{"id":2707,"date":"2011-06-18T01:37:12","date_gmt":"2011-06-18T05:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/?p=2707"},"modified":"2011-06-18T01:38:33","modified_gmt":"2011-06-18T05:38:33","slug":"dreaming-the-song-of-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/06\/dreaming-the-song-of-the-lord.html","title":{"rendered":"Dreaming the Song of the Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cAction is better than inaction\u201d \u2013 Krishna to Arjuna.
\n<\/em>
\nDreams can call us to traditions and cultures of which we may have had little or no previous knowledge, from any obvious sources, yet may now prove to be part of our authentic path. In one of my online forums, a woman named Maureen described how she was guided deep into Indian philosophy by a fascinating recent series of dreams. The sequence began with a dream encounter with a charming Indian man who wanted to escort her on a trip.<\/p>\n

When Maureen asked for specific guidance on her spiritual path, she dreamed she was given two books, one a book for children, the other the\u00a0Bhagavad Gita<\/em>. She then joined her sisters \u2013 they all used to be champion gymnasts \u2013 and they performed in something as important as the Olympics. In company with her sisters, she discovered a \u201cbook\u201d composed of five panels. Examined a certain way, the five panels revealed an unusual and highly significant map, drawn in \u201cIndia ink\u201d, that only she could see. She communicated the map to her sisters by singing its meaning.<\/p>\n

Now: the dreamer had never previously read the Gita. She did not know that it is a \u201csong\u201d (the title means \u201cSong of the Lord\u201d and it is traditionally sung in recitation). She knew next to nothing about Indian philosophy. She certainly did not know that the Greeks in the army of Alexander the Great who encountered yogis called them \u201cgymnosophists\u201d (a word related to \u201cgymnasts\u201d that means \u201cnaked philosophers”) because these ascetics wore rather little clothing.<\/p>\n

Inspired by her dream, Maureen proceeded to read the\u00a0Bhagavad Gita. <\/em>She reported: \u201cI feel as if I am holding a jewel in my hands with this book. I have never been to India, and have no close associations with it – but now it has really grabbed my attention. I feel I am being guided on a question I always wrestle with – how do we live a truly spiritual life in our earthly existence?\u201d<\/p>\n

She felt the gymnasts in her dream had a dual meaning, related to that question. \u201cThe lesson I learned from my father about embracing gymnastics not to compete, but to give myself to the sport, to let it be an expression of me, was very liberating for me at the time, and life altering.\u201d As she studied the Gita, she realized that the \u201cfive panels\u201d that composed her dream map may relate to the five \u201cimmutable truths\u201d and five \u201ccauses of action\u201d that Krishna explains to Arjuna.
\nShe is finding the Yoga Karma (the yoga of Action) in this work highly relevant to her need to make a balance between the practical necessities of life and a spiritual awakening. \u201cAction is better than inaction,\u201d Krishna admonishes Arjuna, on the field of battle. (But think not on the fruits of action…)<\/p>\n

