Sunday, April 1, 2001		Dream theme

Dreams of religious symbols
By Vinaya Katoch Manhas

Religion is nothing else but love to god and men — W. Penn

WE have analysed symbols from the mythological as well as the psychological points of view. These same symbols, when taken from the perspective of religion, acquire a different meaning. For instance, the significance of the snake as a symbol in Hinduism varies from that it has for the Chinese. Similarly, the significance of a lotus flower for the Hindus and for the Buddhists is diferrent.

When we take these religious symbols and analyse them psychoanalytically, a totally different aspect of the dreamer’s frame of mind comes to light. Psychologically, religion is the study of human nature and its urges. The symbols serve to express the mood, aspiration and the wishes of man during his life struggles, says Hoffding. In Hinduism, the idols of gods are symbols and each god carries a significance. For instance, Krishna symbolises love and romance, while the Shivalinga is the symbol of eroticism, and the owl that of wealth. Most goddesses acquire the maternal symbol, but Kali is more symbolic of aggression, while Sita is the symbol of sacrifice and purity.

The dream kept recurring and she felt quite worried about it as she associated it with the death of her husband (the symbol of the burning pyre.) On analysing it further and taking her case history, it was found that she was having an affair with her brother-in-law and it was very much within the knowledge of her in-laws. A simple discussion between her kids and father-in-law regarding the significance of Dasehra had triggered off a guilt complex in her sub-conscious. The dream symbolised the purity test that Sita had to undergo. Thus "religious symbols" are taken from the narrower and more intuitible relations and used to express more ideal and universal relations, which because of their pervasiveness and ideality cannot be expressed. In dreams they might get distorted as is so with other symbols.

Take the symbol of a lotus lying passively in a pond. According to Buddhist scriptures, it signifies the state of the human mind where all the three states of layers of psychic life — the Id, Ego and Superego are in perfect accord. The Swastika is another common symbol which is sacred and a harbinger of luck. It was found commonly in the earlier Central, Western and Northern Europe. It found prominence in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Psychologically, the Swastika is considered the symbol of quarternity with its four main points which represents the religious function of the unconscious. Based on the four psychic functions namely sensation, thinking, feeling and intuition. The spiral is also a common religious symbol. The snake is supposed to be coiled in a spiral form. The sacred ivy and vine assume spiral forms.

According to the Greeks, the whirlwind which is again spiral in form is the carier of gods. In China, Japan and Indonesia, the spiral is used as a symbol of thunder. A red spiral is often, painted in Hindu homes on the occasion of a birth. The tree is another common religious symbol, Tree — worship and the Tree as a symbol of the mother goddess are not uncommon.