“Try to minimise the quantity of your sleep so that the quality becomes…”

Try to minimise the quantity of your sleep so that the quality becomes deeper. Our modern day psychologists they say at particular two hours of your sleep, your body temperature falls two degree: just two hours. But that two hours changes from man to man. In East, they say Chandramana and Souramana. Chandramana means the man who can be alive throughout the night but he cannot be alive early morning. He cannot be active early morning. He can be alive, he can be fresh throughout the night but early morning, he needs rest. There are other type of people, they go the bed around 9 o’ clock, 8 o’ clock itself but early morning 3 o’ clock, they wake up. They are called Souramana.

Find out yourself which type you are. You are alive, active at the time of night or you are alive, active at the time of early morning! Somebody comes and tells Me, ‘Swamiji, both the time I am asleep, what to do?’ When you are neither souramana nor chandramana, you are just ‘apamana’- you are just only ‘apamana.’ Find out you are chandramana or souramana: your system is solar based or lunar based. If your being is lunar based, at the time of moon, you will be active. If your being is solar based, at the time of sun, you will be active. Find out which is your time and give rest to your body at that time, and the other time, if you are solar based, early morning, around three to five, brahma muhurta time, if you give rest to your body, that is totally enough.

Actually I did experiment in our ashram with our inmates. Can this be practical! We experimented and I have proved more than four hour sleep is not at all necessary. Maximum of four hours sleep is more than enough. And modern day psychologists they prove this. Be very clear, I am not talking only from Upanishads. I am talking from people who do research on this. Only thing you have to find which four hour. That differs from man to man. Two degree of your body temperature will fall at particular that four hour. You have to find out. If you feel fresh, active, alive in the time of night, then you will see the early morning the temperature falls down. Early morning you need rest. If you feel fresh, active, alive in the early morning, then this will be the time - Ten to twelve. So this will be the time you will be in the need of rest. Find out that time. Give rest to your body only at that time. Other times, engage yourself. Don’t allow your system to rest more than four hours. If you allow, the quality of sleep will reduce.

Be very clear. If you extend the quantity, what will happen? The quality will reduce. I could see some of the faces. ‘No, no, no. This is impractical.’ If you feel it is impractical, perfectly alright, you be as you are. What for I am speaking is, I am giving you the tips to reach the active, alive part of your being, part of your life. One thing I tell you, when you become active and alive, you can make more dollars. Now people feel practical. When it comes to dollars, everything become practical. When it comes to the meditation, ‘Oh! Let it be there, Swamiji. That and all is not for us.’ I have seen many people. They put big, big, cut outs of My photograph. Big, big blowers in their house and they worship. But when I say meditate, ‘Swamiji, don’t tell us to do that. We will worship You. We will put big garlands to You. We will do everything.’ They are ready to do all sorts of puja, they are ready to do all sorts of Arati, but they are not ready to work on themself. They just worship Me and tell, ‘You are great person. You can tell all great things Swamiji, but we cannot follow. It is impractical.’ When you worship also, you can always avoid Me. ‘He is great person, great soul. What He says is right. But it is only for Him, not for us. It is only practical for Him, not for us.’ It is a cunning way to avoid Master.

You see, even when you worship, you can avoid the Master. We also do the same thing. We worship all the great Masters. We put big, big photographs. We put big garlands and morning till night, we do arati but we never listen to their teachings. Whenever they teach something, we say, ‘No, no, no. That is impractical, that is impractical.’ If the worship leads you to follow Me, follow My teachings, then what you are doing is perfectly alright. I have seen many people having big, big cut outs in the houses, in our own devotees. I tell them, ‘Why do you make such big cut outs? Is small photo is not enough? Somebody comment, ‘Swamiji, you are photogenic. We want to look at Your face.’ Is this the… you see, is this the reasons? Is this the ways to worship? Is this the… but this is not going to help you. Just putting cut outs! There are thousands of reasons just like a star cut out, you replace My cut out. That is not going to help you. There are many people I have seen. Instead of putting the stars, if they are interested in movies, they put stars. When the interest change to meditation, just a change of subject. Immediately you re- change, you exchange My photograph with the movie star’s photograph. But is it going to help? No! So I tell you, never think it is impractical. What I tell you is totally practical.

Understand, maximum four hours sleep is more than enough for you. Then try to implement it, try to experiment it. I don’t even say implement, at least try to experiment. Find out your time-whether you are in chandramana or souramana or apamana, and try to guide your life. Then you will see, you will be really in Nithyananda-Nithya Ananda. When I say Nithyananda, I mean that Eternal Bliss. I don’t mean This Form. But people are very happy by catching the form. That’s what I always tell them. A Master says, ‘See, look at the moon. Moon is there.’ Then what disciples do? They just catch hold of the finger and hang around. They don’t see the moon, they catch hold of the finger. That’s what you will do. If you don’t practice the teachings, if you catch hold of My photograph, if you catch hold of My form, you will be doing the same mistake of what these people do. When you catch the finger and hang, what you will do? You will just turn the hand. And moon will be in one side and hand will be the other side. You will be misguiding the others also.

So don’t catch My finger when I show the moon, look at the moon. Then you will understand what I mean. So never think these teachings are impractical. They are verily practical. This is the fourth layer. Reduce the quantity of your sleep; increase the quality of your sleep is the method to expand the fourth layer energy. You do not know the amount of energy which is released when you reduce the quantity of your sleep. When the quality of sleep becomes deeper, you will see, the whole day you are alive, active. The day dreaming stops. These are all the methods to make your life alive and active.

