Namaste.
Have you ever gone to sleep,
Woken up and said,
I slept well,
Or perhaps I did not sleep properly,
Or I had a restless night,
Or I slept deeply?
During deep sleep.
We are not consciously thinking in the usual way.
We are not planning,
Remembering,
Imagining or reacting to the world around us.
But yet,
When we wake up,
We often have some sense of what happened.
I slept.
I rested.
I was unconscious.
There was nothing.
So what was present in that experience of nothing.
This is where Yoga Sutra 1.
10 becomes very subtle and very fascinating.
So far Patanjali has been explaining the five movements of the mind.
In Yoga Sutra 1.
6,
He named them.
Pramana – correct knowledge,
Viparyaya – misperception,
Vikalpa – imagination,
Nidra – sleep and Smriti – memory.
In Yoga Sutra 1.
7 he explained Pramana,
Correct knowledge.
Then in 1.
8 he explained vipadhyaya,
Misperception,
When the mind believes something that is not true.
In the previous Sutra 1.
9,
He explained Vikalpa.
Imagination.
That's when the mind creates realities towards our ideas even though there is no actual object present.
Now in Yoga Sutra 1.
10,
Patanjali explains the fourth movement of the mind.
Netra.
The Sutra is,
Abhava Pratyaya Alambana Vita Netra.
Let's say it slowly.
Of power.
But that yaya,
Alambada.
Would they do that?
Next round.
A simple translation.
Is the mental movement based on the experience of absence.
Sleep is the Vritti.
Supported by the cognition of nothingness.
A very simple translation.
Sleep is the movement of the mind in which the mind rests and the absence of ordinary content.
This may sound strange.
How can sleep?
Be a movement of the mind.
If there are no thoughts,
No images,
No memories,
No perceptions,
Then isn't the mind still?
But Patanjali is very precise.
He is saying that sleep is not the same as pure awareness.
Sleep is not the same as Samadhi.
Sleep is not the same as liberation.
Is a condition of the mind where ordinary mental content is absent.
But the mind is still in a particular state.
The mind is still in a particular state.
It is still a vritti.
It is still a modification.
It is still something that comes and goes.
We fall asleep.
We dream,
We enter deep sleep,
We wake up.
So sleep is a state that appears and disappears.
And anything that appears and disappears Can be observed.
Let us look at the sutra word by word.
The first word,
ABHAVA.
Abhava means absence,
Non-being,
Lack or non-existence.
In this context,
Abhava points to the absence of ordinary mental content.
In our waking life,
The mind is full of objects.
Thoughts,
Images,
Sounds,
Plans,
Memories,
Sensations,
Emotions,
Interpretations,
Stories in sleep,
Especially deep sleep.
These ordinary objects are absent.
There is no clear object of thought.
There is no clear image.
There is no clear idea.
There is no clear perception.
So the mind is resting.
In a kind of absence.
The next word.
Dot the I.
Dathyaya means cognition,
Content,
Idea,
Impression or mental presentation.
It is what the mind takes as its support or object.
So,
Abhava Pratyaya means a cognition or mental content related to absence.
In other words,
The mind is not grasping a thought or image,
But it is still marked by the absence of content.
Then we have Alambana.
Alambana means support,
Basis,
Foundation or resting place.
So,
Abhava Pratyaya Alambana means supported by the cognition of absence.
Or resting upon the experience of nothingness.
Then the sutra says.
Litter,
Nitrate.
Vritti means movement or the modification or the fluctuation or a pattern of the mind.
Came up in the initial sutras.
With a T.
Nedra means sleep.
So Patanjali is saying sleep.
Is a movement of the mind supported by absence.
Now why does this matter?
Because many of us We mistake dullness for peace.
We mistake sleepiness for meditation.
We mistake disconnection for stillness.
We mistake numbness for freedom.
And we may mistake the absence of thought for awareness.
This sutra helps us become more precise.
Just because the mind is quiet,
Does not mean we are awake in awareness.
Sometimes the mind is quiet because it is clear,
Sometimes the mind is quiet because it is dull.
Sometimes the mind is quiet because it is tired.
Sometimes the mind is quiet because it has withdrawn,
It has shut down or it has disconnected.
Yoga is asking us to notice the difference.
And this is very practical when it comes to meditation.
You are set to meditate.
At first,
Thoughts are active.
Then gradually the mind becomes quieter.
Instead of becoming bright,
Alert and aware,
You begin to drift.
