There are things that you can do to protect yourself from negative influences during
sleep. It is helpful to hang a picture of a saintly person in your home since everything has energy in it. Place a picture of a spiritually advanced person behind your bed as if it is overseeing your physical body. The more spiritually advanced the person, the more potency there is in that person’s photograph, and the more of that potency can be summoned to your aid. Negative entities will not feel comfortable disturbing you with a saint’s picture hovering over your head.
When you enter an environment that is different from your normal sleeping environment, remember that every single dwelling has the energy of the people who
frequent it. Some people, especially those who are spiritually oriented, find it difficult to rest soundly in hotels and motels. They are disturbed by the impure energy permeating those environments, even if the place has not been used for many months. It is healthy to purify these types of environments by playing recordings of spiritual music. By chanting, meditating, or even putting up spiritual pictures for the duration of your stay, you can transform the area into a place that actually augments your spiritual consciousness. If nothing is done to spiritualize the atmosphere, it will be like walking into a room filled with poisonous fumes. The converse of this is also true: by sleeping in a spiritually surcharged atmosphere, dreams that offer spiritual realization and assistance can be obtained.
If someone is frequently under attack by negative entities, it is because of a polluted
consciousness that needs to be upgraded. A negative entity dislikes visiting a clean mind as much as a rat dislikes going to a clean place. You can purify your consciousness by following the aforementioned suggestions and by maintaining stricter spiritual practices.
Putting up spiritual paraphernalia around the home and not allowing any negative activity to go on in the environment can help you greatly. This may mean asking friends and loved ones to refrain from drinking, smoking, taking drugs, gossiping, or doing any activity that does not encourage spiritual thought and action.
If you are sensitive and find that you are constantly under attack, have nightmares, or feel your body regularly trespassed upon, it may not necessarily be due to entities who are cruel or vicious, but to ones who are seeking love and support, or are just childish and mischievous. In these cases, you can kindly and compassionately address the entity in your mind and invite it to meditate with you in your sacred space. Engage it in some spiritual activity, giving it a little push in the right direction. If your love and devotion are sufficient, you can literally liberate that soul from its state of bondage or incoherence.
These entities need sufficient love and light to upgrade themselves and become spiritually successful. If the entities are vicious, fear gives them strength. As a spiritual warrior and light bearer, a loving person can fight such an entity in order to release its soul and send it on its way.
Maximizing your rest period
It is important to remember that when the body tells you to sleep or rest, it does so
because it needs time to rejuvenate itself. Therefore, getting proper rest will help all
aspects of existence. Our eating habits have a significant impact on our lives, too. If you eat heavily before going to bed, your body has to work harder to digest the food. It does not get the rest it needs, and thus, you are more likely to experience negative dreams.
Try to eat no later than three hours before lying down. If you want to maximize the
nourishing benefits of sleep, you should try to go to bed before 10 p.m. The most powerful hours to nourish the body through sleep are between ten and twelve at night.
Some of you who sleep a lot and still feel tired should try altering the hours of sleep. If you want to sleep fewer hours and still get quality sleep, then sleeping between ten and twelve at night is best.
Consider your state of mind—your consciousness—before going to sleep. This is
extremely important. Make a commitment to spend at least fifteen minutes spiritualizing your consciousness before going to bed. Read something spiritual, listen to spiritual discourse or music, or engage in discussion on a spiritual topic. Push aside the chaos and confusion that were a part of your day, and focus on spiritual reality. In this way, you will prepare yourself for the next six to eight hours of sleep. If you allow yourself to focus spiritually, you will provide less of an opportunity for negative elements to enter your dreams. You can then benefit most from your sleeping state.
Sleep can also assist with problem resolution. You would be amazed to know that many major discoveries in human history have resulted from revelations that occur upon arising. People first reflect on a particular problem before resting. During sleep, they concentrate on the problem on an unconscious level. When they awaken, they have the resolution to the conflict or problem. Part of what happens when the physical body is at rest is that you become more receptive to higher beings who serve as your guides. No one is a solitary agent. We all have various types of guides who assist us. Most important, there is a form of God in everyone’s heart, and when you put the physical body to rest, you make closer contact with the Lord in the heart and with your higher self.
Maximizing your dreams
Most people do not remember what happens during the dream state. One useful technique to help you retain your dream experiences is to lie still when you wake up.
Once you move your body, you integrate back into the physical dimension and you lose contact with the subtle realm. When you awaken, before getting out of bed, immediately reflect upon your experiences of the night before. If you wait even five minutes, you will forget. Some people keep a journal by the bed to record and later interpret their dreams.
Keep in mind that the practice of dream interpretation is not generally useful for spiritual advancement. There is a current trend where people are encouraged to write down every single dream and analyze every symbol. This practice can be misleading
because each component in a dream can have varied meanings. Look at the example of a snake. A snake is interpreted in different ways by different cultures. In parts of the world where snakes are seen all the time, they do not stimulate fear as they do in this country.
In other parts of the world, snakes are part of rituals and are considered sacred. There is not one universal meaning of a snake in a dream. People codify things and events as positive or negative based on culture. Even within a culture there can be variations of codification. Thus, dream analysis by the average person often can lead to confusion due to personal speculation and mental gymnastics.
There are many spiritually advanced people who, due to long-standing practices such
as meditation, have caused their subtle body to become more sensitive. Thus, they may have certain insight into dreams. However, this is not the case for most people. Dreams that are of distinct spiritual significance should be given attention. Do not be concerned with interpreting mundane dreams that you may experience. Examine dream patterns and what they mean to you personally. You are the director of your dreams in most cases, and so when you have certain kinds of dreams you can discover their meanings.
One beneficial way to use your dreams is to direct them to areas of your personal and spiritual growth. As you enter into the dream state in a spiritual consciousness, you are more likely to have a dream that is productive and that will accelerate your growth. This usually requires the guidance of someone who is spiritually advanced. As you raise your consciousness, this process will get progressively easier. However, it is quite difficult if you are a spiritual neophyte. Also, if you raise your vibration to become more conscious of what you think in the daytime, you can have more positive dreams.
As your consciousness becomes more developed, you must become sensitively attuned to your inner and outer environment so you can receive higher knowledge and guidance.
Some of you will be given spiritual guidance through the medium of dreams. A very
significant dream of this caliber occurs between the disciple or student and the mentor or spiritual master. Often, there is a need for the spiritual master to warn the disciple or to give certain types of lessons that may not be easy to receive under normal circumstances. In such a situation, the communication will occur through the medium of the dream. Because you have been made aware of the opportunity for spiritual growth provided by dreams, you now will automatically receive more assistance from your spiritual guides when you are dreaming.
As mentioned, dreams can give you clues to what you are most concerned about and
how you are being affected by what is going on around you. In general, you should just try to become more spiritual in your waking state and you will have more spiritual dreams. As you grow spiritually, you will find yourself teaching more as you learn more.
Your learning and your teaching will take place even in your sleep.
