Lifelong Sleep

Subject: Lifelong Sleep Date: Sat 31 Oct 2009 07:02:27 -0000 From: "Gaurishankar Agrawal" To: AM-GLOBAL Baba "A'mi toma're bhuliya' chinu katadin..." (P.S. 4091) Purport: Baba, I was remaining forgetful and was oblivious of You for such a long span of time. My life passed like this. I traveled on the rugged, jagged path. Sometimes I fell down in the ocean current. My days, full of stains, were wasted in hopelessness-- without any achievement, without any genuine progress. So many lonely, isolated nights passed in crying in utter despair with no pra'na-- just frustration. Baba, sometimes I suffered and got hit by the cold northern breeze. And sometimes that northern breeze took away all my hopes, inspirations, and gains. Just I drowned in staticity and crudeness. But now, by Your grace today spring has come. All the surroundings are filled with the colourful flowers and sweet aroma. The dark night has changed into a glittering moonlight, shining in the sky. Peacocks are dancing in happiness and expressing their joy by extending their feathers. The sweet breeze has come. It is shaking my whole existence and making me quiver in the divine vibration. That sweet breeze is giving me the hint and telling me, 'Listen! the divine flute, which is resonating, it is calling you..."

== LIFELONG SLEEP ==

Note: Be sure to read the follow-up report and news update at the bottom of this letter about the awful mistreatment of Didi Shucismita's broken hand. Namaskar, The other day when doing pracara I had an indepth, personal conversation with someone about yama and niyama, kiirtan and meditation. They appeared to be quite interested. When our talk ended, I thought they would have a question on the topic or ask when was the next dharmacakra etc. But instead, they said they wanted to go on the internet to check the timetable about some pseudo-culture movie at the local cinema. That was all they wanted to know. When I recounted this to my Dada then he nodded knowingly and said, "Psychic slumber." My acarya then went on to give the following reply which I have written in summary form for all of you.

DYNAMIC PERSONALITY

The human personality is dynamic and diverse and exists on three realms: physical, psychic and spiritual. We all know that Ananda Marga aims for the development of the whole human personality. Thus we should be fully aware about sleep and how it manifests on all levels of life. Unfortunately nowadays many are not cognizant of this critical issue, both inside and outside the Marga. So it needs our careful attention, for our own understanding and growth, and for sharing with others.

SLEEP: IN A NUTSHELL

In brief, here is what is meant by sleep, in the various realms of life. These are Baba's definitions. (A) Physical sleep is when one is lying down in their bed and sleeping. This we all know about. (B) Psychic sleep is when one is not aware about the real value of human life and is instead engrossed in material pursuits, religious dogmas, and animalistic propensities. (C) Spiritual sleep is when one forgets the divine fact that Parama Purusa is with you, watching you. All these are discussed in greater detail below.

WHY SLEEP IS SO DANGEROUS

The most telling aspect or main characteristic about sleep - whether it be physical, psychic or spiritual - is that when one is sleeping then they are not aware that they are sleeping. They are not at all conscious. That is why it is so dangerous, especially in the psychic and spiritual realms. Though physically sleeping when driving is also very dangerous. Sleep happens unbeknownst to the person. The person sleeping is totally oblivious of the fact that they are sleeping. They cannot think or say, "Right now at this moment I am sleeping." This basic awareness they do not have. The best they can do is to try and remember the very last thing they were doing before they went to sleep. After that they will not be aware what transpired. This mostly applies to physical sleep. Those involved in psychic and spiritual sleep can pass entire lifetimes without waking up - it happens, even in our Marga. It should also be noted that of these three types of sleep, physical sleep is restorative - so long as one does not sleep too much. In contrast, both psychic sleep and spiritual slumber have no redeeming quality - none.

WHAT IS PSYCHIC SLEEP? (Part 1)

We all know what physical sleep is, but psychic sleep may be less apparent. Basically, when one is engrossed in religious dogmas, social dogmas, and material pursuits, then that is psychic sleep. Such persons have no concept of the more subtle aspects of life. They are just here for eating, sleeping, drinking and merrymaking or various dogmatic enterprises. These are the characteristics of psychic slumber. If someone is sleeping psychically and you talk to them about yama and niyama or meditation, then they will often have a blank look on their face. Regardless of their educational status, if they are sleeping psychically, even a PhD scholar will be mentally dull in this regard. They will not show an iota of interest in spirituality. You can tell people all day about how human life is precious and money is not everything and that they must learn meditation etc, and then at the end of the conversation they may only ask about getting a bottle of wine. Such is a classic case of psychic slumber. Unfortunately at present in this grossly materialistic era, most suffer in this regard. They cannot see that this entire world is the divine expression of Parama Purusa and that there is more to living that satisfying one's animalistic propensities. We should not just think that psychic sleep only applies to those non-margiis grossly disinterested in spiritual topics.

