swami rajneesh:
people are searching for truth…running here…running there…
getting up early…doing dynamic…
then they do kundalini…then nadabrahma…
then they do this…then that…
as if by doing more you will climb the mountain
how about sleeping and going into let go ?
i am a sleeper
i love my sleep so deeply
i emphasize sleep as meditation
doing this and doing that
just fall asleep… have a nice deep sleep
forget all about meditation
i sleep sometimes sixteen hours…twenty hours…
twenty four hours…thirty six hours…three days…
there is a beautiful window within sleep…
if you can fall deeper and deeper and deeper into sleep
the window will open
samadhi is nothing but going into such a deep sleep
that you do not wake up…but you are awakened
you are awakened
because you have so much restfulness
that you have reached the very core of rest
i have explained so many times
that nobody ever sleeps
if you have to get up in the morning to catch a flight at six
suddenly at five you are awake
automatically it wakes you up because you know
you have to catch a flight
what kept you awake is the alarm clock inside you…
the thought that you have to get up
so you go to sleep with the thought i have to get up
that means you never went to sleep
undercurrent was this thought i have to wake up
same way people are going to sleep with the thought
i have this work to do…i have this business to do…
i have these friends to meet…i have this future to create…
i have a house to make…i have a property to purchase…
i have this to do… i have that to do…
all these thoughts surround you like mini alarm clocks
you never sleep because all these thoughts
are pushing you here…pushing you there…
whole night you are dreaming…
i have to do this…i have to do that…
i have to achieve this…i have to get up for dynamic meditation…
nadabrahma… enlightenment…this…that…
the tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock mechanism…
is not letting you sleep
a subtle undercurrent of thoughts is continuously moving
so you have never fallen into sleep
at the most you have fallen into a light rest of the body
but there are deeper layers of sleep
i emphasize on how to go to sleep at night
die completely…
let the body get heavy and forget about tomorrow
just say i am not waking up tomorrow
enough is enough
just go backwards…go to sleep…let the whole world go on…
fall into a deeeeeep sleep
you cannot do anything while you are sleeping
so why not sleep totally ?
do not project for tomorrow
you make not wake up tomorrow
so why go on unnecessarily projecting ?
tomorrow i need to do this and i need to do that…
slow down so deep…
that your sleep becomes a meditation
that a new pool of energy comes into your being
this restlessness disappears
and you are filled with a new energy of total rest
i myself used to do the death meditation every night
just for fun…
so when you go to sleep imagine you have died
celebrate…haha…i have gone finally…
free of this burden of tomorrows business…
ten people are carrying you and they burn your body…
your ashes are burned…no more worry
why get up in the morning ?
all tension gone
every night i used to do this death meditation
visualize the black and simply dive into the black
enough is enough…
if i wake up tomorrow very good
if i do not wake up then good for others…
they will be happy that i am not back again
deep sleep is the foundation for the meditator
if you have not learned how to sleep…
do not wake up to do any meditation
first master your sleep
try to go to sleep doing a death meditation
and really die !
your quality of sleep will become so deep
they call it turiya…the dreamless sleep
you fall into a turiya state
and if you can go deeper than that
you enter the state of samadhi
no need for dreams…simply fall into the black hole
you will sleep and suddenly you will collapse
and a tunnel will pull you down…down…down…
and suck you into the black hole
and you sleep in a deep pool of black
that is the real awakening
it does not wake you…it awakens you
awakening means such a tremendous restfulness
such a deep state of rest
that you are awakened
awakening happens from within
waking up happens from without
in awakening you are not present
you have fallen into a black pit
and the rest accumulates so deeply
that your inner flowering simply opens
and you are shown the truth of existence
i keep speaking about the black hole
the value of sleep
and even if you do not understand what i am speaking of…
the black hole and its awakening…
at least enjoy your sleep totally
if you can enjoy your sleep totally
be totally nourished by sleep
then you do not need meditation again
for eight hours at night
a continuous undercurrent of meditativeness is flowing within you
when you are sleeping you are not holding anything…
no bank balance…no briefcase…nothing…
you are just resting…your body is completely open…
floating in existence…
think what happens to you when you go to sleep
in the day you are in the mind
with your thought patterns in your brain
when you go to sleep…slowly slowly…
from these thought waves…you fall into your heart…
and the dream state awakens
you start dreaming about this and that
and slowly even that gets tired and you go deeper
you fall into the navel…you are leaving the body
you are lying on the bed…you leave the body
and like a balloon…like this beautiful dome…
you are floating above your body…
watching your body but unconscious
each one of you leaves the body at night
you have become enlightened but you do not know about it
your state of awareness is present but you are in coma
your body has been put to sleep but you are separate
once you are separate in sleep you start expanding…expanding…
till you come to a state of deep rest
then your sleep is over
it starts contracting…contracting…contracting…
enters the body again…comes into your desire
comes into your waking mind and you wake up
and you drink your first cup of tea
going to sleep…from head…to heart…to being
when you wake up…from being…to heart…to head
this is the journey
when you go to sleep
you are in a state of samadhi unknowingly
you are one with existence
sleep is next to samadhi
if you can value your sleep as a meditation
then six to eight hours a day
almost half your life is filled with meditation
unnecessarily you go to do meditation
you are in the state already
why go to do anything ?
you are trying to find that perfect state
while every night you are attaining to it !
have you attained to sleep ?
no…you let go and fall into the state of sleep
same way you cannot attain enlightenment
but you can let go and fall into the state of samadhi
it awakens you…there is no attainment either way
if you try to attain sleep you will never sleep
you will be fighting only
people keep saying…wake up…wake up…
i keep saying…go to sleep…go to sleep…
why wake up ? sleep deeply !
whenever you have a deep meditation
just lie down…dive deep…go to sleep
forget about waking up for enlightenment tomorrow
you are already enlightened !
you cannot wake up in your sleep
because you do not have so much energy to awaken you
if the energy overflows…it opens your third eye…
and it awakens you
the moment you are leaving the body
something from within makes you alert and wakes you up
if you have so much energy in your sleep
because you have dropped desire
you have dropped dreaming
you have dropped the worry of tomorrow
the moment you drop the worry of tomorrow…
your sleep becomes enlarged
for the first time you fall into a deep restful sleep
just like a baby
and your morning will be immensely different
full of life and vitality…
perhaps enlightment awakens you…
source – swami rajneesh book “ZERO”