Sleep = Pujya Gurudev

The Science of Sleep

=Pt.ShriRam Sharma Acharya

Sleep is a biological need of man. It is essential for the smooth running of life. Like hunger and thirst, it too comes at fixed cyclic intervals. It energizes the body and freshens the mind. Lapsing into sound sleep is an art; it is not something haphazard. Those who are skilled in this art are able to put it to optimum advantage. Ayurveda gives very deep analysis of sleep. It classifies sleep into six kinds: 

(i) sleep generated by physical exhaustion, 

(ii) caused by mental fatigue, 

(iii) post-ailment sleep, 

(iv) sleep induced by some bodily hurt, 

(v) that brought about by increase in cough, and (vi) tamoguni sleep. 

This last kind fills the body and mind with tamas or darkness instead of freshness and vigor. Death is known as the mahatamoguni sleep. The physical death of yogis, however, is called divine sleep. Modern psychology divides sleep into three phase-types: light sleep, deep sleep and the dreaming phase. These phases come in succession. In the deep sleep state, a person becomes completely oblivious of his surroundings and remains totally unaffected by them. Scientists believe that it is this phase which is the real sleep time. It takes away all mental and physical tiredness and fills a person with energy and vitality.

In the third phase of dreaming, the conscious mind takes a back seat and the unconscious mind becomes active. It is this mind, which sees dreams.The psychologists are still not able to fully grasp the mechanism and meaning of dreams. But the yogi understands this phenomenon in its totality. Through various yogic techniques he refines and purifies his unconscious mind to the extent where it becomes non-existent. The yogi acquires full control over sleep.

He does not dream; rather he illumines this dream phase with the bright rainbow-like lights of a Deepawali. An ordinary person requires sleep because his unconscious has a vast ocean-like expanse. But how much sleep is really needed? Psychologists opine that the required quantum of sleep varies from person to person. It depends on many factors  physical and psychological state of a person as well as on his social and material environs. A child who sleeps for 15 hours can hardly manage a sleep of even 4-5 hours in old age. The thumb rule is that only that much sleep is required as fulfills the requirements of the body and mind. Napoleon slept for only 3 hours while Einstein for 10. On an average, a person sleeps for 5  7 hours.

Thanks GOD, Thanks Sadguru,

Shiv Sharma