Last Foothold Before Sleep

Meditationtime Forum Post

Date:  Posted 3 years before Jul 10, 2016

MiBeloved 3 years ago

What is your last foothold in consciousness before sleep?

Have you noticed what is your regular absorption just before sleep?

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When I lived in a Hare Krishna ashram, the sannyasi leader used to frequently quote his guru who said that one should always remember Krishna and never forget him.

This was supposed to be a rule of thumb, that no matter what, one should cling to the name of Krishna, to thoughts about Krishna and Krishna related subjects as they were introduced in the sect.

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Growing up in a Christian family, I got training in boyhood, to always say a prayer at night. We children had to kneel at the side of our bed with our hands folded in prayer fashion, and with eyes closed, say this prayer:

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord, my soul to keep;

Guide me safely through the night,

And wake me with the morning's light.

Amen!

Regardless of what the elders in the family thought about this prayer, my main focus on it has to do with the safety through the night and the wake-me-up part for the morning. No boy is thinking that he wants to sleep on forever.

But after saying this prayer and sending it off by express telepathic mail, feeling confident that the guy above would get it and act on it immediately, I would then hash over in my mind whatever was urgent which the mind on its own rehashed just before sleep.

Later after teen years, I began to reflect within the mind just before sleep. I decided that the mind should be switched off before sleep.

The question was however how to switch it off. First you have to find the breaker before you can kill the circuit. Just telling yourself that you are going to throw the breaker does not stop the current from flowing.

The mind has a way about it where it simply ignores a weak willpower. Instead of shutting the mind off, I made the effort to do so and the mind for its part, powerful as it was, kept me occupied with its priorities until sleep.

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It took years of introspective meditation practice, reading books about meditation and other spiritual topics, before I could figure the outlay of the mind and its general scheme before sleep. I came up with a method which was to rehash whatever the mind presented at that time, categorize those subjects and then turn to give in to drowsiness or just turn to be restful in thoughtlessness until sleep.

I used to categorize in terms of

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    Matters to be fixed before sleeping

    Matters to be postponed until waking

    Matters to be discarded as either completed affairs or affairs which could never be settled

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After doing this mental ordering, I would then give in to drowsiness or just lay awake with or without ideas until sleep.

On some occasions this procedure changed if someone was on the astral side just as I ordered the mind. Then I would link mentally with that person and begin a telepathic discourse. Then sleep would take its course. Then I would be on the other side with the person whom I was in telepathic contact with before sleep.

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At this stage of meditation practice, I resort to naad sound before sleep. I no longer sort the ideas in the mind. This is no longer necessary because of streamlining my social association and greatly reducing social contacts.

This pays credit to the adage:

Out of sight out of mind.

Is someone does not see me, then it is likely that person will not think of me.

Due to a great reduction in desires to be fulfilled, either because I got rid of desires and do not need to fulfill them or because I did fulfill certain desires, there is little left for me to dwell on for myself.

Thus the toss up now before sleep is between naad focus and the call of others who want to link with me mentally or emotionally just at the time of sleep.

Like an empty egg shell, I have no contents which could develop a beak.

Just before resting, there are three realities. The core-self (me), other persons who want to associate with me and naad sound. By greatly reducing the social associations, only two significant factors remain which are core-self and naad sound. This greatly facilitates meditation.