International Journal of English and Literature (IJEL) ISSN 2249-6912 Vol. 3, Issue 4, Oct 2013, 77-86 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

DREAMS - DELVING INTO THE ABYSS OF MEMORY

RATI OBEROI Centre for Professional Communication, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

ABSTRACT

Interpretation of is psychological technique, every is a psychical structure which has a meaning. By the nature of psychical forces and their concurrent and mutually opposing action dreams are generated. Being an attribute of memory dreams interpretation is therapeutic and can lead to holistic self and community development. Dreams of warning powers draw to conscious attention moral infirmities and physical illness. In ancient societies, dreaming was considered a supernatural communication, divine intervention, or omens of particular significance. was taken up as part of psychoanalysis at the end of the 19th century.

In Namita Gokhale’s novels each dream with a latent meaning is a unique personal experience. Dreams are subjected to distortion, as the meaning manifest in the unconscious is not derived completely. Dreams are compromises which ensure that is not interrupted. Sex dreams being part of self, do not involve incest or promiscuity but depict that cultural sexual repression necessitated reenactment to alleviate physical and psychic distress. Dream sequences point to inability, unresolved conflict, some urgent message in the unconscious demanding to be understood, or forgotten traumatic memories resurfacing. Daydream is a visionary fantasy experienced while awake, can be constructive and connected with some emotion. (No. of Words: 201)

KEYWORDS: Dream Interpretation, Psychological Technique, Psychical Structure, Therapeutic

INTRODUCTION

One of the superior faculties to which dream – life, is attributed is that of memory. Dreams are defined as mental activity of the dreamer in so far as he is asleep. Every dream reveals itself as a psychical structure which has a meaning. The endeavour is to elucidate the process to which the strangeness and obscurity of dreams are due and to deduce from those processes the nature of the psychical forces by whose concurrent or mutually opposing action dreams are generated. . Thus Havelock Ellis, without dwelling on the apparent absurdity of dreams, speaks of them as “an archaic world of vast emotions and imperfect thoughts,” [Trans. & Ed. James Strachey, Interpretation of Dreams, 1998, 92] that study of which might reveal the primitive stages in evolution of mental life. James Sully, [Trans. & Ed. James Strachey, Interpretation of Dreams, 1998, 93]was more firmly convinced that dreams have a disguised meaning, more sweeping and penetrating; and that dreams are a means of conserving successive earlier personalities. Death is not a terminal event and does not exist in any real sense, the surest axioms of science is that energy never dies; it can neither be created nor destroyed. All possible universes exist simultaneously, perhaps this energy transcends from one world to the other. Like ancient Eastern and Western philosophical schools, Robert Lanza insist that the mind creates all reality. In the modern context, idealism has been supplemented with a brand of quantum mysticism and relabeled as biocentrism.

Dream interpretation is the process of assigning meaning to dreams. In many ancient societies dreaming was considered a supernatural communication or a means of divine intervention, whose message could be unraveled by those with certain powers. In modern times, various schools of psychology have offered theories about the meaning of dreams. The ancient Greeks believed that cures would be affected through divine grace by incubating dreams within the confines of 78 Rati Oberoi the temple. Dreams were also considered prophetic or omens of particular significance. The Greek physician Hippocrates deals with the relation of dreams to illness. Aristotle knew dreams give a magnified construction to small stimuli arising during sleep. He draws the conclusion that dreams may very well betray to a physician the first signs of some bodily change unobserved in waking. Macrobius and Artemidorus agreed with this. Dreams were divided into two classes. One class is supposed to be influenced by the present or past, but to have no future significance. It included insomnoia which gave a direct representation of a given idea of its opposite – e.g.of hunger or of its satiation – and which lent a fantastic extension to the given idea – e.g. the or ephialtes. The other class was supposed to determine the future. It included (1) direct prophesies received in a dream (oraculum) (2) previsions of some future event (visio) and (3) The symbolic dreams, which needed interpretation (somnium). [Trans. & Ed.James Strachey, Interpretation of Dreams, 1998, 37, 38]Besides pietistic and mystical writers, there are supporters theory of the supernatural origin of dreams.

