Sri Aurobindo "All Life Is Yoga: Sleep and Dreams"

All Life Is Yoga: Sleep and Dreams
Sri Aurobindo

The (d.i. Mira Alfassa) Mother

The Mother said, “You can become conscious of your nights and your sleep just as you are conscious of your days. It is a matter of inner development and discipline of consciousness.” This book contains guidance for making sleep more conscious, thereby replacing subconscient dreams with conscious experiences. The ultimate goal is to transform sleep into a state of yogic repose, a state in which one can enter into the inner worlds and act there as in the physical world. So if curiosity has begun to take over and you want to know why you sleep, or what happens when you sleep, where you go, whom you meet, why you behave in a manner so different, what the symbolism of all those fantastic voyages really is … this is the book for you. Sleep and dreams are not just an ordinary by-product of a hard day’s work, but an opportunity for growth and progress. Sri Aurobindo’s integral Yoga cannot be suspended when the hour strikes midnight … no, it must go on and so it does. The question then is, how do we become aware of this “night school of sadhana”? Read and find out.

Omsriaurobindomira

All

Life

is

Yoga

“All life is Yoga.” – Sri Aurobindo

Sleep and Dreams

Sri Aurobindo | The Mother

SRI AUROBINDO BHAVAN

BERCHTESGADENER LAND

Copyright 2021

AURO MEDIA

Verlag und Fachbuchhandel

Wilfried Schuh

Germany

www.sriaurobindo.center

www.auro.media

ALL LIFE IS YOGA

Sleep and Dreams

Selections from the Works of

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

Second edition 2021

ISBN 978-3-96387-010-1

В© Photos and selections of the works of

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother:

Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust

Puducherry, India

Flower on the cover:

Aloe vera. Light orange. Spiritual significance and explanation given by the Mother: Dreams One can learn much by observing one’s dreams.

Publisher’s Note

This is one in a series of some e-books created by SRI AUROBINDO DIGITAL EDITION and published by AURO MEDIA under the title All Life Is Yoga. Our effort is to bring together, from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, simple passages with a practical orientation on specific subjects, so that everyone may feel free to choose a book according to his inner need. The topics cover the whole field of human activity, because true spirituality is not the rejection of life but the art of perfecting life.

While the passages from Sri Aurobindo are in the original English, most of the passages from the Mother (selections from her talks and writings) are translations from the original French. We must also bear in mind that the excerpts have been taken out of their original context and that a compilation, in its very nature, is likely to have a personal and subjective approach. A sincere attempt, however, has been made to be faithful to the vision of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. These excerpts are by no means exhaustive.

Bringing out a compilation from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, which have a profound depth and wideness unique, is a difficult task. The compiler’s subjective tilt and preferences generally result in highlighting some aspects of the issues concerned while the rest is by no means less significant. Also without contexts of the excerpts the passages reproduced may not fully convey the idea – or may be misunderstood or may reduce a comprehensive truth into what could appear like a fixed principle.

The reader may keep in mind this inherent limitation of compilations; compilations are however helpful in providing an introduction to the subject in a handy format. They also give the readers a direct and practical feel of some of the profound issues and sometimes a mantric appeal, musing on which can change one’s entire attitude to them.

The excerpts from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother carry titles and captions chosen by the editor, highlighting the theme of the excerpts and, whenever possible, borrowing a phrase from the text itself. The sources of the excerpts are given at the end of each issue.

We hope these compilations will inspire the readers to go to the complete works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and will help them to mould their lives and their environments towards an ever greater perfection.

