Keeping Mind Fit for Meditation

Sri Annamalai Swami

In November 1938 I went onto the hill with Bhagavan. As we were coming back I asked him, 'What must I do to avoid sleep during meditation?'

Bhagavan replied, 'Meditators must not work too much, nor should they fill their stomachs with excessive food. The more one fills the stomach, the lower one's mental state becomes. If the stomach is mostly empty, one will go higher spiritually. One should not tighten the strings of the veena either too much or too little. The body must be kept like that.

Likewise with sleep. One third of the night has been allotted for sleep. That is, one must go to bed at 10 PM and wake up at 2 AM. One should not sleep during the day time. There is another system also. One should get up whenever one wakes up and one should sleep whenever sleep comes. But one should not think, "I slept" or "I woke up".'

Then he quoted verse 33 of Devikalottara:

The mind often strays into reveries or falls asleep. Be vigilant and turn it into its pristine state again and again.

- Diary Extracts

............................................

From Srimad Bhagava Gita Chapter 6 (Dhyana Yoga)

O Arjuna! Success in Yoga is not for those who eat too much, nor for those who eat too little. It is not also for those given to too much sleeping, nor to those who keep vigil too long.

For one who is temperate in food and recreation, who is detached and self-restrained in work, who is regulated in sleep and in vigil - Yoga brings about the cessation of the travail of samsara.