Dream – life is held in high esteem by some schools of philosophy, e.g. by followers of Schelling, the chief exponent of the pantheistic “:Philosophy of Nature” popular in Germany during the early part of the nineteenth century. [Trans. & Ed.James Strachey, Interpretation of Dreams, 1998, 39]Freud often referred to the question of the occult significance of dreams and like Artemidorus proposed dreams to be mantic i.e. as predicting the future. Discussions of the premonitory character of dreams and their power to foretell the future have not ended, as attempts at giving a psychological explanations have been inadequate. Each new writer examines the same problems afresh and begins again. The problem of sleep, essentially a problem of physiology must bring about modifications in the conditions of functioning of the mental apparatus.

Dream interpretation was taken up as part of psychoanalysis at the end of the 19th century; the perceived, manifest content of a dream is analyzed to reveal its latent meaning to the psyche of the dreamer.

DISCUSSIONS

The process of forming dreams happen thus:. The totality of the sensory stimuli generated during sleep from various sources, arouse in the mind in the first place a number of ideas, which are represented in the form of hallucinations or more properly, illusions, as these are derived from external and internal stimuli. These ideas become linked together according to the law of association and, according to the same law, call up a further series of ideas or images. The whole of this material is then worked over, by the organizing and thinking faculties of the mind. All that remains undiscovered are the motives which decide whether the images arising from non – external sources shall proceed along one chain of associations or another.

Dreams derive their basic material from reality and from the intellectual life experienced externally or internally. This connection needs to be looked for diligently, and it may long remain hidden because of a number of peculiarities of memory. The fact is that dreams have at their command memories which are inaccessible in waking life which are so remarkable and of such theoretical importance that attention is drawn by relating to some ‘hypermnesic’dreams. [Trans. & Ed.James Strachey, Interpretation of Dreams, 1998, 47] A peculiarity, of a hypermnesic dream is that it is followed by another dream which completes the recognition of what is at first an unidentified memory. In hypermnesic dreams it is easy to trace the source of the knowledge. Dreams sometimes bring back to minds, with a wonderful power of reproduction, from beneath the deepest piles of debris, very remote and even forgotten events from earliest years, materials which are blotted out by gaps in conscious faculty of memory. These give rise to interesting hypermnesic dreams. It has often been observed that in dreams people speak foreign languages more fluently and correctly than in waking life. Nothing which is once mentally possessed can be entirely lost. Some of its components are derived from the experiences of Dreams – Delving into the Abyss of Memory 79 the previous day or its predecessor, or from the very last few days before they were dreamt. Unimportant, trivial, incidental, forgotten impressions of daily life reappear in dreams. The psychic activities that are awake most intensely are those that sleep most profoundly. Impressions from the remotest past are reproduced in dreams during deep sleep, while more recent impressions appear towards morning.

Freud listed distorting operations because of which the manifest content of the dream differs so greatly from the latent dream. By reversing these distortions the latent content is revealed. The operations included : condensation – one dream object stands for several associations and ideas; displacement – a dream object's emotional significance is separated from its real object or content and attached to an entirely different one; visualization – a thought is translated to visual images; symbolism – a symbol replaces an action, person, or idea.

Dreams help the unconscious to express the unknown contained in the unconscious through visual metaphors. The images are symbolic of conscious and unconscious mental processes. Jung explains the phenomenon of dreaming by saying that the psyche regulates itself by a process of compensation. An imbalance, between the conscious and unconscious minds, caused fragmentation of the personality, resulting in neurosis, psychosis or schizophrenia. The psyche is split into two irreconcilable energies; rational elements and the emotional. By bringing conscious awareness to that which is not, when unconscious elements surface, they can be integrated into consciousness through dreams. Namita Gokhlale’s characters like Rachita from Book of Shadows displayed symptoms of neurosis and Parvati of A Himalayan Love Story suffered from schizophrenia.