The head nods.
The body becomes heavy.
The mind becomes foggy.
You are not caught in thought anymore.
But you are also not clearly aware.
After sometime you come back and think.
That was peaceful.
Was it meditation?
Or was it sleepiness?
This is not a criticism.
It happens to everyone.
The body may need rest.
The nervous system may be exhausted.
The mind may be tired.
Sleep has its place.
Rest has its place.
But Patanjali wants us to understand the difference between sleep and awareness.
Sleep is valuable.
Sleep is healing.
Sleep restores the body and mind.
But sleep is not the same as conscious seeing.
In meditation,
The invitation is not only to become quiet,
It is to become awake.
But awake,
Rested but aware,
Quiet but clear.
This sutra also helps us understand another important point.
An absence is still something the mind can know.
When you wake from deep sleep and say I slept well.
What are you remembering?
You are not remembering a story.
You are not remembering a clear image.
You are not remembering a conversation.
You are remembering a kind of absinthe.
A blankness,
A gap.
A state where ordinary mental activity was not present.
So sleep.
Leaves an impression.
And because it leaves an impression,
Patanjali includes it in among the memories of the mind.
Patanjali includes it in among the memories of the mind.
Subtle but very important.
The mind can be active through content.
And the mind can also be shaped by the absence of content.
Let's bring this into daily life.
Sometimes we do not only sleep at night.
We fall asleep psychologically.
We go through the day on autopilot.
We eat without tasting.
We listen without really hearing.
We speak without really feeling what we are saying.
We move from one task to the other without presence.
We scroll,
We consume,
We react with the people.
The eyes are open but awareness is dim.
And this too is a kind of sleep.
Not physical sleep,
But unconscious living.
The body is away.
But the deeper tension is asleep.
And much of yoga is the movement from unconsciousness to awareness.
From mechanical living to presence,
From dullness to clarity,
From sleepwalking to life.
To actually being here.
And this is why Yoga Sutra 1.
10 is not only about what happens at night.
It also asks,
Where am I asleep in my own life?
Where am I moving automatically?
Where am I avoiding feeling?
Where am I choosing numbness instead of presence?
Where am I mistaking distraction for rest,
Dullness for peace?
These are not questions for self-judgment.
These are questions for awakening.
Because when we see where we are asleep,
Something in us begins to wake up.
Now it is also important to say this clearly.
Yoga is not against sleep.
Yoga is not against rest.
Yoga is not saying we must always be alert or productive or intense or awake in some forced way.
Because that just becomes another form of ego.
Sleep is sacred.
Rest is sacred.
The body needs sleep.
The nervous system needs repair.
The mind needs restoration.
Many people are not too sleepy because they are lazy.
They are sleepy because they are exhausted.
They are carrying years of tension,
Pressure,
Emotional labor,
Unprocessed stress.
And so We have to be compassionate here.
Especially to ourselves,
We have to be compassionate.
The teaching is not do not sleep.
The teaching is know what sleep is.
Know when the body truly needs rest.
Know when the mind is becoming dull.
Know when you are avoiding.
Know when you are dissociating.
Know when you are present.
Know when you are unconscious.
This is the path of awareness.
One of the practices of Yoga is Yoga Nidra.
This is where this concept also becomes a little important.
Yoga Nidra is often translated as yogic sleep.
But it is not simply ordinary sleep.
It is a state of rest with awareness.
The body rests,
The mind softens,
The senses withdraw,
But a thread of awareness remains.
And this is what makes Yoga Nidra so powerful.
It allows us to approach the edge of sleep.
Without losing awareness completely.
We rest deeply But we also witness,
We enter stillness.
But we do not disappear into unconsciousness.
In ordinary sleep.
We fall into absence.
In Yoga Nidra,
We learn to remain aware as the mind becomes quiet.
And this is why Yoga Nidra is such a beautiful practice alongside this Sutra.
It helps us to explore the boundary between waking,
Dreaming and sleep.
It shows us that there is something in us that can notice even the changing states of the mind.
Waking comes,
Waking goes.
Dreaming comes,
Dreaming goes.
Sleep comes,
Sleep goes.
But awareness.
Is the light in which these states are known.
And do give a listen to the Yoga Nidra practice that is connected to this Yoga Sutra.
Now let us consider how this sutra relates to the previous one.
In Pramana,
The mind knows correctly.
In Vipadhyaya,
The mind knows falsely.
In vikalpa,
The mind creates through words and imagination.
