Hari
Om
Each 'Choose-day' we will investigate the process by
which we can reassess our activity and interaction with the world of plurality
and become more congruent within our personality.
We
are reading the small booklet called "Not
Too Loose, Not Too tight - Just right!" This is written by Swamini
Vimalananda, and gives a very general overview of Vedanta for the beginner,
with emphasis on the sattvic, rajasic and tamasic approaches to life. Remember,
we are a mixture of all; use this as your mirror.
निद्रा /nidraa
- sleep
Sleep
is basically a tamasic activity, but the quality of one's sleep can be any of
the gunas, depending on how you sleep and awake.
Rajasic;
when our sleep is restless and interrupted by spells of wakefulness or dreams,
it is rajasic sleep. The body feels
tired and the mind is agitated upon waking. We tend to get irritated quickly,
which is obviously not a good way to start the day.
Tamasic;
when we experience heavy sleep, and wake up feeling lethargic dull and heavy,
sleep is tamasic. We lie-in even
after waking up. The first thought on waking is to go back to sleep. It gives a
very dull start to the day.
[Avblog;
Swamini-ji is very short in her treatment of this particular expression of the
trigunas! Yet this is one of the fundamental parts of our life which - even
without the spiritual element - is fraught with all sorts of mischief. Modern
living, with the supply of electric light and other abilities to continue
activity beyond sunset has caused an upheaval, overall, to humanity. The boon has
also become the bust of our ability to sleep properly. Many stay up way too
late; rising early is seen as a joke by many; sleep is often disturbed. The
causes for that are complex but it has been established that watching
television or using technical equipment directly before going to (or even
whilst in) bed leads to activation of the brain and thus sleep is not induced.
Gurudev
worked on an average of two to three hours of sleep a night. It can be said
from experience here, that when working from and for spirit, when the purpose
is strong and meaningful, sleep becomes unnecessary. What sleep is obtained
becomes more replenishing and beneficial.
In
practical terms, for general living, advice would be to undertake some 'switch
down' exercises before going to bed - japa, for example, or reading some
scripture and, certainly, doing prayers. Ideally, bedtime ought not to be later
than 10:30pm. In terms of saadhana,
rising would be around 4am, but for majority folk, 5:30 to 6am would be the
best. This allows for an unhurried and contemplative start to the day. For
saadhakas, this would be morning prayers, meditation and or japa.
As
always, you are being presented with elements which can inform your daily
choices for living the best life you can.]
