Why is it difficult to wake up from this dream called life?

The reason we do not want to wake up is that we find or think that the dream is really interesting and enjoyable.

So, one has to understand or realize that the dream is not actually interesting and enjoyable.

That is why Buddha’s First Noble Truth is, “Life is suffering (dukkha).”

When one realizes that life-dream is dukkha, then the impatience to end the dream and wake up rises in one’s being.

We are in that state, that is you DSR and me DSR.

Otherwise, why are we reading Vedanta?

Obviously because we are not “satisfied” with the life-dream, so in some sense we think the life-dream is dukkha.

But, at the same time, we think “some” parts of the life-dream are sukha, so we want the dream to continue in a manner of speaking.

Hence, it is important to understand from where the sukha or happiness is coming.

Where is it coming from?

We usually think it is coming from the acquisition and enjoyment of sense-objects, that is, getting and enjoying the desired object.

But, how did the unhappiness arise in the first place?

We think the unhappiness is due to the “lack” of the desired object.

Hence, we think we will become happy if we get that object or person.

But, does our experience conform to that?

Obviously not.

For instance, we fall in love, and even marry the person we love.

But, are we happy thereafter, if not in all respects, at least to the extent that one is still living with the person one loves.

Obviously not because as we find when we look at the world, one’s husband/wife can start to annoy one sometimes.

So, that shows that the source of happiness is not that person.

But, where did the happiness come when we were with that person earlier?

That is because, the desire to “be” with that person, or “marry” that person was fulfilled, and in that moment/period of time the mind became silent in some respects because the desire is no longer there to unsettle the mind and make it restless.

Hence, we will also realize that the “unhappiness” was not because the other person was yet to tell us that he/she loves us and wants to be with us forever, but because the desire for the love of that person made one’s mind restless to get that person’s love, and a restless mind cannot be happy.

So, once we realize happiness is a “still” mind, then we would not hanker after objects/persons in this world, and so the mind becomes still due to a “lack” of desires in it that make it restless, and in that “still” mind one experiences happiness.

This sets up a “virtuous cycle” of still-mind-happiness.

And, what is a still mind but a case of “waking up”.

Because where is the dream “seen”?

Obviously in the mind which is active.

So, a Still Mind = No Dream, Only Happiness.

Hence, understanding the above is crucial.

And, once you understand, the waking up process is set in motion and it proceeds without much effort on our part, and whatever effort we need to put in is only to convince ourselves of this understanding.

That is why, J. Krishnamurti said, “Understanding is the action”.