In NITRA,
The mind rests on absence.
So the mind can move to truth.
It can move through ether,
It can move through imagination.
And it can move through blindness.
But in all these cases,
The practice is the same.
Can I know this movement as a movement?
Can I recognize the state without being identified with it?
Can I remain away?
And this is the heart of yoga.
Not to hate the mind,
Not to punish the mind,
Not to force the mind into silence.
But to see the mind clearly.
Sometimes the mind is restless,
Sometimes it is imaginative,
Sometimes it is mistaken,
Sometimes it is tired.
Sometimes it is blank.
And awareness can know all of this.
Now in our modern world,
The vritti of sleep.
Also shows up as mental heaviness.
You sit down to do something meaningful.
And suddenly you're feeling sleepy.
You open a book that matters to you and the mind becomes dull.
You begin meditation and the mind drifts.
You face an important feeling and suddenly you want to distract yourself.
You are about to make a clear decision.
And fogginess appears.
Sometimes this is genuine tiredness.
But sometimes it is unconscious resistance.
The mind does not always avoid true noise.
Sometimes it avoids true fog,
Sometimes it protects us by making things blurry.
If clarity would ask us to feel,
Choose,
Act,
Grieve,
Apologize,
Change,
Or take responsibility,
The mind may prefer to become sleepy.
Again,
We do not judge this.
We simply notice.
Sleepiness may be saying,
I need rest.
Or it may be saying I am afraid to face this or this is too much right now or I do not yet feel safe enough to be fully present.
When we bring compassion to this.
Sleepiness becomes information.
Dullness becomes something we can relate to.
Avoidance becomes something we can understand.
And understanding creates freedom.
Understanding creates freedom.
So how do we practice with this sutra?
First.
Honor the Old Sleeper.
If the body is tired,
Rest.
If the nervous system is depleted,
Soften.
If you have been pushing for too long.
Alauddin Qawwadi.
Spiritual practice should not become violence against the body.
Secondly,
Notice dullness.
When the mind becomes foggy,
Gently ask.
Is this rest?
Is this avoidance?
Is this exhaustion?
Is this unconsciousness?
What is needed now?
Cultivate Bright Relaxation.
A beautiful phrase,
Bright relaxation.
Not tension,
Not forcing,
Not sleepy collapse.
But a state where the body is relaxed.
And awareness is awake.
You may experience this in meditation.
You may experience it in Yoga Nidra.
You may experience it while walking,
Or listening,
Or praying,
Or sitting quietly.
The body softens.
The breath settles.
But awareness.
Remains clear.
This is very different from dullness.
Return to the present to the body.
When the mind is foggy,
Come back to sensation.
Feel the feet.
Feel the breath.
Feel the contact with the ground.
Open the eyes softly,
Lengthen the spine,
Take one conscious breath.
Sometimes awareness returns to something very simple,
Not through effort but through contact.
To contact.
And here are a few questions for this sutra.
Am I lasting or am I awarding?
Is this genuine tiredness?
Or is this mental dullness?
Where in my life am I moving on autopilot?
Where do I confuse numbness with peace?
What helps me rest deeply without disconnecting completely?
And can I soften the body?
While keeping awareness awake.
These questions help to bring consciousness into places where we normally drift.
Yoga Sutra 1.
10 says,
Abhawa.
PRATYAYA ALAMBANA VRTAD NITRA Sleep is the mental movement based on the experience of absence.
This sutra reminds us that even when the ordinary contents of the mind disappear,
There is still a state being experienced.
Sleep is not wrong.
Sleep is not a failure.
Sleep is a part of the mind's movement.
But Yoga invites us to become curious about all the states of the body.
Walking,
Dreaming,
Sleeping,
Restlessness,
Dullness,
Clarity,
Absence,
Presence What comes and goes.
Is not the deepest truth of who we are.
Sleep comes and goes.
Thought comes and goes.
Imagination comes and goes,
Memory comes and goes.
But awareness is the silent witness of them all.
So may this sutra help us honor sleep without mistaking dullness for freedom.
May it help us rest deeply but also awaken gently.
May it help us recognize where we have been moving through life unconsciously.
May it help us return to bright,
Clear,
Compassionate presence,
Not forced wakefulness,
Not restful effort,
But a soft,
A steady awareness,
A wakefulness that is peaceful,
A stillness that is alive.
And how past impressions shape the present mind.
Thank you for listening.
Namaste.