Dreams the alien experiences of personal unconscious, powerful, more active part, of the normal human psyche through symbols encountered in all aspects of life, lead to the merging of the individual's consciousness with the collective consciousness.. The collective unconscious contains archetypes, inborn tendencies which shape the human behavior, common to all human beings, which contains symbolism pertaining to an entire culture or race, or perhaps the entire human population. They are also derived from the often repeated myths and universal literature stories and themes. Collective dreams, arise from the collective unconscious; personal dreams, emanating from the personal unconscious. The archetypes of the collective unconscious could be thought of as the DNA of the human psyche. Just as common human physiological pattern is determined by DNA, archetypes are psychic elements that determine the shared psychological pattern called the collective unconscious. Jung treated the archetypes as psychological organs, analogous to physical ones. Why these images exist in the human psyche remains a mystery buried in the past. The young are destructive. In the second half of lives they become part of the collective once again and the outlook shifts from emphasis on materialism and sexuality to concerns about community, spirituality, unconscious and conscious feelings. The ultimate goal of the collective unconscious and self-realization is to pull humans to the highest experience, of spiritualism.

The shadow is an unconscious complex defined as the repressed, suppressed or disowned qualities of the conscious self. In the Book of Shadows Namita Gokhale makes her protagonist Rachita Tiwari suffer an acid attack. Rachita then recuperates in an ancestral house whose presences she projects; suffering from loss of identity and therefore battling with neurosis and hallucinations she tries to integrate her thoughts for the purpose of transmutation. Thus as the name suggests in Book of Shadows Namita Gokhale makes her protagonist deal with the reality of the shadows in four ways: denial, projection, integration and/or transmutation, the Jungian way. A person's shadow may have both constructive and destructive aspects. In its more destructive aspects, the shadow can represent those things which people do not accept about themselves. In its more constructive aspects, a person's shadow may represent hidden positive qualities. The presences being projections of her own character or rather her insecurities Rachita tries to assimilate the shadows to complete the individuation process i.e. the urge to psychic wholeness, which she does in the end and thus exorcises the 80 Rati Oberoi ghosts of her insecurities. The Jungian shadow partially equals the Freudian concept of personal unconscious. They have a moral aspect and may be seen as a counterpart of the superego or the moral agency in man.

Jung identified the anima as being the unconscious feminine component of men and the animus as the unconscious masculine component in women. Every person has both an anima and an animus which act as guides to the unconscious unified Self, and that forming an awareness and a connection with the anima or animus is one of the most difficult and rewarding steps in psychological growth. Namita Gokhale herself stated that there is a man in every woman and a woman in every man. Thus, in all her novels she attempts at integrating these opposing principles. In Gods, Graves and Grandmother, Ammi in one of her sermons adjudicates the reconciliation of the male and female principle. Jung believed that acquaintance with archetypes such as the animus, the anima, the shadow and others which manifested themselves in dreams, symbols or figures is necessary for integrating disparate parts of the psyche for holistic self- understanding. Jung believed that material repressed by the conscious mind, postulated by Freud to comprise the unconscious, was similar to his own concept of the shadow, which in itself is only a small part of the unconscious.

Each dream is the unique personal experience and possession of the dreamer and that the same image may have different meanings for different people based on individual experiences and the context of lives and the context of the dream in which it occurs. Only the dreamer can ultimately know the correctness of any particular interpretation of a dream image or symbol as to the meaning for that particular dreamer. By looking at the universal images that commonly occur in dreams reflections on the possibilities of the images are suggested. This can amplify the image to enrich and deepen its significance and to present deeper layers of meaning.

Sigmund Freud argued in The Interpretation of Dreams that the foundation of all dream content is wish-fulfilment In the case of very young children, Freud claimed, this can be easily seen, as small children dream quite straightforwardly of the fulfilment of wishes aroused the previous day. The dreams of adults have been subjected to distortion, with the dream's so-called manifest content being a heavily disguised derivative of the latent dream-thoughts present in the unconscious. As a result of this distortion and disguise, the dream's real significance is concealed. The dreamer is not capable of recognising the actual meaning of the dream just as a hysteric is unable to understand the connection and significance of the neurotic symptoms affecting them. In the later years, the discussion was in terms of the super-ego and the work of the ego's forces. In waking life, these so-called resistances altogether prevented the repressed wishes of the unconscious from entering consciousness; though these wishes were to some extent able to emerge during sleep. Freud's view was that dreams are compromises which ensure that sleep is not interrupted as a disguised fulfilment of repressed wishes, which might otherwise disturb and waken the dreamer.