WHAT IS PSYCHIC SLEEP? (Part 2)

There are also those who express some or more interest in the subtle sphere but get clouded in dogmas like groupism, factionalism, etc. That is what we have happening in our Marga. All in AM have the book knowledge that groupism is something bad, but even then some have fallen prey to this ism and have committed their life to the selfish interests of their chosen group. No names need be mentioned here, but in our Marga some fall in this category. And that is exactly what Baba is warning about in His below teaching. Baba says, "Next is psychic lethargy. What is the nature of this sort of lethargy? Psychic lethargy is the lack of mental courage to think independently and to utilize the physical potentialities according to one’s inherent thoughts. For example, most people realize that since all human beings are the progeny of Parama Purus'a, there should not be any distinction of caste. Those who accept casteism can never accept Parama Purus'a and conversely, those who believe in Parama Purus'a can never accept casteism. Almost all human beings understand this and yet, in their individual lives, they surrender to old customs and beliefs. Just imagine what a serious lapse this is, what a serious psychic lethargy. The root case is the lack of moral courage." (AV-8) Thus anyone in AM who even is remotely connected with groupism and groupist politics is a victim of psychic slumber. Whether they wish to admit it or not, they are totally sleeping in the psychic realm. And indeed they will not admit it. Because, as stated above, those who are sleeping cannot recognise that they are sleeping. That is the special, if not dangerous, quality of sleep. Thus day in and day out those involved in psychic slumber indulge in groupist activities all the 24hrs. Yet they remain oblivious to their psychic slumber. Their sense of vivek is not working - they cannot understand the teachings of Parama Purusa and apply them to their life. So they think what they are doing is alright. They continue to engage 100% in their groupist battle plans. Yet one fine morning, in this lifetime or the next, by Baba's grace, they will awaken and wonder what hell they have been doing with their lives. And they will exclaim, "Why did you not tell me that I was doing such things?" - yet little do they know that each and every day for decades they were told not to indulge in groupist propaganda. They do not realise that life is short and life is meant for ideology, not groupist or dogmatic or material pursuits. Such is the main criteria of psychic sleep.

PHYSICAL SLEEP & PSYCHIC SLEEP

If you ever talked to someone on the phone when they were extremely tired or if you ever talked to someone just as they were falling asleep or even when they were asleep, then you know that that person will not remember what you were talking about. Having succumbed to sleep, you can tell them so many things - "Your mom called", "It is raining out, "The loan was rejected" - and they will not remember anything. But later they will accuse you of not telling them. Same is the case with psychic slumber. Such persons have been following groupist dogmas for years and doing so many injustices in our Marga, yet they are not able to pay heed to the warnings. They do not understand the harm they are doing, the time they are wasting, and the negative karma they are creating. Thus in both physical and psychic sleep, the person in slumber is oblivious to all kinds of rational talk. Yet later on, they will accuse others of not saying anything when they realise what they were doing wrong and what good things they missed. And the only reply is, "All along people told you but you did not hear or listen."

WHAT IS SPIRITUAL SLEEP?

