Sleep
Abhavapratyayalambana Tamovrittir Nidra: The mind has the faculties of cognition - Pramana, misapprehension - Viparyaya and imagination - Vikalpa. It has a fourth capability too, which happens to all at the end of day time - sleep.
Sleep happens daily at night and sometimes during the day too, when there is an absence of any thoughts, notions or ideas. The mind holds on to this attitude of a state of no thoughts when it takes rest, along with the body.
Either, when it is the time to sleep at night, or when the body is tired with hard work and exhausted and also when the mind is bored, it slips from conscious activities of working, talking and thinking and settls down like a wave that rises high and falls back into the ocean. Every living creature is a similar wave of expression that falls back to a few hours of rest.
During this period of rest, the mind is submerged in the super-conscious self and wakes up in the morning or at any time, after sleep -refreshed and rejuvenated.
(Photo: Sunset near the Aurora temple in Chicago. Even when day slips into night, it rests a while and wakes up refreshed next morning.) - Swahilya Shambhavi.
25 comments:
nice picture and post swahilya,
In deep sleep the senses of perception cease to function, because of that mind is at rest, this gives a feeling of emptiness, a state of void or you can call it as abhava.
Yes Fruitu, you are right. When one goes to sleep at night - the mind is racing with many thoughts of things that happened through the day. It is particularly thinking of a predominant event, sight, a song or a conversation that it heard - just before going to sleep. And when morning comes, the mind is refreshed as the thoughts have rested sufficiently in consciousness and wakes up regaled and rejuvenated.
I am glad you keep blogging even after coming to Chicago.
The Aurora and LeMont Temples are both nice and I have good memories of my visit there.
The Vinayaga Temple of Flushing, NY is the closest to us
Let us know if you happen to visit NY.
Welcome Ravi, Sure will do. Thanks for dropping by!
beautiful pic & the words....so serene & tranquil....it gives a lot of peace to the mind reading your posts....wonderful!
You are welcome flyingstars. Thanks for your feedback.
Beautiful picture Swahilya!
Lovely post and apt picture!
Winter is to Nature what sleep is to man.
Nature asleep covered up in a white blanket
I have also noticed..sleep is like a pause in between for the mind.
The last thought before sleep is the first thought in the morning.
Welcome Merging Point.
Yes Kichenette Soul! Sleep is a great gift like a baby spending nine months growing in the darkness of the mother's womb.
Sleep is a gift and so many people wrestle with it because their minds won't calm down.
Last night I dreamt I was Elvis' sister. His SISTER! Sheesh. LOL
What was your last dream about?
Hugs JJ
Welcome JJ! I had pretty vague dreams when I was in Higher Secondary school - like the Prime Minister of my country asking for my old clothes for his daughter! (may be it was too much of pent up narcicissm!) The Chief Minister of my state once visited my home in my dream I had a chat with the President too! The territory of my dreams have been confined to India!
Swahilya, interesting dreams. :D
I have dreamt more than once that I'm at a Turkish bazaar and I marvel over and examine the great merchandise. It's so real. Hope I come home with an item one of these times. :D
Hugs, JJ
Dear JJ: Dreams are the information units that slip from our conscious mind into the sub-conscious. Whatever thoughts that are not conducive for the framework of our conscious existence get expelled as dreams - vented out like the excess steam that gets vented out of a pressure cooker. So dreams are not just normal, but healthy too.
Swahilya, would you talk about the difference between sleeping at night and the subconscious feelings we harbor during the day we aren't aware of but wear masks to hide?
Thanks!
Hugs, JJ
Namaste JJ, lovely question. Our mind has three parts - Conscious, Sub-conscious and Unconscious. The Unconscious mind is the gross physical body. The conscious and sub-conscious minds compose our subtle body. Information units enter into the sub-conscious mind 360 degrees, though we are able to attend to only a few inputs at a time. It penetrates like air through the pores of our skin - even subtler.
. For example, you are talking to somebody in front of you and you do not see some one coming from behind, the cold wind blowing or the sun shining. The sub-conscious mind registers these inputs however. So throughout the day, the sub-conscious is constantly receiving information units from our surroundings. The information that is required for our lifestyle is retained. The rest that is not, is expelled through dreams. So healthy sleep is essential not just to rest the physical body, but also to rest and refresh the mind.
This also highlights the need for us to park our body and mind in healthy surroundings at all times as, though we can consciously avoid what is bad - we do not have control over undesired inputs entering the sub-conscious mind - particularly with babies and children.
Wow well explained swahilya,
Welcome fruitu! More the questions, the deeper I go within to find an answer!
Thank you for that explanation of the three states of min, Swahilya.
That is a beautiful sunset photo. Serene, quiet, peaceful.
I can see why sleep is so important. Do you have any explanation as to why we only use part of the brain and not all of it? It's like we have many closed doors upstairs.
Hugs, JJ
Just a part of the brain, yes! It is said that all of Albert Einstein's discoveries were made by just using a part of his brain and imagine the possibilities if we use the brain to its full capacity.
The breath is connected greatly to the way we use our brain. In moments of meditation - the brain cells are alert and aware. When the breathing becomes serene, there is the presence of energising particles of energy called Prana to the full capacity. This Prana is what charges our system - all parts of the body, including the brain. We generally use only a miniscule part of the brain because our breathing is erractic and so is the supply of prana through our body.
The more we train ourselves to get in touch with the Consciousness, it begins to express fully through the brain, in the form of picking up clear thoughts and putting them forth as words, discoveries, inventions and actions in the form of courage, valour and all the glorious expressions of existence.
Meditation is the key to using not just the brain, but our whole being to its fullest potential. It is the way to make every cell aware.
Dear Swahilya:Lord Brahmadeva should have been meditating himself when he created an young mind like yours with the wisdom of them ages.I have difficulty with words.The photograph to bring out the rest between sunset and night to enunciate the difference in sleep is superb.As for jj's remark about the troubled mind's sleeplessness it is correct.Only Yoga could be the answer and not sleeping pills
all the best
with sincere blessings
partha krish
Partha Krish: Thank you so much for your blessings and constant presence in my blog. Yes, the potential of Yoga is immense - if all possibilities are explored. It can heal the individual and the society.
i like your this page - it feeds a lot to my inquisite mind - excuse the spellings and the language style of mine i wont write as good as you but your blog is a place that feeding food to my searching mind. But at some places i do have slight disagreement but am good enough to talk over it. i like this page and your thoughts and reflections
Dear swahilya, I like the consistent way you explain the topic.
Thank you Ray and I alike the consistency with which you read this from base too!
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