“Imagination can either lead you to health or heaven.”

Imagination can either lead you to health or heaven. It's like a drug, LSD. Many people experience ecstasy, they take a drug. Many people experience suffocation, suffering also. If you are habituated for nightmares, if you take LSD you will have a suffocation feeling. Your LSD experience will be nightmarish. If you are habituated for sweet dreams, if you take LSD you will feel like you are in heaven, that's all. It is intensifying what you think, intensifying what you imagine. The drug experience is nothing but intensification of what you are imagining; your imagination. Your imagination can lead- either goes this direction or that direction.

I can give you thousands of examples, thousands of stories. Especially I am constantly working with people's imaginations. It's My life. Last 6 years I am working with imaginations of the people. Millions of people directly and millions indirectly. Either trying to remove their imagination, alter their imagination or redirect their imagination. Just today one of My disciple was telling Me, before she used to come regularly to the Ashram. Her daughter will always object, "Why are you going there? You are not attending us. You are not caring for us; the family pressure. Now she also, daughter also attended the program. Now she says, "How could you go come back? How could you be away from Him?"

"I am not able to- I am not able to be away from Him. Earlier how do you...how are you able come back, even after the being around Him." So imagination, when she had wrong imagination, she was not able to relate with the mother. She was fighting with her saying, "Why are you going?" Now when she has the right imagination, she is fighting with her, "Why did you come back?" It is a mind. It is imagination. Continuously I am working with imaginations of the people.

Many time the imagination becomes so strong. They can either completely move from the spiritual path, or completely get Enlightened. People sometime ask Me, "How can imagination lead to Enlightenment? After all, it is mental activity. How can that lead you to Enlightenment!" It's like somebody taking poison. Taking poison is an action, but that can lead them to death; beyond actions. Same way the right imagination is taken, the mind will disappear, you will be beyond the mind. You will be beyond mind. You will be experiencing the no mind state, or the ecstasy. The next thing sleep. Patanjali says sleep can lead you to joy or suffering; anguish or non-anguish.

Almost one-third of our life we spent in sleeping. So if you understand the right technique for sleeping, right technique for sleeping; one-third of your life you can spend in Samadhi. See the only difference between your sleep and Samadhi state; the ultimate Enlightened State is...Samadhi minus awareness is your sleep. Your sleep plus awareness is Samadhi. Enlightenment is nothing but being aware when you are asleep, that's all. When you are asleep there are no Samskaras, engrams active. There are no memories active. You are completely silent, relaxed, settled. In that state but only one thing, one difference you are not aware.

See in the deep sleep you are entering into the same space in which Buddha is living, in which Ramakrishna is living, in which Meera is dancing, in which Chaitanya is singing. You are entering into the same space, where they are all living. Only one difference, you are not aware. Patanjali is aware, Chaitanya is aware, Krishna is aware, Buddha is alive. In that space if you know how to be alive, if you learned how to be aware you have done everything. Nothing else needs to be done. All you need to do is how to be alive when you are asleep. How to be aware when you are asleep? Now our problem is how- forget about how to be aware when you are asleep, how to be aware when we are awake? How to be aware we are awake?

That is a big problem. That itself is a big problem. Today we will practice a technique to convert your sleep into Samadhi. Convert your sleep into Samadhi. Please understand, when I say being aware during your sleep I don't mean sleeplessness. I am not saying be sleepless, no! That is sleep disorder, that is a disease. I am not saying: be sleepless or sleep disorder. You are- you will be sleeping but your whole awareness will be alive; means, there are no engrams, there are no thoughts, there are no memories. But the pure "I" will be alive. That will be radiating. That will exist. It's a- there is a very powerful technique called Yoga Nidra; falling asleep Consciously. Falling into the deep sleep state with awareness.

I can say if you can drop into that state with awareness and come back; suddenly your whole system will be new. Your whole system will be different. Your system will respond to the world in a completely different way. If you fall asleep, if you sleep very deeply, if you have good sleep and come out, your system will be fresh. It will respond to the world in a very different way. If you are stuck in the dream state and come out, your system will be different and it will not respond properly to the life, to the day. If you fall into the Samadhi and come out. If you fall into that deeper state than the deep sleep and come out; you will eternally respond to this world only through joy, only through bliss.

That is why we call that state as eternal bliss. If you experience that state and come out, you will see you are radiating eternal bliss, eternal joy. Sleep is one of a fire modifications Patanjali speaks about. There is so much- we can talk about sleep. So much can be said about sleep. Maybe instead of saying, we will use a technique by the end of today's session. A very powerful technique: how to relax with awareness. How to go into deepest states of sleep with awareness.

Usually we don't sleep more than 20 to 25 minutes, then we come back, continue to dream, play in the dream world then again fall asleep. After 20-25 minutes come back and move in the dream state, have some dreams then again fall asleep. That is why early morning when we get up we don't feel we had a good rest. Because you never rested. You are continuously playing the game. Your body might be resting or your body might be relaxing, but you are not in a relaxed mood. You are not completely resting. You are not aware. You are not in peace.

Sleep can be used for suffering or joy. The state can be manipulated to reach Samadhi State or to be in suffering state. I have seen people using sleep to lead to suffering. Either they oversleep or they continue to suffer with- without sleepless, without sleep. Sleeplessness or oversleeping. If they don't sleep in the night time, the chronic fatigue will be there in their body. It will continue to disturb their creativity. Whole day they will be constantly disturbed. The creativity will not express. Or if they sleep whole day there is no time for creativity, there is no possibility for creativity. Sometime people wake up only- sun comes through the window. Sometime the back part of this whole thing is window is on the west side. Tired of taking rest. Human being is the only animal for tired of taking rest. Any other animal, morning if he wakes up he will be fresh, jump, act very alive. Human being is the only animal when he wakes up in the morning just rolls and pulls the blanket.

Especially that early morning sleep, with the blanket will be tired of taking rest. Sleep is the fourth item Patanjali says which can lead us to either suffering or joy.