The fifth thing, Anandamaya kosha-the fifth layer of your ‘I’. ‘Anandam Bramheti Navya Janaam.’ Upanishad says Ananda is God. Don’t waste it. Don’t live in a miserable state. We people, we know how to make everything as a misery. We know how to make anything as a worry. We have mastered that art-art of living with a long face. Most of the time we don’t laugh. we don’t smile. We have forgotten that language itself. We smile only with reasons and purposes. If the person who is next to you, if his status is higher than you, better than you, then only you show your face, you show your smile. You don’t smile from the heart. Most of the time, we don’t smile from the heart. We just look at his status. If he is rich, if he is higher than us, then we give a wide smile. If he is equal, then few inches less. If he is less, hmmm, only that much. We don’t even open the mouth. Actually the smile has become almost like a...what to say… you count, you calculate before you smile. You verify who is he, what is he doing, do all the research and enquiry, then only you go for smile. You have forgotten the language of expressing the ananda. That’s why the anandamaya kosha just gets shrink. The anandamaya kosha, the fifth layer of your body, never gets alive and active.

Few tips, few understandings to expand this Anandamaya kosha. Paint whenever it is possible. Do little dancing. I am not telling you to go and learn all the steps or all the arts of dancing, no need! No need for learning, no need for knowing all the systems, all the methods, no, all the steps, no. Just play some music and jump as you feel. It is not for anybody’s sake. Dance is for your sake. That’s a beautiful… to give you a definition, whenever the music enters into your being, if you allow the music to move your system, your hands, if you allow that joy to move your limbs, that expression of the ecstasy is what is dance. Just allow that joy of the music to move your hand or the legs, to move your head or your being. That is what is dance. Dance means don't think something like a system, learning according to the rules. For that, there are dances but I don’t think any successful dancer is a traditional man. Whenever you cross the tradition, whenever you touch the being, only then you are successful.

Just add these small things of dance, singing. Don’t think, ‘Oh, what will others think? What they will comment about me singing?’ Don’t bother about their comments. If they suffer, it is their headache. Why do you bother? At least once in a while in your bathroom, start singing, nothing wrong. Singing, dancing, carry always a smile with you. It is after all tax free, it is after all tax free. Carry a smile with you. Then you see the anandamaya kosha expands. Just be alive. Do one or two small mischievous things always. Just be innocent, mischievous, nothing wrong. Don’t be too serious. All seriousness is sickness. I tell you, when I say all, I mean ALL! All seriousness is just sickness. What for all your seriousness? Just to prove your ego, nothing else, just to prove your ego. All your seriousness makes you sick, because when anandamaya kosha is disturbed, our whole being starts shrinking.

From My own experience, I tell you, all reason, almost I can say, all the reasons for psychosomatic disease comes from this anandamaya kosha only. All psychosomatic diseases originates, starts from this anandamaya kosha only. When you carry a smile, when you carry a lengthy walk, even when you walk I have seen, many people they walk with a minimum movements. They can’t use their whole body. When you walk, when you live, you don’t use your whole body. You use only the minimum portions of your hands and legs. It means what? You are not bubbling, you are not overflowing, you are not joyful. When you laugh, you don’t use your whole being-only two inch, three inch, not more than that. Never your being smiles, never your being laughs.

A small story. A man is trying to crack a joke. He was sitting and chatting with his friends over a cup of coffee trying to crack a joke. To tell a joke, you need intelligence actually. He somehow missed the punch line. The whole joke is lost. Nobody laughed. Everybody was just keeping quiet. But one man, one friend who was in the group, he started laughing: laughing uproariously, just a good belly laughter, laughing uproariously. Other friends called him, ‘Hey! why are you laughing? keep quiet. Neither we understood what he said nor he himself has understood what he said. Why are you laughing? What have you understood?’ The man who laughed, he calmed himself down and replied, ‘Laugh now itself. Otherwise he will tell the same joke once more.’ Only at that time of danger of listening to same joke once more you laugh. Even then you calculate and laugh. You never allow the being to open. We have so much of conditioning.

You know, sadist people never allow the others to be joyful. All the social conditionings is designed by sadist people, by sadist people: all social conditionings. Whenever you are not hurting anybody, be joyful to your maximum limit. You will see that anandamaya kosha expands. If you are happy by painting, whenever you find time, start painting. Don’t measure the cost of it. ‘Oh! Like this painting, I can get it in market for one dollar.’ One dollar is not equal to your painting, it is not equal to your ananda. Your anandamaya kosha expands. Have at least one or two small, small habits- painting, dancing, singing. Even though it is torture for others, don’t bother. Have your space, have your small habits. I tell you, not your quality, it expands your being. I give you this as a meditation technique. Dance is a great meditation technique to make you alive.

Whenever you are alone, whenever you find time, dance for some music. I don’t say only dance for this music or that music. Play some music, jump around. Be alive. Carry the small things which makes you joyful without hurting others. A laughter, a laughter from the heart, innocence, the small, small things,.. Small, small joys. You see, we become too serious about the life, about the things. We forgot these small dimensions, small aspects of our life, small details of your life but these small details are nothing but meditation techniques, they are nothing but meditation techniques. Little bit of dancing, little bit of jumping around, little bit of singing, little bit of painting, little bit of laughing. Once in a while, laugh for no reason, nothing wrong: nothing wrong. Laugh for no reason. These things expand your anandamaya kosha.