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Chapter 14
THE GUNAS: DEVELOPING THEM AND GOING BEYOND THEM
77. Another Cure For Tamas: To Conquer Sleep
9. Overcoming laziness is one thing; another is to overcome sleep. Sleep is, in fact, something sacred. When saintly persons put in selfless service till they get tired and then go to sleep, that sleep is a kind of yoga. Only the blessed ones can have such a sound and peaceful sleep. The sleep must be deep; its duration is immaterial. It does not depend on the kind of bed or the time a man is lying on it. The deeper the well, the purer and sweeter is its water. Likewise, deep sleep is more rewarding even if it is short. Half an hour’s study with full concentration is more fruitful than three hours’ study done with a wandering mind. Similar is the case with sleep. It is not that a long sleep is always beneficial. Patients lie in the bed for twenty four hours a day, but sleep eludes them. True sleep is essentially sound and dreamless. Whatever one may have to suffer in hell, one does not know; but when sleep eludes and nightmares haunt, the torment is indeed hell-like. Troubled by such a situation, the Vedic sage says, ‘परा दु:स्वप्न्यं सुव’—‘Let me not have such a cruel sleep full of nightmares.’ The sleep is meant to give rest, but if all kinds of dreams and thoughts assail therein too, where is the question of rest? 10. How can we have deep and sound sleep? The cure for laziness is applicable here too. The body should be continuously used; then one will sleep like a log the moment one retires to bed. Sleep is like death on a small scale. One must prepare thoroughly throughout the day to have such a beautiful sleep. The body must get completely exhausted. Shakespeare has said, ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.’ A king cannot sleep. One of the reasons is that he does not do any bodily labour. One who is sleepy during the day is bound to be awake when it is time for sleep. Keeping the body and the intellect idle during the day is nothing but sleep. Then the mind wanders at the time of sleep and the body too does not get real rest. Then one just keeps lying in the bed. Life is given to us to attain its highest ends, to fulfill its mission. If it is eaten up by sleep, how can we achieve anything worthwhile in life? |
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