“In the previous discourse, we finished looking into the third…”

In the previous discourse, we finished looking into the third modification of the mind which Patanjali identifies as vikalpa (imagination). The next modification, which is even subtler, is sleep. Sleep is also a modification of the mind that can lead us to pain or joy.

Many of you will immediately question, ‘How can sleep lead us to pain? Sleep only leads us to relaxation and peace.’ You will ask this question if you understand sleep as only the ordinary kind of sleep that we have during the night.

Let us see what Patanjali has to say about sleep in the tenth sutra:

abhava-pratyayalambana vrttir nidra

The translation is, ‘The subtle state where thoughts are not visualised is sleep or nidra.’

There are a few important understandings that Patanjali gives about sleep. If we understand Patanjali’s view about the modification of sleep, the whole quality of our life can be transformed.

The first thing we must remember is that we all spend a large part of our lives in sleep. One third of our life is spent asleep. All of us can be without right knowledge, wrong knowledge and imagination, however we can never be without sleep. It is almost like our breath; it is our life!

The kind of sleep that we go through during the night will in no way lead us to anguish or pain. This kind of sleep is actually power; it is energy! When we sleep during the night, we go back to the source from which we created our body. The body was created when our mother was fast asleep. In Bharat there is still a beautiful tradition wherein if a pregnant woman is sleeping, her sleep will not be disturbed. They say that at the time she is fast asleep, Brahma creates the baby’s body inside the womb! Every night, we go back to that same energy. Our bed and pillow together create the same space and energy as the womb. Even our sleeping posture is the same posture we were in as a baby in the womb. We go back to that same posture and in a few seconds we fall asleep. We go back to the same energy, we recreate our body and then wake up again. This sleep will in no way lead us to pain or anguish.

Patanjali does not only talk about this rejuvenating sleep that we experience during the night. Patanjali says that even while we are awake we experience sleep. For example, many of us start our car in the morning, drive half an hour to our workplace, park our car at the office and only when we step out of the car, we suddenly remember that we have driven for half an hour! We turned right, we turned left, obeyed the signals and did so many things during that journey. For half an hour we drove but we were not aware that we were driving! This means we were sleeping during the daytime; during our waking state.

I am not referring to people who have specific disorders like sleep walk etc. I am saying that the whole humanity is sleepwalking! Except the person who is awakened, who is enlightened, the whole humanity is sleepwalking!

The body will be walking, talking, going here and going there. The body will show all the medical symptoms of being alive. Medically you will be alive, but you are not there. The reflection of consciousness is not there.

The body is a mirror which has the ability to reflect the super conscious state. That super conscious state is the Sun. The human body is the only body on planet earth which is polished and directed towards the Sun. The reflection is what we call the individual soul. All other bodies may be alive, but they are not sharp or sophisticated enough to reflect the Sun and its pure consciousness. That is why the human body is highly respected in the vedic tradition.

Not being available in our waking state is what I call sleep. This absentmindedness, this unavailability, the sleep that we have during our waking state is what leads us to suffering.

Actually, all the problems that we face have a solution. I am very clear when I say this. There is no problem which cannot be solved. All we need to do is be available! All problems are created only when we are not available. When we are not available, that is when we can potentially mess up the whole thing; it is absentmindedness.

Absentmindedness is a big problem and it is what Patanjali describes as one side effect of nidra (sleep). There is absentmindedness we have in the outer world and absentmindedness we have in the inner world.

When we have absentmindedness in the outer world, when we are talking to others or doing an activity, we lose only outer world things. Forgetting to take your coat with you when you leave someone’s house or forgetting to take your glasses are just simple things. We lose only simple things.

On the other hand, absentmindedness that happens internally, during our inner visualization and our inner thought-flow is the worst thing. Nidra which is happening in the internal flow of consciousness, flow of thoughts, is worse than the nidra happening in your outer activities. Forgetting to have the seeking, forgetting to keep the things that we really need in our inner space is when we start to lose big things.

For example, whenever I visit a city, a big group gathers and they are all inspired to seek. They pick up all of my DVD’s, books, audio CD’s, take it home and it will lie in the cupboard till I come back and visit that city again! This means that inside your thinking, there is absentmindedness. It means at one stage you slept; there was nidra (sleep) in your energy flow.