"The Sleep of the Awakened" Part 1 of 6 (A beginner's introduction to the Mandukya Upanishad)

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The Sleep of the Awakened

 

 

 

A Beginner's Introduction to the Mandukya Upanishad

 

by Sudarshan K Madabushi

 

 

 

As a child I remember I was ordered by mother not to

go to bed without the name of God upon my lips.

Without asking for the reason why, I would obediently

mutter the 'nAma' of "mAdhava" thrice and turn off to

sleep. Similarly, immediately on waking up I was told

I should almost bellow out the 'nAma' of "hari" seven

times before starting the day. ("It does not matter if

others around you too are startled awake... That's

part of the purpose, anyway!" mother would chuckle!)

The habit grew on me over the years, thanks largely to

my dear departed mother.

 

 

It was not until many years later that I learnt the

practice of uttering the 'nAma' of God, before and

after a night of sleep, has its origins in ancient

scriptures. AndAl in the "tiruppAvai", for instance,

sings:

 

 

"uLLatthu kondu munivargaLUm yOgigaLum mELLa-ezhundhu

ari-yenra pEraravam, uLLam pugundhu arULelOr

empaavaay!" (stanza 6)

 

 

"Yogis and 'muni-s' awaken with the blessed name of

Hari upon their lips and minds..."

 

 

Sleep is a deeply mystical, sacred experience. We all

sleep. Hence we are all mystics… and to utter the name

of God before and after going to sleep is a good way

to remind ourselves of the fact.

 

 

"Mother of Fresh Thought"

 

 

We work hard all day, go about the hectic business of

our daily life, and expend precious life energy on a

hundred things and activities through the restless

waking hour. When night falls, however, we quietly but

instantly wind down. No matter how grave or pressing

the burden of cares weighing upon its mind, when night

falls, the world downs shutters, drops everything and

simply goes to sleep... even if it is only to "sleep

over the matter".

 

 

Some people in the world have great difficulty going

to sleep -- insomniacs, neurotics, and sleepwalkers.

Those with "sleeping-disorders" are really very ill

people. Incapacity for sleep and insufficiency of

sleep are the chief causes of much ill health and

unhappiness in the world. If the world slept well

there would perhaps be fewer wars and less marital

discord in it... Who can tell? It is said a large part

of the global profits that big multinational

pharmaceutical companies make is derived from... guess

what? Sale of drugs and medications meant to make

people sleep like normal human beings!

 

 

There are as many people in the world who suffer from

excess of sleep as those who either lack it or have

too little of it. The character Kumbhakarna in the

epic Ramayana is an extreme example of such men. Such

men (and women too) just love to sleep. You call them

in the morning you are told "Sorry, he's still in

bed". You call again midday and the answer is "He's

having his afternoon siesta". You call in the evening,

"Sorry, he retired to bed early tonight"!

 

Then there are ladies too who believe long sleep

enhances their beauty and adds lustre to their looks!

All such men and women actually suffer from a chronic

"sleeping-disorder" or syndrome which the

Bhagavath-gita (Ch.18 Stanza 39) calls "tAmasa-nidra"

(the sleep of the slothful). The afflicted ones get

very special mention from Lord Krishna. He calls them

by a bewitching name -- "mohAna~mAtmA". It is a name

that with a single syllable wrongly stressed might

easily be confused with another Sanskrit word,

"mOhana~mAtmA", meaning "beautiful soul"! If we take

care not to fall into the trap of Krishna's naughty

wordplay, we will understand that "mohAnamAtma" refers

to soporific souls ("AtmA") condemned to remain

slumbering in the seductive embrace of Ignorance

("mohA"):

 

 

yadagrE chAnubandhe cha sUkham mohAnamAtmAnah: I

 

nidrAlasya pramAdOttham tat-tAmasam-udhAhritam II

(XVIII.39)

 

 

People who suffer from such "tAmasa nidra" are clearly

headed towards spiritual delusion and degradation, not

enlightenment, warns Sri.Ramanuja in his

'Gita-bhAshya': "nidrAyA mOha-hEtutvam spashtam".

 

 

Then there is another type in the world that neither

sleeps too much or too little but just well. They are

said to enjoy the sound and 'soulful sleep of the

carefree'. (In my experience, they also attract

good-natured envy wherever they go. Travelling on

Indian Railways, in an unreserved third-class

chair-car, I always envy the blessed few amongst my

travel-mates who can sleep soundly, blissfully snoring

too, amidst all the din and bustle of the rattling

train!). These good souls wake up from bed and begin

to immediately shine like the morning sun. They are

vibrant, cheerful, very sweet tempered; and they

remain pink with health all their lives. One of many

reasons why I think little babies... the ones we might

see cuddled up in cozy cribs or mother's arms... one

of the reasons why I think the babies of the world,

without exception, are all so angelic in disposition

is that they sleep so very well!

 

 

**********

 

 

Genuine mystics ... the ones AndAl calls

"munivargaLum, yOgigaLum"... they are another sort of

angels that sleep really well. They sleep the sleep of

the awakened.

 

 

The mystic often goes into deeply meditative states

when it appears to us as though he has drifted off to

sleep. The Sanskrit word for such a state too is

"nidra" -- literally, sleep. But since this deep

meditative state is the special sleep of great yogis

(such as NammAzhwAr or NAthamuni, for instance), and

not the pathological slumber ("tAmasa nidra") of

"disordered" mortals, their "nidra" is differentiated

as "yOga-nidra". When mystics emerge from 'nidra-yOga'

they radiate grace... like morning sun rays bouncing

about splendorously inside misty woods of a dark rain

forest. Indeed, so fresh do mystics look, so magnetic

and so full of ineffable beatitude.

 

 

(They say the 'paramAchArya' of Kanchi Mutt,

'pujyasri' Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, often went

into 'yOga-nidra' only to emerge shining. In my

personal experience, the same could be said too of the

great "narasimha upAsaka", 'vaikuntavAsi' U.Ve.Sri

Mukkur Lakshminarasimhachariar. He frequently would

slip into "yOga-nidra" in the course of the many

'mahA-yagnyA-s' he performed. When he re-emerged he

certainly looked more radiant).

 

 

The sleep of good, ordinary mortals -- the 'nidra'

lasting just the right length of time, say, 5 to 6

hours a day -- though not of the same nature as the

sleep of the yogis, is nonetheless very invigorating.

We go to sleep every night as extremely tired men,

exhausted by all the strife and stress of the world;

but when we wake up in the morning we arise as

different persons altogether, isn't it? We feel a new

energy surging through our limbs and new light dancing

in our eyes! Like lesser mystics perhaps, but mystics

all the same, we too arise... make no mistake about

it... we too arise from the experience of deep sleep

exactly as yogis do from their own 'nidra' -- we wake

up strengthened, uplifted and revitalized! The famous

English poet William Wordsworth, in his poem "To

Sleep", describes exactly this kind of deeply

nourishing Sleep in lines that are memorable indeed:

 

 

"... last night, and two nights more, I lay,

 

And could not win thee, Sleep! by any stealth:

 

So do not let me wear tonight away:

 

Without Thee what is all the morning's wealth?

 

Come blessed barrier between day and day,

 

Dear mother of fresh thoughts and joyous health!"

 

(W.Wordsworth "To Sleep")

 

 

Sleep, beloved Mother Sleep whom we beseech to take us

into her embrace each night, she turns even plain men

like us into mystics all...

 

 

*************

 

(to be continued)

 

 

dAsan,

 

Sudarshan

 

 

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