Lord Ganesh was extremely kind and compassionate towards me. Last night, like I normally do, every so often when I wake up from my sleep samadhi, I immediately go back to a chant or mantra. I kept on chanting Hanumanji and for the last 2 hours before I woke up, all I could see was Ganesh.
You may ask why did I not change over to Ganesh and it is due to some major flaws in my own chitta. However, even though Lord Ganesh knew about it, he continued to remain there with me, enveloping me all over for those 2 hours.
I did not pay any attention to it when I woke up. Such instances are quite common. However, as I was leaving to go to work, my mother told me, today is a big festival, it is a special day of celebration of Ganesh!
Thus my vision was real.
Lastly, when I say dream samadhi, it is not a dream but it is samadhi. So how do you tell the difference?
1) When you wake up, you wake up immediately feeling refreshed. (Source Mangalgiriji Maharaja, Swami Shivohams disciple)
2) The dream, the vision is very vivid, picterusque and crystal clear.
3) Most importantly, in my opinion, is that all my prana leaves the body and is within. My whole body is stiff and immobile, and esp. the limbs have lost sensation
4) In the past my samadhi was so deep, even my pager and phone would go off and I would not hear it. If anyone has a pager, then it is one of the shrillest, most annoying sound, that I suspect the american medical association has insisted it be that way, so it can wake up the dead. The corollary to this is that if any disciple mistakenly thinks he or she has reached the highest, stop and think. Did your body become entirely numb? One cannot go into higher planes without the prana withdrawing from the body.
Bhavin