Sex has always been a big part of dream content. concluded that almost all dreams represented some form of sexual repression. At that time sex was repressed culturally and as a result it might have been expressed more frequently by individuals in their dreams. Freud believed in acting out dream content in real life. The belief was that it was necessary to re-enact it in order to alleviate physical and psychic distress. Dreams represent reality in symbols, the secret benefactions of which is self – healing. Dreams are most frequently of the things on which the warmest passions are centred. All the sensual desires and repulsions that slumber in the heart are set in motion causing a dream to arise from the ideas that are associated with them.

In Gods, Graves and Grandmother, every night as Gudiya fell asleep, the Peepul tree would begin its seductive song. She would see Magoo swaying seductively on the lower branches, one eyed Shambhu joined her and so did Risyasuddin Rizvi, entwined from the waist with her mother. Shutting her eyes tight she would still encounter the Dreams – Delving into the Abyss of Memory 81 acrobatics of Shambhu and Magoo and of her mother and Riyasuddin Rizvi. These visions maybe represent Namita Gokhale’s repressed sexuality. The Senoi and some modern dream researchers believed that all dream images were parts of the self and needed to be integrated and loved. There was no possibility of incest or promiscuity because they were all parts of the individual self. Like analyzing regular dreams, studying sex dreams can give great insight into existing sexual relationships. It might reflect a body's need and desire for sex but at the same time, aspects of the dream might have deeper meaning. Forgotten traumatic memories of real life events can sometimes be trying to get to the surface in the form of repetitive dreams or . It is the body's way of dealing with sexual desire in a healthy way, for healing itself. Thus, Gudiya whenever faced with trying circumstances always saw the visions of dead relatives and acquaintances on the peepul tree. This also meant that she had unresolved issues with them. The visions of relatives, signified, that Gudiya’s relations with them were over and also reflects sorrow that she would not see those people any more. Her sorrow stems from the fact that she was growing up as a fatherless, neglected child, whose mother had decamped with a beggar Risayuddin Rizvi.

Gudiya had a in which the peepul spoke to her in a sibilant manner. There were presences on the tree of her mother and Rias – ud – din, and Shambhu and Magoo who performed obscene and unspeakable act. The frequent repetition of recurring nightmarish dreams with frightening content forces one to confront the powerful dream message. Recurring dreams are quite common and are often triggered by a certain life situation or a problem that keeps coming back. Whatever the frequency, there is little variation in the dream content itself. It usually points to a personal weakness, fear, or inability to cope with something in life - past or present. The repetitive patterns in dream can reveal some of the most valuable information on a person. It may point to a conflict, situation or matter in life that remains unresolved or unsettled. There is some urgent underlying message in the unconscious which is demanding to be understood.

The presences which included her mother, Rias – ud – Din, Shambhu and Magoo were naked. Seeing naked people signifies vulnerability or shamefulness. It means one is hiding something and is afraid that others can see right through. Metaphorically clothes are a means of concealment. With clothes, identity can be hidden. Without them, everything is exposed, and one is left defenceless. Ammi was actually a famous singer a Kothewali and a Muslim. Eleven nawabs and two English men were besotted with her. Due to force of circumstances she was forced to leave the haweli. After her mother ran away with Rias – ud – Rizvi, a beggar, they were reduced to penury. However, it was the resourcefulness of Ammi due to which she purloined a marble slab from a building site, placed it beneath the peepul tree and thus laid the foundation of a temple which prospered. Gudiya was a stranger to the paraphernalia of religion. For her it was an existence fraught with conflict as her mother’s sequenced burkha’s lay hidden in the trunk and she had the fear of being ridiculed and disgraced. Nudity in a new relationship, signifies some fears or apprehension in revealing true feelings, being caught off guard, or having some deed brought to public attention. On being introduced to the sadhus by Pandit Kailash Shastry as “… the last legacy of our late revered Mataji” [Gokhale, Gods, Graves and Grandmother, 89] after the death of Ammi, Gudiya’s fears surfaced. She had the fear of being exposed as a fraud or a phony. Gudiya always had the fear that her past would be found out. No one else seems to notice nudity in dreams. This implies that the fears are unfounded hence the nudity is unnoticed. The dreamer may be magnifying the situation. Such dreams may mean desire or failure to get noticed.

