There are three states in which the Soul (Atma) resides. The waking state (jagrat) Dream state (swapna) Deep sleep state (sushupti) The Vedantic school of thought puts great importance to the examination and study of the three Avasthas or conditions of life called waking, dream and dreamless sleep. It insists that these three states should be investigated thoroughly before one starts the meditation on the Atman which is hidden in all these names and forms, which is the witnessing consciousness of all the three states. Jagrat: Jagrat is that state during which the Jivatma enjoys the gross objects of senses such as sound, etc. through the 14 organs such as the mind, etc. having the sun and the rest as their presiding deities. Swapna: Swapna is that state during which the Jivatma experiences through the 14 organs associated with the Vasanas of the waking condition, sound and other objects, which of the form of the Vasanas created for the time being, even in the absence of gross sound and others. Sushupti: The Jivatma experiences sushupti when it does not experience sound and other objects of senses from the cessation of the functions of the 14 organs, there being no special enjoying consciousness on account of the absence of these organs. Dream state is where we access our subconscious. It is very important to understand the swapna state, which is in-between the waking and deep sleep state. 1. When you get the dream, right away write down everything you remember about the dream. Then go back to sleep. 2. For every dream that comes, follow the same process. You don't have to try to wake up, but if you do wake up, just write down everything. 3. You can check what you wrote in the morning and see if anything makes sense. 4. Check again at the end of the day and see if the dream was trying to tell you anything. 5. Whenever you write the dream, save some space after the dream for your interpretations. 6. Buy a book that reveals their meaning. Some of the dreams are very straightforward, but others are tough. It's like solving a puzzle. For example if you see an airport, it means you are on a journey, not that you might be on a plane soon (or might), but it's an association. If you see a fence, that means you are hitting a boundary. You have to get a good book for interpretations. The dreams are when everything in the subconscious happens. There are continuous messages coming through that we never reveal. It takes an effort in meditation to get to a point where we actually hear guidance, but then it has to be something very basic for us to understand. Whereas in dreams, we are getting constant messages. So if we can even tap into a small percentage of messages, we can grow a lot. Recently, one of my dreams was that I am designing an email system. I wrote it down, and went to work. I work for a software company and had to actually design the system that day. I worked on it all day. When I came home and checked the dream again, I saw the design of the perfect email system, better than what I worked on all day written in very easy words! Souls live in three states of waking, dreaming and sleeping. Through enlightenment we can reach the fourth state, Turiya which is all three states combined in one, reaching God.