insubstantial of human experiences, the world of dreams. The author offers a selection of theories and case-histories concerning this twilight realm, while sharing her own conviction that dreams can and do provide a reliable path to higher states of consciousness.

Night visions are bestowed upon all sentient beings regardless of wealth or gender, faith or race.

Even animals have dreams, as anyone who has ever watched their pet dog or cat twitching in sleep can tell. Nevertheless, it is not easy to say what exactly a dream is. Meaningless brain-chatter or emanation from the celestial realm? Chemical imbalance or evidence of an invisible Inner Controller? Tandan, who has a degree in psychology and has conducted a number of dream workshops, tells us there is no final verdict, despite decades and even centuries of speculation upon the subject.

Her book does not pretend to be an all-inclusive encyclopaedia. Nevertheless, it offers overviews and analyses of such classical theorists as Freud and Jung while introducing several others to lay readers. I was particularly interested, for instance, to read about the work of American psychologist Calvin Hall. He believed that a dream “is a projection of what dreamers think about themselves, other people, and the world they live in.” His method (called content analysis) “consisted of taking written reports of series of dreams… then deconstructing them into different categories … breaking down a dream report into its constituent elements … tabulat(ing) the number of times each element occurs.” His methods, though no doubt unsatisfactory for mystics, provided researchers with a powerful tool for analysing dreams and dreamers.

Tandan’s essential argument with rationalists is that their approach, while immensely useful to sociologists and psychologists, cannot provide answers for those whose dreams turn out to be prophetic, medically relevant or transformative in a spiritual and in some cases even historical sense. She quotes the examples of scientists and leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, some of whose dreams have literally shaped the modern world. The final chapters deal with the more esoteric levels of dreaming, including various mystical states such as “lucid” dreaming, in which the dreamer can control the experience.

She has structured her material in as rational and objective a manner as possible while remaining loyal to her beliefs. She uses her own life experiences as the starting point of the tour, pausing to share several case-histories along the way, from textbooks as well as friends and associates. While showing us what has been learnt in the laboratory and through countless trials and painstaking empirical research, Tandan makes the effort to present more than one way of interpreting events. “At the outset,” she says, “it must be clarified that neither the rationalist (who denies meaning to a dream) nor the hermeneutist (who ascribes meaning to it) can boast of concrete proof either way.” Then she adds, “I like to believe that the evidence tilts towards the latter point of view, and my bias is evident in this book.”

This statement expresses what I admire most about Tandan’s approach: she leaves the reader free to pursue his or her own convictions while providing points of entry into alternative ways of thought. I, for example, might be described as a rationalist even though I am a prolific dreamer. I will confess that I read the book not merely as a reviewer but as a reader interested in the information for its own sake. At the end, though I remained sceptical, I was willing to try out one of the suggestions made in the book It’s a problem-solving technique used by Dr Francis Menezes, director of the Tata Management Institute in Pune. “Take a piece of paper,” he suggests, “and think of a problem that has been bothering you … In a single-phrase question, write it down … put it under your pillow … ponder over your question. When you wake up the next morning try and remember your dream, and write it down immediately.”

So I did that last night, in the sensing of “asking” for a dream, without writing down a specific request. Here’s what I got: I dreamed I had breakfast with Obama and his two daughters! We ate blueberry pancakes sprinkled with icing sugar, chatting amicably all the while. I awoke feeling happy and replete. Is this meaningful or not? No idea! But the gladness has lasted all morning.

Madhu Tandan, author of Dreams and Beyond ( 2008) and Faith and Fire (1997) has gained prominence as a writer who has the rare ability to link everyday lives to spiritual concerns. The Hindu newspaper praised her first book as ‘an engaging account of an individual’s journey, an autobiographical narrative inviting the reader to an extraordinary experience.’ The second book was launched to a packed audience in Delhi’s India Habitat Centre. She has also published short stories and newspaper articles.

Manjula Padmanabhan is a playwright, journalist, comic strip artist, and children’s book author responsible for the award-winning play Harvest. It won the first Onassis prize for Theater after it premiered in Greece in 1999. She has also written such plays as Lights Out! (1984),Hidden Fires (solo by RashiBunny) The Artist’s Model (1995) and Sextet (1996).