The realization of life and mini death in sleep
Yesterday morning, I woke from a dream. In it, I was searching for something I wanted very dearly to give to my mom and I was putting in every effort to find it. When I finally saw it, I felt compelled to do everything in my power to get it.
The dream took me to a very new place that I had never seen before, yet it seemed very familiar. It was a shabby place that I had never been to. I had never met the person who had it, yet it felt like I knew him all along. The person who had it didn't didn't have it for sale but when he saw how much I wanted it, he agreed to sell it. I gave him a big check for a small thing which had a sentimental value for us, grabbed what I needed as he went inside and said, "Take whatever you want." I saw myself picking it up and taking it back.
But part of me realized, even within the dream, that I was only seeing and imagining this, that it wasn't actually happening. The struggles, the effort, everything I gave up to get that thing, even the sense of gain or loss, none of it was real. It was only a dream, a cloud passing through the mind. The moment the sky cleared, it all went away.
That's when it struck me: sleep is a kind of mini death. When we're not "alive" in the waking sense, we're still conscious, and that consciousness is aware of everything around it. Aware of its connections. Aware of its karmas. But it also realizes it has no physical body to actually act on any of it.
Something that had been breathing, hearing, listening, and understanding all along suddenly became something I could truly absorb: maybe we take birth, and take on a human body, precisely to perform, to clear old karmas, create new ones, and feel the satisfaction that comes from doing.
The Desire and the Doing
Think about it, when you desire something deeply and work hard toward it, once it's done, you feel good, accomplished. There's a sense of okay, this is done, now what? Nothing more is stirring. You feel calm.
It seems like this calmness, this stillness, is what we're actually chasing. Like water that is perfectly still, reflecting the sky, the trees, ourselves, with total clarity, not turbulent... something you can see into, or like a clear sky with all the clouds gone: pure, clear blue. That clarity might be the greatest teacher of all.
Wearing Different Bodies
Maybe there's a consciousness that keeps arriving, again and again, wearing different bodies the way we wear different clothes. Changing clothes doesn't change who we are, we might look good in one outfit, less so in another, elegant in one, plain in the next, but the change is only external. It can affect how we feel, act, and behave, but the inner consciousness and awareness underneath remain the same.
So maybe we "wear" this life and this body to do what we need to do. But the consciousness itself is probably always there, never really gone. What disappears is the material body: this particular body, this particular mind, may never come around again. But something similar might, the same basic design: a face, eyes, a nose, two ears, a mouth, two hands, two legs, and the internal organs that let it all function.
What We Accumulate
The death of the material body, if it's real, teaches the biggest lesson: what are we actually accumulating? The body exists only so we can do, to perform the karma we're meant to perform, the karma that satisfies us. But in the end, there's nothing we carry forward except what we did and how we used what was given to us.
We accumulate everything from Mother Earth. We start as one cell. We grow, pulling in minerals, vitamins, calcium, building blood and proteins, slowly growing from a single cell into a baby, and then into a full-grown adult. What are we doing this whole time? Accumulating, building the hands, the legs, the organs, the senses, so we can function at full capacity.
So does that mean the people we've lost are still around us somewhere, still present in that consciousness? It's an intriguing question with no clear answer. But that dream made me feel like maybe, yes. Maybe there are things we simply cannot do without a physical body, and that's why we come back.
Karma as Energy
Which raises the next question: why do we need karma at all? Why do we need a physical body for it? Also an intriguing question without a clean answer, but it seems like energy carries its own deviations and waves, and it needs some kind of resolution to settle and calm down. Maybe the process is really about finding our own self, and finding what can calm those waves and make them stable.
Think of it like a loan. If you borrow from someone and don't pay it back, it lingers in your mind, it doesn't let you rest, even if you tell yourself you don't really need to repay it. Marketing runs on the same principle: give someone a free token, and they feel obligated to return the favor by buying the product. So many small, everyday moments show us how the mind feels compelled to act, to repay a debt of some kind. That, at its core, is karma, a basic principle that seems to operate at every energy level.
Waking Up
When I woke up, everything from the dream was gone. But what stayed with me was this: I need this body to do the things that will actually satisfy me and the people around me, the ones I have entanglements with, one way or another.
And whatever happens, just observe it. Be a mere observer, and let things flow. Stay kind. Stay thankful. Don't hurt anyone. Move through your own process as well as you can.
Regret, revenge, and remorse are our enemies. So is guilt. Think of yourself as a mere spectator. You don't need to take things into your own hands. Whatever someone else does, good or bad, is their responsibility. If someone wrongs you, it isn't your job to fix that. They will have to reckon with it themselves. Everyone is responsible for their own actions, and so are we.
To keep this mind happy, which is entirely within our control, the choice is simple: don't give space to unpleasant thoughts. Try to stay blissful, whatever the circumstance. Do everything within your capacity, because that is exactly why we took on this life as a human being. And listen to the inner voice that tells you where your true peace and happiness live, don't let it get clouded over by the noise of your own thoughts.
Let's use this material body to gain immaterial experiences and invaluable calm.
Dr. Jaya Sonkar MD MPH
9.6.2026
©️ Copyright 2026 Dr. JAYA SONKAR MD MPH. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