There is great meaning in lucid dreams. Although one is control of dreams, the mind is able to readily access the depths of unconscious thoughts. During lucidity, a person’s guard is let down. It is an opportunity to safely confront the deepest fears. In fact, some use lucid dreaming as a way to cope with a phobia. Lucid dreaming allows one to ask questions 82 Rati Oberoi in the dream and the dream relates the same to waking life. Gudiya was staying in the house of Roxanne as she wanted to adopt her, there was a party in the house. She met Roxanne’s mother, an ancient lady, whom she believed looked like her dead grandmother. That night she had a vivid dream which featured two groups of sultry belly dancers, who between them held a veil that concealed a precious object. After much laughter and music the veil was removed to reveal grandmother, seated in a lotus position as she had been at the time of her internment, with the amber chunni, Gudiya had draped on her, draped around her white saree. The belly indicates insane desires and the dancers denoted many pleasures. The dance also signified infidelity in marriage, failures, quarrels and jealousies amongst sweethearts. The veil signified separation from Ammi and that deceit was being thrown around her. The amber colourd chunni over Ammi’s white saree signifies Gudiya’s pphysicality, hardwork, life of action, pursuit for power, desire for survival, personality which was physically active, vital, grounded, strong, full of stamina, and an explorer had taken over from Ammi’s transcendence, transformation, spirituality, healing power, quietness, enlightenment, sensitivity, life of higher dimensions and strong spiritual connection; as signified by white. She called Gudiya and affectionately asked her how she was keeping. She asked why her hair was unkept and uncombed. She told her to take care of it or else she would get nits in the hair. She also told Gudiya to take good care of the gold they had expropriated from the grave of Saboo. Dream of dead relatives and if the relative exacts a promise warns of coming distress unless one follows the advice. The voice of the dead relative is only the higher self taking form to approach the mind which lives near the material plane. Disastrous consequences can be averted if the mind grasps the inner working and sight of higher or spiritual self. Gudiya sat on her lap and together they saw the belly dancers resume their dance. One of the dancers looked like her mother. Seeing her mother was an indication to control inclination to cultivate morbidity and ill towards fellow creatures. She tried to point this out to grandmother but her body stiffened and then the dancers vanished. She turned back to grandmother, who was alive again and she adjusted the folds of her saree as she assured Gudiya that she would always be there for her. Gudiya noticed that the peculiar carvings on the chair on which Ammi sat had arms shaped like talons, and carved serpents encircled the ornate legs. This chair was similar to the one on which Roxanne’s mother, Mrs. Dubash sat. The snake coiled around the chair signified that Gudiya would be powerless in the hands of enemies. The snake also signified that a deceitful person is going cause trouble.

Gudiya once had a languorous dream in which she encountered a handsome boy with princely profile. That day she had roamed the streets of Delhi with Kalki, who she believed was her redeemer. In her dream they danced around trees in a time – bound filmi manner. His eyes blazed with maniac intensity and Gudiya’s stomach was aquiver with peculiar pleasant sensation.

