WRITINGS BY THE MOTHER
© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust
Sleep and Rest
I was sleeping but woke up exactly when it was time to attend classes. Was it the Divine who woke me up?
Not necessarily. There is always a part of the subconscient which is awake, and it is sufficient to have the will to wake up at a certain hour to make this part awaken you.
3 March 1933
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I would like to know why I had such a disturbed night.
Obviously you did not quiet your thoughts before going to sleep. At the time of lying down one should always begin by quieting one's thoughts.
28 January 1935
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I can never sleep on the night before Darshan. People say it is a lack of balance. But on the contrary I feel it is because of Your awakening presence. I do not feel any disturbance. I think it is all right. Isn't this true?
To pass a sleepless night once in a while, every three or four months, does not matter much, provided that the rest of the time you sleep well.
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I advise you to sleep well and to take enough rest. This is indispensable in order to be able to keep doing the work regularly and well.
My blessings are always with you.
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Sleep is the school one must pass through if one knows how to learn one's lesson there, so that the inner being may become independent of the physical form, conscious in its own right and master of its own life. There are entire parts of the being that need this immobility and semi-consciousness of the outer being, of the body, in order to be able to lead their own life independently.
It is another school for another result, but it is still a school. If one wants to achieve the maximum possible progress, one must know how to make use of one's nights just as one makes use of one's days. Only, people usually have no idea how to go about it; they try to stay awake and all they achieve is a physical and vital imbalance, and sometimes a mental one too.
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Sleep is indispensable in the present state of the body. It is by a progressive control over the subconscient that the sleep can become more and more conscious.
25 January 1938
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I know by experience that it is not by lessening the food that sleep becomes conscious; the body becomes restless but this in no way increases the consciousness. It is in good, sound and quiet sleep that one can get in contact with a deeper part of oneself.
4 August 1937
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I hope that soon you will completely recover and that you will not feel tired any more. But are you eating enough? Sometimes it is hunger that keeps one from sleeping.
My blessings are always with you.
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Proper rest is a very important thing for the sadhana.
2 March 1942
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You must rest--but a rest of concentrated force, not of diluted non-resistance to the adverse forces. A rest that is a power, not the rest of weakness.
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To Rest Before Sleeping
There is no end to the discoveries that you can make in dreams. But one thing is very important: never go to sleep when you are very tired, for if you do, you fall into a sort of unconsciousness and dreams do with you whatever they like, without your being able to exercise the least control. Just as you should always rest before eating, I would advise you all to rest before going to sleep. But then you must know how to rest.
There are many ways of doing it. Here is one: first of all, put your body at ease, comfortably stretched out on a bed or in an easy-chair. Then try to relax your nerves, all together or one by one, till you have obtained complete relaxation. This done, and while your body lies limp like a rag on the bed, make your brain silent and immobile, till it is no longer conscious of itself. Then slowly, imperceptibly, pass from this state into sleep. When you wake up the next morning, you will be full of energy. On the contrary, if you go to bed completely tired and [old p. 143]without relaxing yourself, you will fall into a heavy, dull and unconscious sleep in which the vital will lose all its energies.
It is possible that you may not obtain an immediate result, but persevere.
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For some time I have had trouble sleeping due to inner and outer turmoil. I pray to You to help me.
Before trying to sleep, when you lie down to sleep, begin by relaxing yourself physically (I call this becoming a rag on the bed).
Then with all the sincerity at your disposal, offer yourself to the Divine in a complete relaxation, and... that's all.
Keep trying until you succeed and you will see.
Blessings.
March 1969