Maureen\u2019s experience is a rich example of how dreaming can guide us in keeping body and soul together as we try to marry a spiritual awakening to the requirements of ordinary life. Hmmm, and now I’m remembering that in a dream of my own, a year before hers, I told reporters that I was writing an epic inspired by the\u00a0Mahabharata – <\/em>the immense Hindu cycle in which the\u00a0Bhagavad Gita<\/em> is the central jewel. That would be quite an assignment!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAction is better than inaction\u201d \u2013 Krishna to Arjuna. Dreams can call us to traditions and cultures of which we may have had little or no previous knowledge, from any obvious sources, yet may now prove to be part of our authentic path. In one of my online forums, a woman named Maureen described how…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,38,35,5],"tags":[316,312,199,315,314,311,310,317,313],"class_list":["post-2707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ancestral-traditions","category-ancient-religions","category-dreaming-in-religion","category-dreams","tag-arjuna","tag-bhagavad-gita","tag-hinduism","tag-krishna","tag-mahabharata","tag-religious-dreams","tag-song-of-the-lord","tag-spiritual-dreaming","tag-yoga-karma"],"yoast_head":"\nDreaming the Song of the Lord - Dream Gates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/06\/dreaming-the-song-of-the-lord.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dreaming the Song of the Lord - Dream Gates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cAction is better than inaction\u201d \u2013 Krishna to Arjuna. Dreams can call us to traditions and cultures of which we may have had little or no previous knowledge, from any obvious sources, yet may now prove to be part of our authentic path. In one of my online forums, a woman named Maureen described how…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/06\/dreaming-the-song-of-the-lord.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dream Gates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-06-18T05:37:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-06-18T05:38:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/06\/arjuna_Krishna_chariot-300x211.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert Moss\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dreaming the Song of the Lord - Dream Gates","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/06\/dreaming-the-song-of-the-lord.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dreaming the Song of the Lord - Dream Gates","og_description":"\u201cAction is better than inaction\u201d \u2013 Krishna to Arjuna. Dreams can call us to traditions and cultures of which we may have had little or no previous knowledge, from any obvious sources, yet may now prove to be part of our authentic path. In one of my online forums, a woman named Maureen described how…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/06\/dreaming-the-song-of-the-lord.html","og_site_name":"Dream Gates","article_published_time":"2011-06-18T05:37:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-06-18T05:38:33+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/06\/arjuna_Krishna_chariot-300x211.jpg"}],"author":"Robert Moss","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/06\/dreaming-the-song-of-the-lord.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/06\/dreaming-the-song-of-the-lord.html","name":"Dreaming the Song of the Lord - Dream Gates","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/06\/dreaming-the-song-of-the-lord.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/06\/dreaming-the-song-of-the-lord.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/06\/arjuna_Krishna_chariot-300x211.jpg","datePublished":"2011-06-18T05:37:12+00:00","dateModified":"2011-06-18T05:38:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#\/schema\/person\/941740e4115cce34706832d06aa76b6b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/06\/dreaming-the-song-of-the-lord.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/06\/dreaming-the-song-of-the-lord.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/06\/dreaming-the-song-of-the-lord.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/06\/arjuna_Krishna_chariot-300x211.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/06\/arjuna_Krishna_chariot-300x211.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/06\/dreaming-the-song-of-the-lord.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dreaming the Song of the Lord"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/","name":"Dream Gates","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Robert Moss","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#\/schema\/person\/941740e4115cce34706832d06aa76b6b","name":"Robert Moss","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/777\/7770e3a2cde4458084d9a31237336b92x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/777\/7770e3a2cde4458084d9a31237336b92x96.jpg","caption":"Robert Moss"},"description":"Robert Moss describes himself as a dream teacher, on a path for which there has been no career track in our culture. He is the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. He leads popular seminars all over the world, including a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. A former lecturer in ancient history at the Australian National University, he is a best-selling novelist, journalist and independent scholar. His nine books on dreaming, shamanism and imagination include Conscious Dreaming, Dreamways of the Iroquois, The Dreamer's Book of the Dead, The Three \"\"Only\"\" Things, The Secret History of Dreaming, Dreamgates, Active Dreaming and Dreaming the Soul Back Home: Shamanic Dreaming for Healing and Becoming Whole. His most recent book is The Boy Who Died and Came Back: Adventures of a Dream Archaeologist in the Multiverse. Over the past 20 years, he has led seminars at the Esalen Institute, Kripalu, the Omega Institute, the New York Open Center, Bastyr University, John F. Kennedy University, Meriter Hospital, and many other centers and institutions. He has taught depth workshops in Active Dreaming in the UK, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Brazil and Austria and leads a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. He hosts the \"\"Way of the Dreamer\"\" radio show at www.healthylife.net. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows, ranging from Charlie Rose and the Today show to Coast to Coast and the Diane Rehm show on NPR. His articles on dreaming have been published in media ranging from Parade to Shaman's Drum.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mossdreams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/author\/rmoss"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2707"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2714,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707\/revisions\/2714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}