Gudiya had no idea who her father was. This gave full scope to her imagination and she became totally consumed by the set of intense and overlapping day dreams, where she was variously the daughter of an English Lord, an Arab Sheikh and a passionate blue – blooded bandit who was shot dead after secretly marrying her mother A daydream is a visionary fantasy experienced while awake, especially one of happy, pleasant thoughts, hopes or ambition. There are so many different types of daydreaming that there is still no consensus definition amongst psychologists. While daydreams may include fantasies about future scenarios or plans, reminiscences about past experiences, or vivid dream-like images, they are often connected with some type of emotion. Daydreaming may take the form of a train of thought, leading the daydreamer away from being aware of immediate surroundings, and concentrating more and more on these new directions of thought. While daydreaming has long been derided as a lazy, non-productive pastime, daydreaming can be constructive in some contexts. Thus Gudiya searched for a new name and identity for herself. Daydreaming was long held in disrepute in society and was associated with laziness. Daydreams with grandiose fantasies are self-gratifying attempts at wish fulfillment and can be very creative. Some psychologists believed that daydreaming in children could cause neurosis and Dreams – Delving into the Abyss of Memory 83 even psychosis. Most daydreams are about ordinary, everyday events and remind of mundane tasks.. Mental imagery created during daydreaming helps gain insight into mental state and make diagnoses.

Once, Gudiya had a vivid dream about her childhood. She carried this dream into her waking hours. She dreamt that she was a baby again, in a room with lights and chandeliers. To dream of baby signifies that she had many warm friends. Seeing a baby also means requited love. Gudiya initially thought that Kalki loved her, soon she realised that it was not so. She was in the arms of a very tall man whose face she could not see. Seeing a distorted face meant trouble, enemies and misfortune. A faceless man meant that Gudiya had a distorted vision in the dream with things turning into other things and she not seeing clearly. It could also mean that maybe one does not recognize oneself anymore or something along those lines. There maybe be a battle within because of something has been bothering a person, forcing the person to abandon the real self.

The arms that held her were clothed in cream – coloured embroidered brocade that felt soft and cool to touch. The arm of the man signified separation, divorce, mutual dissatisfaction between husband and wife and to beware of deceitfulness and fraud. Embroidery meant that she would be admired for tact and the ability to make the best use of everything. It also meant that she was going to have a new member in household and she was wise and economical. She remembered the feel of the soft embroidery against her baby plump cheeks. The man smiled and she felt reassured by the flash of his teeth above his cream achkan and his dark beard. Teeth signified unpleasant contact with disquieting people. Not a harmonium but a piano in the background played a pretty, tickly tune she knew and recognised. Seeing the piano denotes joyous occasion and the harmonious music signals success and health. This denoted that she would succeed and win over her adverse circumstances. Her baby body was still and secure in the man’s arms. She was content to simply wriggle her toes or clench and unclench her fingers. Fingers also meant trouble and misfortune. Toes means despair and overcome by will of others. Then there was a feeling of dampness as her bottom and toes became wet. The man was angry as she could see the flash of his teeth, he was not smiling any more. He shouted and swore and threw her on the floor, or so she thought but Gudiya landed on a soft pillow. She landed with a thud on the pillow and the nape of her neck registered the fall. To sustain a fall and be frightened meant that she underwent some great struggle and eventually rose to honour and wealth. She whimpered for a few seconds before breaking into a wail. As the man started shouting she could not hear the tinkle of the piano. The lights from the chandelier were no longer soft; they glittered harshly in her tear filled eyes. The chandelier portends that unhoped for success would make it possible to enjoy fame and luxury at one’s caprice. The lights becoming harsh meant sickness and distress will cloud a promising future. The woman came to her, with a reproachful but restrained expression. She picked Gudiya up and held her to her bosom. Bosom signified that she would soon possess fortune. She smelt of roses and lemons patchouli. Roses meant joyful occasions and inhaling their fragrance meant bringing unalloyed pleasure, whereas lemons signified humiliation and disappointment. Women foreshadow intrigue and seeing Roxane meant withdrawal from a race in which there was victory. Gudiya knew it was Roxanne holding her dressed in indescribable unfamiliar clothes. Gudiya was not certain whether she should be still or continue crying. The man from anger lapsed to indifference, but was still sulking. She realised that he was Kalki. The dream did not leave her, it followed her around and clung to her like damp odour for weeks. For weeks the dream persisted to stay with her, though she tried to shake it off with all sorts of useful activity.

