Sleeping back?

[Guest guest]

Message: 5

Sun, 28 Apr 2002 11:44:48 -0700 (PDT)

"M. Tandy" <mpt

Re: re. sleeping directions

 

>> It's tamasika and unhealthy to sleep on one's

stomach, and rajasika to sleep on one's side; best is

to sleep lying on one's back, head to the South or

East. <<

 

I looked through a book by HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami

entitled "Brahmacharya in Krsna Consciousness" where

Bhakti Vikasa Maharaja has given guidlines as to how

brahmacharis should live. I do not have the book and

am relying on my memory only.

 

So as far as my memory is concerned, Bhakti Vikasa

Maharaja advises that brahmacharis should sleep on

their left side? He also said that it was ill-advised

to sleep on one's stomach, but I remember also that

sleeping on our left sides were advised. How do we

reconcile this with the idea that sleeping on one's

back is satvic?

 

What do the sastras and Srila Prabhupada say on this

point?

 

In service of Gaura-Nitai,

 

Sanjay

 

 

 

 

Health - your guide to health and wellness

http://health.

[Guest guest]

On Mon, 29 Apr 2002, Sanjay Dadlani wrote:

> >> It's tamasika and unhealthy to sleep on one's

> stomach, and rajasika to sleep on one's side; best is

> to sleep lying on one's back, head to the South or

> East. <<

> sleeping on our left sides were advised. How do we

> reconcile this with the idea that sleeping on one's

> back is satvic?

 

I don't see a real contradiction here. I think the left side is

healthier (promotes digestion). But on the whole, sleep is always tamasika

anyway, so it's probably a moot question. It's better just to avoid sleep

altogether, like Srila Prabhupada did. It can be done by practice. He

used to work for the welfare of all living beings, while they all slept.

That's the real challenge in life.

 

 

> What do the sastras and Srila Prabhupada say on this

> point?

 

I don't recall where it was offhand, but the GBC Deity Worship

Research Group's (supplement to) Pancaratra-pradipa (which doesn't cite

it's sources though), also says that sleeping North invites untimely death,

sleeping West brings worry, sleeping South promote longevity and strength,

and sleeping East brings knowledge (1994: 179). I'm sure this is in the

sastra somewhere, possibly Haribhaktivilasa.

 

One should also not sleep during the sandhyas (dawn, noon, and

dusk). There are other injunctions, most of them fairly minor. Before taking

rest, one should meditate on Bhagavata, 11.2.36, just as when when rising,

one should recite verses like Bhagavata 10.46.46, etc. The basic principle

is that taking rest should somehow be mentally associated with increasing

one's pure devotion by kirtana and prayer.

 

I hope this is helpful. Hare Krsna.

 

MDd

[Guest guest]

"One should also not sleep during the sandhyas (dawn, noon, and dusk)."

 

This is consistent with the (yoga?) rule that one should sleep only in the

middle portion of the night. This is mention in the Mayavadi commentary to the

Bhagavadgita 6.16 (one should not sleep too much or too little) of Madhusudana

Sarasvati.

ys

Gerald

[Guest guest]

Message: 9

Tue, 30 Apr 2002 17:34:05 -0600

Satya devi dasi <satya

sleeping positions

 

>> "Sleeping on the back is good for all round health,

and on the left side is good for digestion; but

sleeping on the right side and especially on the

stomach are bad for brahmacaris." p. 44 <<

 

Thank you very much to Satya dd mataji and other

prabhus for contributing, and also for providing the

exact text from HH Bhakti Vikasa Maharaja's book.

 

I have noticed that sometimes Srila Prabhupada used to

speak about physiology in certain parts of his

Bhagavatam commentary, and there is one place in

particular where Srila Prabhupada describes the "yoga

chakras" as being of a higher number than the

standardly-accepted seven, and so on..

 

So regarding this question about sleeping in different

positions and their effects, I wonder WHY this is so?

WHY is sleeping on the right side and on the stomach

bad for brahmacharis, and conversely why is it

relatively "better" to sleep on the left side or on

your back? What physiological processes are involved

here, and how do they help in our spiritual

advancement?

 

If we are not the body, then how does sleeping in

certain positions affect our spiritual advancement?

 

In service of Gaura-Nitai,

 

Sanjay

 

=====

"Radha-Krishna prana mora jugala-kisora, jivane marane gati aro nahi mora."

 

"The divine couple, Sri Radha and Krsna, are my life and soul. In life or death

I have no other refuge but Them."

 

-- Srila Narottama Dasa Thakura

 

 

 

Health - your guide to health and wellness

http://health.

[Guest guest]

On Thu, 2 May 2002, Sanjay Dadlani wrote:

> So regarding this question about sleeping in different

> positions and their effects, I wonder WHY this is so?

> WHY is sleeping on the right side and on the stomach

> bad for brahmacharis, and conversely why is it

> relatively "better" to sleep on the left side or on

> your back? What physiological processes are involved

> here, and how do they help in our spiritual

> advancement?

 

You may find more details about this sort of thing

in the Yogic and medical literature, and perhaps in

Sankhya treatises too. At the same time, it's often

surprising just how much is in the Bhagavatam, if we

look through it diligently.

 

 

 

> If we are not the body, then how does sleeping in

> certain positions affect our spiritual advancement?

 

Stripped of all relative content (unless that is our main

interest), this is more or less the same question Uddhava

asks the Lord in the Eleventh Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam

(11.10.35), wherein Lord Krsna answers at great length.

 

In short, because we are infinitesimal parts and parcels

of Krsna, we are affected by His manifold energies. The

pivot is always our desire. Because it is understood that

conditioned souls like ourselves don't want to go back to

Godhead with absolute intensity, our desires are similarly

affected by what we contact and how (cf. Gita 2.62). Thus,

certain types of associations and activities are prescribed

in sastras (vidhi), and others prohibited (nisedha); the

purpose is to facilitate our development of sattva-guna,

and as close an approximation of suddha-sattva as possible.

Once we do that, we become liberated. In that state, pure

bhakti has no more impediments and so we progress into

mature stages of love of God very quickly.

 

However, regardless of anyone's material situation, if

anyone somehow or other secures the favor of pure bhaktas,

then simply by their blessings, one gets the same result,

inconceivably. In this way the essence of all the vidhis

and nisedhas is that we somehow or other remember Krsna

constantly. As suggested above, the Bhagavatam (cf.

2.3.10) recommends that everyone, in any condition,

should strive to serve Krsna intensely.

 

I hope this is helpful; Hare Krsna!

 

MDd