“True spirituality is not to renounce life, but to make life perfect with a Divine Perfection.” – The Mother

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ContentsTitle Page (#uf87b2629-d360-5440-b876-58da1754f838)Copyright (#uacd83a1f-b4f0-543a-944a-cb39c5f05e2c)Publisher’s Note (#u4408b83a-85a4-50c4-b372-96b3f045a4c5)SLEEP AND DREAMS (#u3e8a20ef-9513-5492-93d5-3b026e3e8149)Quotation (#u2c019b7e-62f6-57fd-9df3-6d1f43af14b9)1. The Necessity of Sleep (#u24b2eb88-430c-54ef-99d1-008706322126)2. How to Sleep (#u340b13ce-96b0-5a65-aced-0be8d4ffa705)3. What Happens During Sleep? (#u616b7bac-bbf6-52dc-b191-15ff6455923d)4. Dreams – Nature and Importance (#ued76bf28-f00a-5fae-9050-4adbfdbafa60)5. Why Do We Forget Our Dreams? (#u18878d02-afec-56ac-ba8e-ed7592b6af06)6. Control Over Dreams (#u5dda97df-c5a2-5325-ab64-33ade752cdcb)7. Dreams and Their Interpretations (#uab103eb8-ecb0-5fa8-b75b-f28bdbf7007e)8. Premonitory Dreams (#uca4ce95e-3f27-5438-b08c-d5d1b4d0ffd3)9. Somnambulism (#u94aee307-b63d-5db1-b471-31a1307ba145)10. Nightmares (#uc6a30ad2-466c-5787-9690-c257e7730709)11. Yogic Repose (#u4dce76d0-cd64-59b2-ba8e-0da5f2d40641)12. Some Guidance (#u99e8f08d-d263-5f83-a249-4c0eedfeb2fa)APPENDIX (#u496ef001-e854-51f5-bae6-688e91e62457)References (#uef3a5de7-7e23-5955-b1d6-7c5417499ae6)GuideCover (#u9dd2f364-035c-55f1-ad1d-b0223f053e1b)Contents (#uf2f370fc-b768-57a3-bfa1-f52380cefe7f)Start (#u3e8a20ef-9513-5492-93d5-3b026e3e8149)

SLEEP AND DREAMS

Sri Aurobindo

Ordinarily when one sleeps a complex phenomenon happens. The waking consciousness is no longer there, for all has been withdrawn within into the inner realms of which we are not aware when we are awake, though they exist... — Sri Aurobindo

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Chapter 1

The Necessity of Sleep

Words of the Mother

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.

Only, people don’t know, they sleep because they sleep, as they eat, as they live – by a kind of instinct, a semi-conscious impulse. They don’t even ask themselves the question. You are asking the question now: Why does one sleep? But there are millions and millions of beings who sleep without ever having asked themselves the question why one sleeps. They sleep because they feel sleepy, they eat because they are hungry, and they do foolish things because their instincts push them, without thinking, without reasoning; but for those who know, sleep is a school, an excellent school for something other than the school of waking hours.

It is another school for another purpose, but it is a school. If one wants to make the maximum progress possible, one must know how to use one’s nights as one uses one’s days; only, usually, people don’t at all know what to do, and they try to remain awake and all that they create is a physical and vital imbalance – and sometimes a mental one also – as a result.

The physical and all material physical parts should be absolutely at rest, but a repose which is not a fall into the inconscient – this is one of the conditions. And the vital must be in a repose of silence. Then if you have these three things at rest, the inner being which is rarely in relation with the outer life, because the outer life is too noisy and too unconscious for it to be able to manifest itself, can become aware of itself and awaken, become active and act upon the lower parts, establish a conscious contact. This is the real reason for sleep, apart from the necessity that, in the present conditions of life, activity and rest, rest and activity must alternate.

The body needs rest but there are very few people, as I said, who know how to sleep. They sleep in such conditions that they don’t wake up refreshed or are hardly rested at all. But this is an entire science to learn.

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Words of Sri Aurobindo

Sleep is necessary for the body just as food is. Sufficient sleep must be taken, but not excessive sleep. What sufficient sleep is depends on the need of the body.

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Words of Sri Aurobindo

It is a great mistake not to take sufficient sleep. Seven hours is the minimum needed. When one has a very strong nervous system, one can reduce it to six, sometimes even five – but it is rare and ought not to be attempted without necessity.

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