Dreams hallucinate – that is they replace thoughts by hallucinations. The hallucination gives way to mnemic presentation, which is at once fainter and qualitatively different from it. It should be possible to turn the hallucinations in a dream back to ideas, and its situations into thoughts, and in that way to solve the problem of dream – interpretation. This is exactly what Rachita Tiwari did in Book of Shadows.to heal herself. This is being done when after waking, a dream is 84 Rati Oberoi reproduced from memory; but, whether this translation is done wholly or only in part, the dream remains no less enigmatic. Dreams think predominantly in visual images – but also use of auditory images and, to a lesser extent, of impressions belonging to the other senses. Namita Gokhale makes use of visual, auditory and olfactory perceptions in Book of Shadows. Burdach summarises the essential features of dream – life (a) in dreams the subjective activity of minds appears in objective form (b) Self signifies an end of the authority of self. Hence falling asleep brings a certain degree of passivity along with it. [Trans. & Ed.James Strachey, Interpretation of Dreams, 1998, 83] The images that occupy sleep can occur only on condition that the authority of the self is reduced. Rachita allowed the presences to overtake her self. In the novel Paro :Dreams of Passion there is an interplay of reality and fantasy. The novel clearly indicates that reality can be rendered acceptable only with the help of fantasy. Despite Priiya’s claims that she did not fantasize she constantly took recourse to fantasy. Her husband always busy with his clients was an unromantic person. Priya frequently fantasized about her youth, her favourite author Daphne du Maurier, her favourite novel Rebacca. She loved to read the “mushy romance” [Gokhale, Paro Dreams of Passion, 200] of Mills & Boon. Priya’s favourite fantasy starred B.R. her ex boyfriend “My favourite fantasy starring B.R. snapped into subliminal operation, and I partook of groggy but intense sexual pleasure.”[Gokhale, Paro Dreams of Passion, 79]

Sometimes I became Paro, and sometimes I was myself. Sometimes I was B.R. devouring Paro, and then B.R. tenderly loving Priya, and then became Suresh who was ravishing Paro, and then Paro with Suresh in a slavish possession, and intermittently Suresh copulating with Priya who was actually Paro. I was all these people fragments of their thoughts, feelings, terror passed through my writhing body… .”[Gokhale, Paro Dreams of Passion, 59]

Dreams about B.R., Priya’s ex boyfriend is symbolic of the positive qualities she experienced during that relationship i.e. excitement, freedom, and youth. Since these were recurring dreams there may be some unresolved issues in that previous relationship. Perhaps some things were left unsaid which Priya wished she had said then. Priya had e a sexual relationship with B.R. for a short while when she was estranged from her husband Suresh, probably to resolve the issues before she finally went back to being the wife of Suresh. Thus fantasy was an integral part of Priya’s character. For her it meant attaining the unattainable, even if it meant an imagined sexual satisfaction with another person, who was somebody else’s husband. Fantasy is also a mode of acquiring that which one desires. Thus the interaction between reality and fantasy has been aptly delineated by Namita Gokhale.

In Shakuntala : The Play Of Memory, the dream of Shakuntala was to see an elephant and also see and experience the distant world. In the gratification of these dreams she became a Yaduri, the fallen woman, unable to attain her life’s desire i.e. Moksha at Kashi, the city of Lord Shiva to which devotees travel in the hope of getting release from the endless cycle of birth and rebirth. Lord Ganesh the Hindu deity has a human form but the head of an elephant. He represents the power of the Supreme Being that removes obstacles and ensures success in human endeavors. For this reason, Hindus worship Ganesha first before beginning any religious, spiritual or worldly activity. The portrayal of Lord Ganesha as the blend of human and animal parts symbolizes the ideals of perfection as conceived by Hindu sages and illustrates some philosophical concepts of profound spiritual significance. The large head of an elephant symbolizes wisdom, understanding, and a discriminating intellect that one must possess to attain perfection in life. The wide mouth represents the natural human desire to enjoy life in the world. The large ears signify that a perfect person is the one who possesses a great capacity to listen to others and assimilate ideas. The trunk and two tusks with the left tusk broken signify there is no known human instrument that has an operating range as wide as that of an elephant's trunk. It can uproot a tree and yet lift a needle off the ground. Likewise, the human mind must be strong enough to face the ups and downs of the external world and yet delicate enough to explore the subtle realms of the inner world. The two tusks denote the two aspects of the human Dreams – Delving into the Abyss of Memory 85 personality, wisdom and emotion. The right tusk represents wisdom and the left tusk represents emotion. The broken left tusk conveys the idea that one must conquer emotions with wisdom to attain perfection. The elephant’s eyes are said to possess natural deceptiveness that allows them to perceive objects to be bigger than what they really are. Thus the elephant eyes symbolize the idea that even if an individual gets bigger and bigger in wealth and wisdom, others should be perceived as bigger; that is, surrender one's pride and attain humility.

