Page 5 - NAMAH-Oct-2019

The supreme rest*

Mother, you said that the sleep before midnight gives us most rest...

Physically, yes.

Why?

Ah! I said that through personal experience and then that... There’s no why about it, is there?
Everyone should find this out for himself, or not find it out. But I have heard from those who
are interested in earth-chemistry that there are certain rays — (turning to Pavitra) isn’t that
so? Tell us, do you know about it? — sun-rays which remain active in the atmosphere till
midnight, and other rays which become active afterwards, and these give you strength and
those draw it out of you. But there are many things like that; at least this, you understand,
is something we hear of or read in books. I am giving it to you for what it is worth, I know
nothing. Somebody who is very well up in the subject could give you a fuller explanation.
(Laughing) But certain things are true, in practice. I cannot say why; perhaps they are only
personal things! But still, I have heard of a similar experience from others also. For instance,
you go into the sea, remain there a few minutes and you come out full of strength. You go
into the sea and remain in it for an hour and you come out completely exhausted! Even
with a hot bath it is the same thing. You have a hot bath; you are very tired; you get into it;
you remain there at the most for a moment; you come out and feel quite fresh. You remain
there for a quarter of an hour, you come out, you have lost all your strength, your energy,
there’s nothing left, you are drained out.

I tell you this, I cannot speak to you with any competence about the reason, but the fact is
there. It is like that. For myself I have an explanation, but it is good only for me, it does not
work for others. So it is useless.

As for these stages of sleep which are spoken about here, if one is conscious of one’s nights,
one can cover them in a few minutes. One does not need to wait for hours of sleep to do
this, you understand; if one is conscious, one can pass through all that in a few minutes.
To begin with, when one is conscious of one’s nights, the first thing to do before falling fast
asleep, just in the state when one begins to relax, relax all one’s nerves — I have explained
this to you already, one relaxes all the nerves and lets oneself go... like this... you know —
well, at that moment, one must relax very carefully all mental activity and make that quiet,
as quiet as possible, and not go off to sleep until the mind is quite calm. Then you escape
quite a long period of useless excitement which is extremely tiring. If you can so manage

*Heading provided by the Editor

5