Lastly, we come to the phenomenon of spiritual sleep. Baba says, "Of all the different types of lethargy, spiritual lethargy is the worst. Spiritual lethargy means not to sit for meditation regularly. Those with spiritual lethargy have time for all other actions, but for spiritual practice there seems to be no time. They say, “It’s already late today – I’ll do a short meditation right now, and devote more time to sa'dhana' tomorrow.” They sit attentively inside the cinema hall, but in dharma sa'dhana' they feel sleepy." (AMIWL-10) So spiritual sleep relates with not properly attending to one's duty of sadhana. That is certainly one main aspect of spiritual slumber. From that main stem of not doing sadhana come many offshoots. Lack of spiritual awareness means forgetting that Parama Purusa is with me, watching me. If at any time during the day or night a sadhaka forgets - even temporarily - that Parama Purusa is with me or if they do not have that idea vibrating in their mind, then it means that they / you are sleeping spiritually. Thus all the dogmatic religions that claim that God is far away are sunk in spiritual slumber. Similarly, those followers of so-called mahaprayan (i.e. Baba is gone) are also lost in spiritual slumber. As are those who chase after Parama Purusa by going on tiirthas, whether that tiirtha be in Mecca, Jerusalem, Jamalpur or Kolkata. Plus those dogmatic worshipers who ask their God for material gain and those groupists who secretly pray to Parama Purusa for prestige and power - they are all sleeping. Internally they are harboring for something else other than Parama Purusa Himself. In all such cases the aspirant is sleeping soundly. They may deny it a thousand times over, but that is the way of the world. Those in sleep cannot recognise they are sleeping. So they come up with dumb justifications for their foolish pursuits. This happens both in psychic and spiritual slumber. The key defining point with spiritual slumber is feeling / not feeling Baba's constant presence. As soon as one feels that, "Baba is with me" then that person is no longer sleeping. However without vigilance and proper spiritual endeavor, they may fall back asleep. That happens. This state of spiritual slumber is also known as adhyataman nidra. In essence anyone who thinks, "I am great" is plunged in this disastrous mode of life or spiritual slumber. Because they are unable to realise the greatness and presence of Parama Purusa, they foolishly think that, "I am great". So these are some of the telltale signs of spiritual slumber. Here is another warning from Baba how people waste their existence doused in spiritual slumber. Baba says, "People...waste their time getting old for nothing. That is, they waste their time in non-spiritual pursuits. This is called “spiritual lethargy”. It causes the greatest harm to human life because it results in only a very small percentage of the human potentiality – maybe one or two percent – being utilized by humans. Even those whom we call great personalities hardly use ten percent of their potentialities. Due to spiritual lethargy people are unable to grow, and thus remain very ordinary. They come to the world, live, decay and die as ordinary human beings." (AV-8)

BABA'S BLESSING

By Baba's grace we should all live life as awakened sadhakas - not falling prey to dogma or groupism and not forgetting that He is always with us. Then our life will be successful. Failing that, one will be prone to lifelong sleep. Baba says, "Human beings have to move, and move on ceaselessly. When they are endowed with the strength of movement, they will have to move in a proper manner. Where there is strength, that strength must be properly utilized. One must not slip into slumber, allowing this strength to remain inert. Parama Purus'a has given this power to be utilized. The knowledge of the learned, the strength of the strong, the intelligence of the intellectuals – all these faculties have been given not to be merely preserved but to be utilized. Those persons who do not utilize their faculties have no right to ask for anything from the Lord, and those who misuse their faculties are also doomed to destruction." (AFPS-4) Namaskar, Gaurishankar

NEWS UPDATE: THE HORRIBLE CASE OF DIDIJI'S BROKEN HAND

As we all know, Solapur DSL Didi Brc. Shucismita' suffered a broken hand in May at the WRC camp. That time Centre did not give any treatment - they refused - and her hand was not plastered for 4 days. That was the tragedy. Here is the report about that initial incident. http://am-global-01.blogspot.com/2009/05/news-care-of-injured-wt.html Then in August RDS, Didiji openly told in a meeting with senior Purodha Vishvadevanandajii about her horrible situation. She explained how a medical doctor warned that serious treatment was needed but neither Centre nor her authorities in WWD would help. The doctor warned that the arm may never be the same again. Days passed and still no help. Finally, with no other recourse, she accepted service from her laukik family. She knew that to serve Guru in this lifetime her arm would need to be proper, thus after days of waiting and no one from the organisation offering to help, her laukika family members arrived on scene and pleaded with her to get medical treatment. In the end, taking Baba's name, she went with her laukik brother and got medical treatment, even then it was too late. She told that after the plaster cast was finally put on, not a single senior worker nor any higher authority turned to look after her. Furthermore, because Centre refused to give her the needed treatment - or for that matter any medical care, she did not get plaster on time, that's why her hand has become permanently curved. She had needed more serious treatment but neither Centre nor any senior Ddidi helped her. Such is the horrible plight of innocent workers who do not join any group. They get harrassed and tortured. It is inconceivable that those in Centre and senior Didis would not help our Didi. Such top Dadas and Didias have lost even their most basic human feeling. If someone is suffering, then irrespective of their caste or social status, then help should be given. But this much human feeling is totally absent from the heart and minds of our top Wts. It is shameful how they let this Didi suffer. Such is what happens when people do not practice sadhana etc. Their mind becomes blind due to their vanity and lust for power. Everyone should seek out and write Didi Shucismita'. All should inquire about her welfare.