The four arms indicate that the Lord is omnipresent and omnipotent. The left side of the body symbolizes emotion and the right side symbolizes reason. An axe in the upper left hand and a lotus in the upper right hand signify that in order to attain spiritual perfection, one should cut worldly attachments and conquer emotions. This enables one to live in the world without being affected by earthly temptations, just as a lotus remains in water but is not affected by it. A tray of Laddus (a popular snack) near the Lord denotes that He bestows wealth and prosperity upon His devotees. The lower right hand is shown in a blessing pose, which signifies that Ganesha always blesses His devotees. A human body with a big belly signifies that the human body possesses a human heart, which is a symbol of kindness and compassion toward all. Ganesha's body is usually portrayed wearing red and yellow clothes. Yellow symbolizes purity, peace and truthfulness. Red symbolizes the activity in the world. These are the qualities of a perfect person who performs all duties in the world, with purity, peace, and truthfulness. The big belly signifies that a perfect individual must have a large capacity to face all pleasant and unpleasant experiences of the world. A mouse sitting near the feet of Ganesha and gazing at the tray of Laddus is also significant. A mouse symbolizes the ego that can nibble all that is good and noble in a person. A mouse sitting near the feet of Ganesha indicates that a perfect person is one who has conquered ego. A mouse gazing at the Laddus, but not consuming them, denotes that a purified or controlled ego can live in the world without being affected by the worldly temptations. The mouse is also the vehicle of Ganesha, signifying that one must control ego in order for wisdom to shine forth. Right foot dangling over the left foot: as stated above, the left side of the body symbolizes emotion and the right side symbolizes reason and knowledge. The right foot dangling over the left foot illustrates that in order to live a successful life one should utilize knowledge and reason to overcome emotions. Thus, armed with all the above qualities a true devotee seeks to attain salvation, Shakuntala left her home and husband Srijan. Shakuntala’s tale is a kind of culmination of the desires of her predecessors, i.e. the protagonists of Namita Gokhale’s novels to attain Moksha. However, Shakuntala’s failure to attain salvation is in way the failure of all the protagonists of Namita Gokhale and hence she herself to seek liberation from the cycle of life and death.

CONCLUSIONS

Dreams images are a source of wisdom and personal growth. Dreams arise from some source other than ordinary conscious mind and, the emotional re-experiencing and dramatization of dreams can lead to creative integration of the personality. Dreams can be shaped and controlled through positive group therapy. They contain a mixture of elements from one’s personal identity which are familiar along with a quality of otherness in the dream images that carries a sense of the strange and eerie. The bizarre and nonsensical characters and plots in dreams point to deeper meanings and contain rational and insightful comments on waking situations and emotional experiences. The ancients thought was that dreams were messages from the gods. Today these are recognised as messages from a deep source of wisdom and understanding within oneself. Every dream is a message from some deeper unconscious part of an individual to the more conscious everyday part of one, expressed in a language that needs to be learned and understood. The dream has been called the royal road to the unconscious. A modern way of saying that would be that the dream is the window to the soul. Dreams are like looking down into a deep chasm of the soul. The frank discussion of dreams is especially important in the promotion of healthy individuals which would lead to social harmony. 86 Rati Oberoi

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