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.
The Mother – Words of the Mother – III : CWM, Vol. 15, p. 131
Mother, what is sleep? Is it only the need of the body to rest or is it something else?
Sleep can be a very active means of concentration and inner knowledge. Sleep is the school one has to go through, if one knows how to learn his lesson there, so that the inner being may be independent of the physical form, conscious in itself and master of its own life. There are entire parts of the being which need this immobility and semi-consciousness of the outer being, of the body, in order to be able to live their own life, independently.
The Mother – Questions and Answers : CWM, Vol. 7, p. 70
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.
The Mother – Words of the Mother – III : CWM, Vol. 15, p. 133
You cannot expect to be conscious at once in sleep: it takes a long time. If you can be always conscious in waking, then it will be easier to be conscious in sleep.
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The sleep consciousness can be effectively dealt with only when the waking mind has made a certain amount of progress.
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga – IV : CWSA, Vol. 31, p. 450
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.
The Mother – Words of the Mother – III : CWM, Vol. 15, p. 132
The loss of sleep must not be there. In this Yoga we insist on regular sleep, rest, food, because then the balance can be kept between the strength of the body and the force of all that comes into it from above. Otherwise the body is not able to keep and hold what comes—there is disturbance and loss of the right poise and balance.
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga – IV : CWSA, Vol. 31, p. 437
A long unbroken sleep is necessary because there are just ten minutes of the whole into which one enters into a true rest—a sort of Sachchidananda immobility of the consciousness—and that it is which really restores the system. The rest of the time
is spent first in travelling through various states of consciousness towards that and then coming out of it back towards the waking state. This fact of the ten minutes true rest has been noted by medical men, but of course they know nothing about Sachchidananda!
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga – IV : CWSA, Vol. 31, p. 442
The sleep before 12 is supposed to be the best.
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To sleep without a burdened stomach is obviously more healthy, both psychologically and physically
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You should not jump up from sleep. Rise quietly and take a little time. You must give time for the consciousness to come back fully into the body.
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga – IV : CWSA, Vol. 31, pp. 443-444
Control during sleep is entirely possible and it is progressive if you persist in the effort. You begin by remembering your dreams, then gradually you remain more and more conscious during your sleep, and not only can you control your dreams but you can guide and organise your activities during sleep.
If you persist in your will and your effort, you are sure to learn how to come and find me at night during your sleep and afterwards to remember what has happened.
For this, two things are necessary, which you must develop by aspiration and by calm and persistent effort.
(1) Concentrate your thought on the will to come and find me; then pursue this thought, first by an effort of imagination, afterwards in a tangible and increasingly real way, until you are in my presence.
(2) Establish a sort of bridge between the waking and the sleeping consciousness, so that when you wake up you remember what has happened.
It may be that you succeed immediately, but more often it takes a certain time and you must persist in the effort.
The Mother – Some Answers from the Mother : CWM, Vol. 16, pp. 226-227
…. When you concentrate before sleeping, then in your sleep you remain in contact with the Divine force; but when you fall heavily to sleep without any preliminary concentration, you sink into the inconscient and the sleep is more tiring than restful, and it is difficult to come out of this sluggishness.
The Mother – Some Answers from the Mother : CWM, Vol. 16, p. 265
It is better to go to sleep and make it a discipline to become conscious in your sleep. Sleep may be only a habit, but it is a necessary habit at present and the thing to do is not to suppress, but to transform it into a conscious inner state.
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga – IV : CWSA, Vol. 31, p. 448
At night, you have to pass into sleep in the concentration— you must be able to concentrate with the eyes closed, lying down and the concentration must deepen into sleep—that is to say, sleep must become a concentrated going inside away from the
outer waking state. If you find it necessary to sit for a time you may do so, but afterwards lie down, keeping the concentration till this happens….
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You have to start [becoming conscious in sleep] by concentrating before you sleep always with a specific will or aspiration. The will or aspiration may take time to reach the subconscient, but if it is sincere, strong and steady, it does reach after a time—so that an automatic consciousness and will are established in the sleep itself which will do what is necessary.
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga – IV : CWSA, Vol. 31, p. 451
In any case one thing you can do in all security is, before going to sleep, to concentrate, relax all tension in the physical being, try… that is, in the body try so that the body lies like a soft rag on the bed….
Once you have done all this, you may add either a prayer or an aspiration in accordance with your nature, to ask for the consciousness and peace and to be protected against all the adverse forces throughout the sleep, to be in a concentration of quiet aspiration and in the protection; ask the Grace to watch over your sleep; and then go to sleep. This is to sleep in the best possible conditions. What happens afterwards depends on your
inner impulses, but if you do this persistently, night after night, night after night, after some time it will have its effect.
The Mother – Questions and Answers : CWM, Vol. 7, p. 66
It [the tendency to fall asleep during meditation] is a common obstacle with all who practise Yoga at the beginning. This sleep disappears gradually in two ways—(1) by the intensifying of the force of concentration—(2) by the sleep itself becoming a kind of swapna samadhi in which one is conscious of inner experiences that are not dreams (i.e. the waking consciousness is lost for the time, but it is replaced not by sleep but by an inward conscious state in which one moves in the supraphysical of the mental or vital being).
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga – II : CWSA, Vol. 29, p. 320
